What’s So Bad About Being Obese? | New Beginnings Chiropractic

On the local news the other night, they ran a piece on how obese kids do not think or feel they are obese, stating that instead they felt they were of normal or average weight. I found a similar news article here. This led me to ask the question, what’s so bad about being obese?

The quick answer to that question is: Everything. According to the Stanford University Medical Center, each year obesity-related conditions cost more than one hundred billion dollars and can cause an estimated three hundred thousand premature deaths in the United States. Of more personal concern, obesity can lead to:

High Blood Pressure
Diabetes
Heart Disease
Joint Problems
Sleep Apnea and Respiratory Problems
Cancer
Metabolic Syndrome: abdominal obesity, elevated blood cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance with or without glucose intolerance, elevation of certain blood components that indicate inflammation, and elevation of certain clotting factors in the blood. In the United States, approximately one-third of overweight or obese persons exhibit metabolic syndrome.
Social effects: As stated above, obesity may be becoming more of the norm, but we still live in a society that, on the whole, praises beauty and thinness and punishes overweight. Regardless of body type, hearing and seeing negative messages can cause devastating blows to morale and self-esteem.

Unfortunately, for the kids mentioned in the above news piece, the heath issues that arise from being overweight have nothing to do with feeling “normal” in a society that is lowering its expectations to help people “fit in”. I’m all for accepting people for who they are, but we shouldn’t enable people who are experiencing serious physical consequences, due to obesity, by calling them “normal”. The point here is to be proactive. If you’re not obese, obviously the answer is to not get there. If you are obese, do something about it now – it is never too late to make life-saving and life-altering changes. Be an individual. Self reflect on where you are at personally, and don’t be swayed by what society, which can be both good and bad, tells you.