The day I started the FAT Project, was the day Obesity was declared a disease in Canada (October 9, 2015) – this was entirely coincidental!
Whenever I talk about obesity as a disease I tend to get a skeptical look. They don’t buy it. They think it is all will power or calories in/calories out. Usually these people haven’t struggled with weight or have found it easy to control.
I am told that people will use ‘the disease’ thing as an excuse for being fat. Okay, so what if they do? 4 decades of shaming and dieting in our obesogenic world have led to a more obese world. It is time to try a different approach. By understanding my struggle as a disease:
Disease: a disorder of structure or function in a human especially one that produces specific signs or symptoms and is not simply a direct result of physical injury.
Is Anorexia a disease? Mental Health? Is drug addiction a disease? Obesity is complex, multi-factorial and needs a variety of treatment types. Recognizing this empowers me to seek a multitude of treatments and in fact acknowledges that most likely a treatment of less calories and more activity will fail for the vast majority of people who suffer from obesity.
https://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2017-04-obesity-character-flaw-expert.html?utm_content=buffer96ea3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
The disease is NOT my fault. It is not my fault I am obese.
It is however my responsibility to seek treatment for my illness. And that is the essense of the FAT Project.