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by The head of the British Medical Association is fed up with obesity. Dr. Hamish Meldrum argues oftentimes fat people are "just greedy" and the medical community should stop offering pills and overly medical terminology like "hyper-appetite problem." Meldrum is highly critical of the effectiveness of anti-obesity drugs. Furthermore, he believes using "fancy labels" creates a false sense the condition is an exclusively medical problem, when it is also very much societal. Use of anti-obesity drugs is way up in the U.K., but Meldrum contends these are only effective if people also alter their lifestyle. He urges people take responsibility for their health and insists surgeries and medications "offer limited benefit, even to the grossly obese."
The World Health Organization says one in four adults and an equal number of children in the U.K. between 11 and 15 are obese. Currently medical guidelines allow for children from 12 on to be able to get anti-obesity drugs or stomach surgeries.
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The many factors of obesity by PsychmajorNC :: NR0 :: Show
Obesity is a multi-faceted issue. There are many solutions to this ongoing problem, however, many of these solutions are not effective long-term. The only solution is to address the actual factors that have led to the growing problem. It is not only the overconsumption of food that causes people to gain weight. Lack of physical activity is a contributing factor to this problem. Additionally, processed and ready to eat foods of all kinds are full of calories (not to mention sugar, fat, and chemicals). The media also has been a major component in using psychologial warfare on society with continuous ads for restaurants, snacks, junk foods, etc. Add in the fact that technology has increased our mental activity, however, it has also increased the amount of time individuals sit down at computers, video games, television and the like.
This is not to place blame or responsibility on those factors. We are all individually responsible for our actions and choices we make regarding our health and wellness. The only blame we can place is on ourselves, should we be overweight or obese. Educating oneself on basic nutrition and health is very simple. Making a committment to live responsibly is the area of most trouble because it takes a consistent effort regardless of one’s surroundings.
Of course, the medical community has developed many ways to remove excess weight. The initial purpose of these advances in medicine were to assist already overweight people. They were not designed to encourage weight gain and offer an easy solution. Unfortunately, many individuals believe that these surgical and pharmaceutical methods are the easy ticket to weight loss. The truth is, any procedure or pill has risk involved. The current track concerning obesity is to deem it a disorder or disease. This does nothing but provide overweight and obese individuals an excuse for the problem. The blame will now be on the disorder or disease, not the actions and decisions of the individual.
The obesity problem shows no signs of slowing down. As with any other aspect of an individuals life, the choices each individual makes with either benefit or harm them. Self control is vital for all human beings.
This only scratches the surface of this issue and much more elaboration is necessary. The psychological aspect alone is very complex. That needs to be understood first if we as a society are to slow down this growing problem.