What’s Wrong with the Obesity Epidemic? Everything. (Part 1 of 2)

By Kirsten Haglund, Community Relations Specialist, Timberline Knolls

When the Obesity Epidemic became a “thing” – a buzzword, a suddenly huge public health “crisis” -a few years ago, newfound statistics on the weights and BMI’s of Americans shocked the public, teachers, and media members alike. Especially when it came to kids.

The Centers for Disease Control announced that 31% of American adults are obese (a stat dependent on BMI, whose accuracy is up for debate), and more than a third of children and adolescents overweight or obese.* Suddenly, panic spread: “Oh my goodness, I’m fat, my kid is fat… all our kids are fat! What do we do?”

When Concern Turns to Obsession

The cries rang out on cable news, in pediatrician’s offices, and in school gym classes. The message? Americans are disastrously overweight, obese even, and it’s time we crack down and do something about. Go gluten free, workout twelve times a day, weigh 7-year-old children and send home BMI report cards. Whatever it takes, we WILL get our weight under control.

What began, perhaps, as a legitimate concern for the health of the nation has quickly devolved into a health and fitness obsession: obesity being the villain, and the endless quest for perfect health and weight, the (often unattainable) goal.

Recognizing That Not All “Support” Is Beneficial

Any movement in the general culture toward promoting healthy lifestyles is a good thing, but media and public messages have a poor record of encouraging moderation and balance. Furthermore, the recent focus on weight as an overall indicator of health has overemphasized size at the expense of recognizing that a variety of factors, including mental, emotional and spiritual “fitness,” have an equal influence on one’s wellbeing.

In the eating disorder field, professionals who treat these illnesses know (and have known for years) that health is the result of a combination of many factors, not just weight. Furthermore, for those that struggle with any eating disorder – anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating disorder or EDNOS – focusing on weight restoration or weight loss is a feeble and inadequate way to treat the disease.

Redirecting the Focus

Why? Because what leads an individual down the road to developing an eating disorder is more than a “lack of self-control” or a few “bad decisions.” It is psychological and physiological, therefore disordered eating must be treated as a disease of the mind, which manifests itself in the body.

Weight issues are just the leaves of the tree. One has to expunge the roots of the plant if one is to uproot the disease and get rid of it for good.

Those who struggle with binge-eating disorder (BED), in particular, are often on the losing side of the battle against the shortcomings, stigma, and ineffectiveness of “Obesity Epidemic” debates.

See part 2 here

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References:

*CDC, Childhood Obesity Facts, 2012: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm

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About the author:

Kirsten Haglund
Community Relations Representative
[email protected]
www.timberlineknolls.com