For much of my adult life I thought I was overweight/heavy “whatever word – some that weren’t so nice”. So I spent many years thinking I didn’t have willpower or wasn’t “strong enough” to lose weight. Thank goodness I had the opportunity to attend the 2011 workgroup on creating the TOS/AHA/AACE guideline for obesity. I learned for the first time from some of the greatest minds in the US that obesity is a disease. That tweaked my interest and as a Nurse Practitioner I just had to learn more. So here is what I learned. Obesity as a disease is as complex as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and so many more.
So to explain a bit more – a chronic disease according to the CDC is “…defined broadly as conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both” while the World Health Organization states that chronic diseases “…are not passed from person to person. They are of long duration and generally slow progression.”
So for most of us that have been “overweight” (actually have the disease of obesity) it clearly meets these two definitions very well. At least mine was a slow progression and has lasted a long time and eventually began to limit my daily living and then needed ongoing attention from a health care provider.
On the next post I will share more about what causes the disease and then move on to types of treatment.
Please feel free to share your thoughts on obesity as a disease in your own experience.