Obesity is a widespread condition that is commonly mistermed as a disease due to lack of understanding of what the word “disease” really means. A disease is a term that is classified under a variety of definitions depending on the source it is taken from. Dictionary.com (2015) defines a disease as “a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity or unfavorable environment factors; illness; sickness; ailment, (Disease, 2015),” but according to a study titled “What is a disease? Perspectives of the public, health professionals and legislators,” published in in BJM Open, “no study has addressed perceptions of all relevant stakeholders on what, across a wide range of conditions, should be classified as a disease” (Tikkinen, Leinonen, Guyatt, Ebrahim, & Jarvinen, 2012). Gathered from these sources, it is clear that there is no clear definition of what a disease should be; therefore, classifying obesity as a disease is subjective to one’s own perception of the term “disease.” Classifying obesity into the category of disease also implies that there is no control over whether or not one becomes obese, as if they are living off a game of chance, giving them the excuse when the condition arises, that they had no control over their fate. Despite opposing views, obesity should not be classified as a disease because a disease is normally considered something that is out of one’s control. What one puts in their mouth and how often they choose to exercise is clearly in one’s control. This classification also leads people to think that obesity is an uncommon condition when it is really becoming the norm. This classification also leads to categorizing a huge majority of the United States as ill and others as healthy leading to a jump in the reliance on expensive medications and procedures when a change in habits would have been more beneficial to them. The only way to truly change this common perspective on this epidemic is by informing the public on the consequences of this assumed classification.

The guidelines for what a disease is classified as are very gray, but a disease is generally thought of as something that requires outside treatment. According to former personal trainer and emergency room registered nurse, Frederick Kizina, the one with the condition actually needs to cease doing something to recover from obesity-they need to stop eating so much of the wrong portions and the wrong food. He also states that obesity comes from noncompliance, and not maintaining a healthy food pyramid. It also comes from a lack of care towards yourself or pure ignorance to the broadcasting of nutritional information surrounding us. With the current advancement in technology and nutrition, one has to knowingly turn a blind eye to the knowledge of what is good to put in their body to not be aware of it. He continues to argue, “Classifying obesity as a disease is kind of like comparing drug abuse to obesity. Obesity and drug abuse are both self-inflicted addictions. However, people with heart or kidney diseases did not ask for their conditions, and they did not put the ailment on themselves while the majority of obese people and drug addicts have” (Kizina, February 8, 2015). The person who is obese has a choice to change, but they do not decide to. Kizina also states that although, like a disease, obesity can be cured and treated with surgery and medicine, its number one cure is personal choice and self-control. Many would attempt to refute this claim by saying there are multiple health processes such as thyroid conditions that can cause one to be obese, and obesity is known to be the cause of other varying diseases, but the percentage of any other malfunctioning process that would cause one to be obese is extremely low (Kizina, February 8, 2015). He gives an example that obesity may lead to heart problems or even heart failure, so it should be seen more as a cause to other conditions or diseases rather than a disease itself. The individual did not necessarily ask for their heart condition, but they knew the foods that they were putting in their body would likely cause a multitude of health problems (Kizina, February 8, 2015).  It was self-inflicted. Obesity can be “cured,” although sometimes difficult, by a simple change in diet and exercise that is under one’s own personal power; therefore, obesity should not be viewed in today’s world as a disease because it pushes personal responsibility onto someone other than the obese individual. Without the responsibility being placed on the obese individual, no successful change can be made towards a healthier life.

When one hears the term “disease,” they usually think of something that it somewhat rare or abnormal. Obesity is becoming, and already is, considered a normal condition in the United States’ society. Anywhere in the country, obese people have found their place. The average weight for a United States’ individual has gone up in recent years, and there is a new standard of what “average” body type and “thin” are (Rauh, 2010). Clearly there are a lot more overweight and obese people today then there were even ten years ago, but including the term “disease” under obesity’s definition is misleading to any reader who is quick to believe anything that they read. Classifying something as a disease is saying that it is out of the norm, so why would we consider obesity to be a disease when it is clearly becoming an extreme normality (Rauh, 2010)? The implication of definition of obesity on society is that people will be more indifferent about gaining weight because they believe it is normal, leading to an even larger obesity problem.

It is obvious that obesity is a rapidly growing problem in the United States resulting in many following health conditions such as heart failure, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. It is also obvious that obesity is a growing burden for many people causing them to perform daily activities at lower capacities. In fact, second to Mexico, the United States, in 2013, was one of the most obese industrialized country in the world, but to define obesity is a disease is simply wrong (“Is obesity a disease?,” 2014). Classifying obesity as a disease immediately diagnoses millions of people as ill and classifies some other millions as healthy (“Is obesity really a disease?”, 2013). When regarding what obesity should be viewed as, it should be see not a disease in itself, but a cause to a variety of actual diseases (“Is obesity a disease?” 2014). It even states in a former health care bill from 2009 called Affordable Healthcare for America Act, “being overweight or obese was not classified as a disease but as a ‘behavioral risk factor’ along with alcohol and drug use, tobacco, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, untreated mental health problems, and risky sexual behavior” (Is obesity a disease?, 2014). Persuasive writers who are pushing this misunderstood classification of obesity as a disease would perhaps use an argument with an undistributed middle to make their case. They would perhaps say that a disease is a burden in some way to the patient who has it. They might also say that obesity, as well, is a burden in some way, but just because obesity is a burden, and a disease is a burden, it does not mean that obesity is a disease. If these two definitions are correlated, the consequences would be many individuals believing that they are sick when they are just simply overweight (Kizina, February 8, 2015). Not only would this classification lead to millions of individuals being viewed as sick and others as well, but it would also lead a large sum of people to rely more on expensive medications rather than exercising and maintaining a healthy diet. This exercise and change of food choices and portions would have been a more beneficial solution for them financially and healthfully. Sure, some may say that this classification may entail health insurance payers to put their money towards more factors that prevent obesity, but it should not require a definition change in order for this movement to come about.

The overall United States’ perspective on obesity has changed drastically in even the last ten years, and now many individuals want to consider it as a disease. This just does not make sense due to many factors. When one thinks of a disease, what usually comes to mind is something that one was either born with immediately or will accrue over time due to an outside source other than self-infliction such as abnormal exposure to a toxic substance or bacteria or genetic make-up. In both of the scenarios, these diagnoses are due to something that is usually out of the individual’s own control. In addition, those scenarios do not happen to multitudes of people on a daily basis, but obesity does out of lack of attention to one’s style of living. It is becoming even more and more normal to see overweight and obese people in our society. Diseases are abnormal, obesity is not in the world today, so obesity should not be considered a disease. Furthermore, putting the condition of obesity in the category of diseases would have a drastic alteration on who would be considered sick and who would be considered healthy. This would not only change one’s view on themselves, but it would alter our society’s standards of what we see as manageable by our own resources and what we write off to pharmacies as out of our control. The term “disease” does not have a set definition, and the definitions found can be easily refuted as relating to obesity; therefore, classifying obesity as a disease is not fitting. This misinterpretation results in a multitude of unwanted outcomes in the United States that can be protected against when the line is distinctly drawn between what obesity is and what a disease is.

References
Disease (2015). In Dictionary.com from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disease
Gunderman, R., (2013, June) Is obesity really a disease? The Atlantic. Retrieved from  http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/06/is-obesity-really-a-disease/277148/
Is obesity a disease? (2014, September). Obesity ProCon.org. Retrieved from  http://obesity.procon.org/#Background
Rauh, S. (2010, January). Is fat the new normal? Webmd. Retrieved from  http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/is-fat-the-new-normal
Tikkinen, K., Leinonen, J., Guyatt, G., Ebrahim, S., & Jarvinen, T. (2012). What is a disease?  Perspectives of the public, health professionals and legislators. BMJ Open, 2(6),  E001632-E001632. Retrieved, from  http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/6/e001632.full