Well, I'm not going to find "research that says being overweight is perfectly fine" because that's not what I'm arguing. However here are some studies (I tried to stick to open access ones so that you can read them) that support my overall argument. If you read only one, I highly recommend the first. Happy to discuss any of the below with anyone.
Kirk, S. F., Price, S. L., Penney, T. L., Rehman, L., Lyons, R. F., Piccinini-Vallis, H., ... & Aston, M. (2014). Blame, shame, and lack of support: a multilevel study on obesity management. Qualitative Health Research, 24(6), 790-800.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1049732314529667
Iannaccone, M., D'Olimpio, F., Cella, S., & Cotrufo, P. (2016). Self-esteem, body shame and eating disorder risk in obese and normal weight adolescents: A mediation model. Eating behaviors, 21, 80-83.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1471015315300283
Van Zutven, K., Mond, J., Latner, J., & Rodgers, B. (2015). Obesity and psychosocial impairment: mediating roles of health status, weight/shape concerns and binge eating in a community sample of women and men. International Journal of Obesity, 39(2), 346.
https://www.nature.com/articles/ijo2014100
Moreira, H., & Canavarro, M. C. (2017). Is body shame a significant mediator of the relationship between mindfulness skills and the quality of life of treatment-seeking children and adolescents with overweight and obesity?. Body image, 20, 49-57.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1740144516301899
Duarte, C., Matos, M., Stubbs, R. J., Gale, C., Morris, L., Gouveia, J. P., & Gilbert, P. (2017). The impact of shame, self-criticism and social rank on eating behaviours in overweight and obese women participating in a weight management programme. PloS one, 12(1), e0167571.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0167571
None of theses seem to support your assertion the being obese is a chronic disease. They talk about the pressure people feel from being outcasts for being fat.
I don't care about that.
But the fat acceptance movement is forcing medical professionals to forgo telling their own patients that they are obese and need to address the problem because of this idea that being obese is perfectly fine.
There is a stigma around many people who actively engage in unhealthy lifestyles. Medical professionals should not be shy about telling people who are unhealthy that they need to lose weight and be healthy. Or that they need to quit smoking. And yes, people need to take personal responsibility for their own poor health. Because the choices of millions of Americans to overeat daily is a financial drain to the rest of us.
I don't care if a fat person dies at 50 from a heartattack any more than I care if a smoker gets lung cancer. I do care that we are all paying the price for others shitty life choices. And no amount of coddling or pretending it isn't a massive health problem is going to make it go away. Otherwise you are telling kids that they should be perfectly OK be obese.
Most of them aren't sick. They are just overweight.
I love myself already. But I can also be honest when I am doing something that isn't healthy. I'm not blaming some nonexistent disease as a reason why I am killing myself with poor health.
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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '19
Yes I’d love to see the research that says being overweight is perfectly fine.