Trey Brackney

Eng 1201

4/10/19

Obesity shouldn’t be glorified as if its a great thing in today's society. Recently my

grandmother passed away from pancreatic cancer. There may have been multiple

reasons for her developing the cancer but the main reason the doctors gave was that

she needed to lose weight because she was obese. Obesity is a disease and can cause

a lot worse if not treated.

Over the years obesity has been rapidly increasing. The reason obesity is at an

all time high in present day is because it is being accepted as normal instead of the

ravaging disease that it is. It is being glorified all over social media today with plus sized

models and being used to tell people it is okay to be obese. Self confidence should be

provided to everyone in this world because it's a great thing to have but in reality people

are damaging their bodies by trying to portray a message about self confidence. Obesity

is one of the biggest killers known to mankind.

One of the most guaranteed diseases caused by obesity is type two diabetes. It

is the most common form of diabetes according to Kelly Fitzgerald on Medical News

Today. She states,” ...being overweight stresses the insides of the cells and overeating

stresses the endoplasmic reticulum, which results in the ER overloading on nutrients

and the ER sends alarm signals telling cells to lower the insulin receptors on the surface

of the cell…” This gives proof of how obesity causes diabetes type two diabetes

scientifically. So to break it down, diabetes type two is a malfunction of the body not

using insulin correctly.

Diabetes type two is a very serious condition and can cause a lot of different

problems. Some symptoms provided by Medical News Today include frequent urination,

weight loss, fatigue, blurred vision, infections, etc. It can really mess with your regular

way of living a regular life. Constantly checking blood glucose levels to see if they are

too high or too low is time consuming. As well as monitoring what you eat so you don’t

raise/lower your blood glucose level. Sounds terrible right, but there’s a cure to the

symptoms. A good diet to cut weight and exercise frequently and you’ll most likely get

rid of type two diabetes symptoms in no time and can live a normal life..

There are a lot of long term effects of diabetes type two as well. An excerpt from

the book Treatment of the Obese Patient written by Robert F Kushner goes more into

depth about the long term problems associated with diabetes type two. They include

heart problems, high blood pressure, nerve damage, joint damage, eye damage and

blindness, etc. This is a very scary disease and can cause a lot of things to go wrong.

Diabetes type two is a lifestyle related disease and can be prevented before it's too late.

Obesity shouldn’t be glorified as if its a great thing in today's society because it can

cause diabetes type two.

 Cancer is another scary factor that comes into play while discussing obesity. It

affected my family and I dearly with the loss of our grandmother. Cancer is very costly

to deal with and that revolves back to my thesis. Is that obesity shouldn’t be glorified

and should be treated as the disease it is. And even though the sorrow my family felt

after my grandmothers death, I think it encouraged us to all stay healthy and live our

lives out longer.

More than ⅔ of american adults are overweight and obese. And obesity can

trigger cancer to grow easily. ​ ​American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery

does a great job of listing the most common contributing factors that have to do with the

relationship between obesity and cancer. According to ASMBS, ”​Increased levels of

insulin and insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which may help some cancers develop

low-level inflammation which is more common in people who are obese and is linked

with an increased cancer risk, higher amounts of estrogen produced by fat tissue which

can drive the development of some cancers, and fat cells may affect processes that

regulate cancer cell growth.” These are only a few of the ways cancer can be triggered

by obesity. Some of the most common cancers linked to obesity consists of breast,

colon, kidney, head and neck, pancreatic, prostate, gallbladder, and thyroid cancers. As

I mentioned at the beginning of the essay, my grandmother had one of the listed

cancers above. That just goes to show that maintaining a healthy weight is associated

with a lower risk of cancer and of cancer returning in those who are under remission.
 There is a huge risk of cancer in those who are obese. Catharine Paddock, a

doctor from Medical News Today lists the possibilities and statistics dealing with the

correlation between cancer and obesity. She states,” More than 1 in 20 cancer cases

are caused by excess weight as well as the risk is higher the more weight a person

gains and the longer they are overweight for and the good news is small changes that

are kept up over time can make a real difference and people keeping a healthy weight

could prevent around 22,800 cases of cancer every year.” This just goes to show that

studies show that the odds of getting cancer increase dramatically for overweight and or

obese people.

The list keeps going. There are a vast variety of problems you can run into when

you’re obese. Obesity could possibly be considered one of the worst diseases of all time

because if the disease was by itself it would just be mobilization issues and pain on the

legs but it isn’t. It contributes to some of the most deadliest diseases out there. And it

doesn’t just stop at diabetes and cancer.

Cancer and diabetes type two are only the main dangers that are contributed to

obesity. It seems almost as an endless list of diseases that obesity causes by itself.

Cleveland Clinic lists the diseases related to obesity other than cancer and diabetes.

Heart disease, bone and joint problems, breathing problems, gout, and digestive
problems are the other main conflicts an obese person could go through but the list

goes on.

Penn State's Family and Child Health Project goes into depth about all the other

diseases obesity can cause. Their website focuses mainly about the effect obesity has

on the joints. They state,” ⅓ obese people have chronic arthritis and that’s because

their is more weight being applied to the legs and that over exposure of weight on the

legs over time wears them down making it a painful experience.” Another important

factor to take into consideration is the effect it has on the heart because who doesn’t

want a healthy heart. Conditions such as atherosclerosis which is hardening of the

arteries, is present ten times more often in obese people compared to non obese

people. ​Coronary artery disease​ is another and it’s caused by fatty deposits built up in

arteries that supply the heart. Another condition is the narrowing of the arteries which

reduces the blood flow to the heart can cause chest pain or even worse, a ​heart attack​.

Blood clots can also form in narrowed arteries and cause a stroke. The list goes on but

as stated in the thesis, obesity is a very dangerous disease and people should take it a

lot more seriously than they are.

Another bad disease that comes with obesity is breathing problems, especially in

the sleep. This is called sleep apnea and it is caused by obstructions in the air

pathways. And obesity is the main factor when it comes to the reasons that cause sleep

apnea. The disorder results in a decrease in oxygen in the blood and can briefly wake
you up during the nighttime. It can also assoicate with the excess weight of the soft

tissue around the throat and tongue. And when the throat and tongue muscle are

relaxed the tissue causes the air passageways to become blocked momentarily.

Breathing is very important to the human body and it keeps people alive. So another

reason why obesity shouldn’t be glorified is because it causes problems with breathing.

Another factor that comes along with obesity is the mental damage it can do to

the human psyche. There are a lot of contributing factors such as the topic touched on

earlier at the beginning of the essay which was the ideal body imaging and self

confidence. Someone who is obese may look at themselves and not like what they see

resulting in mental disorders such as depression.

Harvard Medical dicussed this in their class lecture in the Youtube video listed in

the works cited. They talk about how obesity can lead to not only physical illnesses but

mental illnesses as well. They talk about how it can heighten the chances of mental

illness and that people with mental illness are more likely to die 25 years before

someone who doesn’t have mental illness. And studies show that people recieving

treatment for psychiatric problems found that their body mass index was doubled of the

comparison group. The Hardvard debate also discusses the study that was about

depression. This just goes to show that people with obesity have a bigger chance of

getting chronic depression than a person with an average body.

 Some of the experiments were very successful in finding out if obesity causes

mental illness. The mental illness factor increases with age as well as obesity. It doesn’t

vary by gender though. Obese people try to attempt to lose weight and some succeed

but some give up. Mobility goes down significantly when you are obese so it is harder to

lose weight. Dieting is the first step in losing weight because that it the easy part. It is

reccomended to cut your diet first and eat healthier before you do exercise. And with

the exercise you should start very slowly depending on how much you weigh and over

time it’ll work out and won’t be a problem anymore. Obesity is bad for your health

mentally and physically and it would be best to get rid of it as fast as possible.

Another big factor about the health concerns of obesity is that it is known to

cause problems during pregnancy. Women who are pregnant and are obese have a

higher risk of having a miscarage and or a cesarean delivery. If it is not a miscarage,

there is also a higher risk of birth defects according to a Harvard study. And if none of

those problems occur, the genetics of the baby give a guaranteed metabolism issue and

it will be easier for that child to become obese itself. It can also affect the mother after

the pregnancy is done. But these affects after birth are the same risks you have when

your’e obese in general, the risks are just increased more than they are usually because

of the pregnancy. This is why obesity shouldn’t be considered okay in todays society

because it is also affecting our future generation.

 Obesity is also a main contributer to gallbladder disease and gallstones as

well. The excess gain of weight increases the risk of gallstones. Gallstones are

hardened depostis that are inside the fluid in the gallbladder. They form when

bile builds up and form when cholestrol in the bile is high. And gallstones can

lead to gallbladder attacks which can be terrible and include vomiting, nausea,

fever, sweating, and more. And obesity is one of the main causes of gallbladder

failure and gallbladder cancer as well. The reason why is because usually obese

people don’t have very good diet and a good diet keeps the gallbladder clean.

Gallbladder disease is a concern but it’s not as bad because you can get it

removed but it’s not as bad as the other problems obesity causes.

The first counterargument that is listed has to correlate with the mental illness

factor that comes with obesity. Obesity shouldn’t be glorified but also it shouldn’t be

looked down upon as well. One of the main reasons why bullying occurs in every age

group is because of obesity. And bullying is one of the many causes of suicides in

America today. Depression isn’t something to be joked about because it can lead to

death by either taking someones own life or stress related conditions. Instead of making

fun of obese people, encourage them. Encourage them to do better and try to lose

weight by giving them tips on dieting or execise. One of the main contributers to obesity

i stress because when certain people are stressed it causes stress eating. Which in that
case would make them eat more than they should be. Maintaining a healthy mind

prevents obesity as well.

Another counter argument could also be considered to be similar to the first one.

And that issue could be self image difficulties. Some people who are obese want to

change but they just don’t think they can so they stay the way they are. And now in this

day of age there are such things as “plus-sized models.” This helps obese or overweight

people feel good about being the way they are and believe that they are beautiful. Some

people disagree, but understanding the point behind it, people can realize that it helps

obese or overweight people with the things they go through in life that are difficult. And

you didn’t see much models being overweight before, but now that people see that

obese women can be models too it gives them hope to let them know that they can be

like that model as well. ​This picture below shows a great example of imagery. It shows

an obese person with a yellow background with important words inside relating to

obesity. It shows all of the symptoms and problems that come with the terrible disease. I

think this is the best one i’ve found so far for a ​logical fallacy.
 The whole idea of this essay was to show everyone reading how important this

message is. Obesity is one of the biggest problems in America today relating to the

personal aspects of people's lives. It is being treated as a normal thing in todays society

because there is a large part of todays population that is obese. And it is being glorified

as a good thing by making obese people model to put out that obesity is an okay body

goal that you can have. The people are mainstreaming this terrible disease as a thing

we should all be okay with. Obesity is very bad and can lead to very dangerous

conditions as well as other fatal diseases. And it cuts your life span drastically

compared to someone who isn’t obese. Obesity shouldn’t be mainstreamed as good in

todays society because it isn’t healthy.

 Works Cited

“Disease of Obesity | Patients | ASMBS.” ​American Society for Metabolic and

Bariatric Surgery,​ ASMBS, 1 Jan. 2019, asmbs.org/patients/disease-of-obesity.

Fitzgerald, Kelly. “Obesity Is Now A Disease, American Medical Association

Decides.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 17 Aug. 2013,
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/262226.php.

Springer. ​TREATMENT OF THE OBESE PATIENT​. Edited by Robert F Kushner

and Daniel H Bessesen, SPRINGER, 2016.

PhD, Catharine Paddock. “Experts Define Obesity as a Disease.” ​Medical News

Today​, MediLexicon International, 12 May 2017,
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317442.php.

“Questions About Obesity & Weight Control.” ​Cleveland Clinic​, 8 June 2016,
my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/11209-weight-control-and-obesity.

School, Harvard Medical. “Weighing the Facts of Obesity.” ​YouTube​, YouTube,

16 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5v_KwZarVM.

“Family and Child Health Project | Penn State College of Health and Human
Development.” ​Penn State - College of Health and Human Development​, Penn
State Unniversity,
hhd.psu.edu/bbh/research/research-labs-and-initiatives/family-and-child-health-pro
ject.

Peterson, and JH Bloomberg School of Public Health. “College Health and

Wellness Study.” ​Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health​, 2 July
2010,
www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-health-d
isparities-solutions/Research/college_health_and_wellness.html​.
“Childhood Obesity.” ​Program of Study | College of Public Health | The Ohio
State University,​ Ohio State University, 16 July 2018,
cph.osu.edu/research/focus/childhood-obesity.

“Obesity Sciences.” ​College of Education and Human Ecology,​ Ohio State

University, 25 Sept. 2018, ehe.osu.edu/human-sciences/hdfs/obesity-sciences/.