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When I think about it, to me it is one. I mean the person is thinking "mmm that food looks good, I know it might ruin my body and kill me but I want it."
People let themselves go.
Is it normal I think this?
Being a food addict is like being an alcoholic. Now go tell an alcoholic he has to drink some liquor everyday or he will die. But just a little bit, never a lot.
That it is an addiction and a mental disorder (and physical) similar to but worse than alcoholism.
Definition: the condition of being grossly fat or overweight. Being fat is not all in your mind. If someone is overweight they are PHYSICALLY OVERWEIGHT.
Now if they are anorexic or something like that they might have a warped perception and see themselves as bigger than they are. However if you are fat you are fat. Its not like you thinking you are fat is going to make you instantly gain 10 pounds.
Secondly you actually need sugar. There is fast acting sugar and carbs. Carbs instantly turn into fat and are stored for later, fast acting sugar like soda often will make a person hyper and whatever is left is stored as fat.
As well as this sugar, salt, fat and greece is very flavorful so of course these type of foods are going to be more attractive since they taste a lot better.
Now people who just eat and eat and eat and never stop eating since they love food yes I think have some sort of mental problem. Since normal people will stop eating after a point. They are just glutton's.
However saying "Obesity is a mental issue" is ridiculous. Since its PHYSICAL! ITS NOT MENTAL! If you said people might become Obese because they have a mental problem that would make a lot more sense.
It is a mental addiction because eating food excites the pleasure center in a person's brain. For some people, it is also a disorder because, in the brain, there is something called the hypothalamus that alerts you to when you should stop eating, but some people have a screwed up hypothalamus and thus are unable to tell when they have eaten enough food.
It's considered an eating disorder.
It should be taken seriously, just like anorexia or bulimia.
So yes it is a mental disorder, you're unable to stop your compulsion to eat.
I feel like we should have one name for the physical state of being unhealthily fat and a different name for the psychological causes. It's just simpler. Otherwise you could say that obesity is a symptom of obesity, which isn't a very useful sentence. But I definitely think it's sensible to say obesity is caused by some sort of mental condition, which you could stretch to calling a disorder if you could operationalise a definition of it.
This reminded me of a TED talk I just watched where they say that Violence acts a lot like a contagious disease. Pretty interesting.
http://www.ted.com/talks/gary_slutkin_let_s_treat_violence_like_a_contagious_disease.html
I think judging people based on superficial things like their weight is indicative of some sort of mental disorder.
No, if everything becomes a disorder then disorders aren't disorders any more.
So making bad decisions is the same as having a mental disorder? I don't think so.
I disagree, by your logic that would mean everybody who leaves their house has a mental disorder since the outside world is full of germs, bad drivers, murderers, or you could just get in an accident. The world is dangerous, but people still leave their house, does that make them mentally ill?
It truly is a complicated matter. Like someone before me said, it is a form of eating disorder, though, this isn't always the case. Many things can lead to overeating/weight gain. In families where members are often obese, this comes from ingrained (taught) unhealthy eating habits. I have heard people say that the reason for their and their children's fatness was because "big-bonedness" ran in the family. A crock pot of shit that is. Depression, which is a mental/emotional disorder, can lead to overeating.
Legitimate health conditions like; under active thyroid, a brain tumour, Candida Overgrowth (etc.) can lead to weight gain. Side-effects from certain medications can cause varying amounts of weight gain if used.
In America, the average plate sizing is fucking ridiculously large. In some American families, there's this strange food custom that says you must eat everything on your plate. If not, you are somehow being disrespectful, etc.
There has also been soaring rates in general unhealthiness, including obesity, since the introduction of GMOs.
(etc)
I know someone who is obese but doesn't really over eat, her body just seems to retain everything. She looks like her mom and her aunt.