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With so much brouhaha on obesity, is gluttony a disease or choice then?
I know exactly when I overeat- my stomach tells my I am full;
My brain sends me signals that I am full;
My sluggish rhythm tells me that I should stop.I know I should,
But I just have to have that last piece, so I would know it's gone and not be tempted again.Right?
So what better place to save the last piece than in my already capacity filled stomach:).Aaah, the food tastes so good.
Or I am feeling under the weather and having a pity-party of two, myself and food that is.
Food gives me a happy feeling (short-lived though) because I realise that when the pity-party is gone, I feel much worse when I can't fit into my clothes or I become more sluggish then when I first started.
That makes me feel much worse because now I've gone and done it -ruined the victory I had achieved in dealing with weight. So I feel sad all over again and resort to eating more perhaps that would help lift the blues that I feel right now from not fitting properly into my dress.
The blues lift (albeit temporarily) and I go to try my clothes again and feel much more worse, because the fit is even worse than before and then I feel the blues all over again and resort to food to make me feel better...you know the rest. It's a vicious cycle.
Oh wait(happy ending:), perhaps I can substitute something in its place, I'll go read a book, or maybe call a friend
Perhaps take a walk or maybe....Yeah right. I'd rather sit and have this last bite, it tastes so good.(Not so happy after all LO:rolleyes:L)
Is gluttony a choice or disease?
There is a genetic disorder, known as Prader-Willi Syndrome (a deletion on chromosome #15), in which a person will literally eat themselves to death. They have to be supervised around food at all times; they never feel full. So, definitely in those cases, it is not a choice.
So rare. So not the affliction of the general populace.
And again, I ask...did our ancestors deal with this issue?
To those who advocate the physical disease theory: were there 400+ lb pilgrims? And if not, why not?
Or is obesity truly a lifestyle choice run amok?
I have heard comedians make fun of all three.Relax and don't be so offended. She's asking a valid question.
No, she isn't asking a valid question. She wrote a post intended to make fun of a certain type of patient, and she's far from a comedian. I'm sure she'd love to know that while she was spread open like a chicken wing during an A&P procedure a group of nurses were making fun of what shape her lady parts was in. Hilarious.
I believe it is both....It is a choice that we continue to "feed" through our actions, which are predominately based upon the reactions and actions of our brains....
With so much brouhaha on obesity, is gluttony a disease or choice then?I know exactly when I overeat- my stomach tells my I am full;
My brain sends me signals that I am full;
My sluggish rhythm tells me that I should stop.I know I should,
But I just have to have that last piece, so I would know it's gone and not be tempted again.Right?
So what better place to save the last piece than in my already capacity filled stomach:).Aaah, the food tastes so good.
Or I am feeling under the weather and having a pity-party of two, myself and food that is.
Food gives me a happy feeling (short-lived though) because I realise that when the pity-party is gone, I feel much worse when I can't fit into my clothes or I become more sluggish then when I first started.
That makes me feel much worse because now I've gone and done it -ruined the victory I had achieved in dealing with weight. So I feel sad all over again and resort to eating more perhaps that would help lift the blues that I feel right now from not fitting properly into my dress.
The blues lift (albeit temporarily) and I go to try my clothes again and feel much more worse, because the fit is even worse than before and then I feel the blues all over again and resort to food to make me feel better...you know the rest. It's a vicious cycle.
Oh wait(happy ending:), perhaps I can substitute something in its place, I'll go read a book, or maybe call a friend
Perhaps take a walk or maybe....Yeah right. I'd rather sit and have this last bite, it tastes so good.(Not so happy after all LO:rolleyes:L)
Is gluttony a choice or disease?
Its a primarily a choice the same way any other addiction is a choice. IMHO. Some people compulsively eat, some smoke, some drink, some get obsessed with something else (appearances, video games, shopping, you name it). Unfortunately, a lot of Americans seem to have a huge problem with the compulsively eating type of addiction. It wouldn't be such a big problem, except they are also often addicted to eating very unhealthy food - like hamburgers, instead of fruit for an example - and its hard to break an addiction. Often food comes in huge portions too - I've seen pics of hamburgers in the 50's and they were way smaller and probably a little bit healthier. Add on the reduction in jobs involving actual physical labor and its no wonder we have such problems. Its a choice, but don't we all make bad choices. I'm sure I could be thinner if I just stopped indulging in eating a slice of pizza a couple times a month, walked more, and made an effort to get to the gym regularly. But I don't - instead I make excuses - like "its only one piece all month, and I don't have a car so its hard to get to the gym and I'm too busy studying." My point being - we all make bad choices and have excuses for them. Overweight people shouldn't be treated any worse than anyone else for it.
That being said its been rather frustrating and disconcerting to see, for example, a 500 lb pt. in for Cardiac problems and have his wife bring in 2 whole boxes of pizza. Talk about enabling, but then again, she probably just wants to make him a little happier during a stressful hospital stay, and maybe can't see the bigger picture. So I just try to stay non-judgmental and figure there's probably a complicated story for every obese pt.
No, she isn't asking a valid question. She wrote a post intended to make fun of a certain type of patient, and she's far from a comedian. I'm sure she'd love to know that while she was spread open like a chicken wing during an A&P procedure a group of nurses were making fun of what shape her lady parts was in. Hilarious.
No one here, let alone the OP, has written anything intending to ridicule or make fun of anything or anyone.
Lighten up. Life is harder when you always think that someone's out to get you.
No one here, let alone the OP, has written anything intending to ridicule or make fun of anything or anyone.Lighten up. Life is harder when you always think that someone's out to get you.
And how, exactly, are my statements insinuating that someone is out to get me? Not following you here.
Additionally, yes, her original post was intending to ridicule and make fun. And since that's the intention, own it - that's like writing "I don't mean to sound b*tchy, but ----" and then writing something that can only be construed as that.
And how, exactly, are my statements insinuating that someone is out to get me? Not following you here.Additionally, yes, her original post was intending to ridicule and make fun. And since that's the intention, own it - that's like writing "I don't mean to sound b*tchy, but ----" and then writing something that can only be construed as that.
i didn't get the impression the op's intent was to ridicule.
i read it as an earnest attempt to understand.
and it is a subject that is worthy of mature discussion.
that said, i really am sorry that you seem to be taking this so personally.
and i think that's what roser13 meant in her statement you don't understand:
that seriously, many of us do indeed, need to "lighten up"...we're not talking about you.
we're talking about millions of people affected by obesity (and other addictive behaviors).
whether we seek to understand, and/or become enlightened, it can only be a win/win situation...
if we all allow it.:)
leslie
Once again - I certainly wasn't taking it as talking about me
I do, however, believe there is a line between earnest discussion and ridiculing people with certain conditions. If you'd like to infer my feeling empathy toward obese people as taking it personally, that's your take on the subject. You may assume away .
But moving from that - while in school, and later on, working in different departments, while I have come across the occasional patient tech, nurse, and (rarely) physician who likes to make fun of people with certain medical conditions (obesity being more common than a few others ), most of the time employees tend to view the patient as having a medical condition to be treated, instead of labeling them as gluttonous (or slothful, lazy, however you'd like to put it). While I am a firm advocate of allocating resources and making people responsible for preventable conditions - and yes, many times (perhaps even most times) obesity is preventable and/or reversible - I am also an advocate of doing so in a non-judgmental manner. I did not get, from the original post, that it was being written in a non-judgmental way; in fact, it was quite the opposite.
But thanks for the enlightenment Groove on.
Gluttony is a term with a long-standing negative connotation. It is one of the seven deadly sins best known from Dante's The Divine Comedy. There is no way in which gluttony can be taken as a neutral term. By longstanding Western cultural tradition, gluttony is a negative term, a sin. Saying people today are choosing to put a negative connotation on this term is inaccurate - the negative connotation for this term has existed for over a millenium.I have no issue with having a discussion about this topic, but choosing such a loaded term to start the debate does tend to set the stage for anger and judgment, rather than an exchange of well-reasoned ideas.
I'm not sure I am interpreting this right.
Are you saying that my choice of word, "glutton" is a bad word to use? If that is truly what you are saying, I don't believe in it. Lets call a spade a spade okay.
I have to tailor an innocent word for fear someone's sensitive sensibilities might be hurt? Are you suggesting going through the dictionary for choice of words before I can construct a sentence. That'snot very feasible, you know.
Fribblet
839 Posts
I feel I've acquired the reputation of being an *******, but really, I'm just straightforward (and an *******). I'm totally cool with that. Sometimes people need their buttons pushed to open their eyes a bit. Other times people are so dense they don't even realize the ways people are manipulating them with words. It can be both hilarious and pathetic, but we're all prone to it. Some of us are just better at recognizing it than others.
Critical thinking skills people! Use them! They don't just apply to the nursing process.