Obesity vs addiction

[Sparklfairy]

Not a taat but I noticed elsewhere here that mners seem to defend obesity but condemn other addictions I.e. alcoholism. Yes, over eating is an addiction. Yes, there can be medical issues behind said obesity but also some can use that as excuse.

I'm just curious as to why some people think obesity is 'ok' and 'Not their fault' yet have such venom for other addictions. Not being goady, I just feel ostracised sometimes for something that at it's roots is the same genuine illness.

Totally agree. People don't seem to have the same sympathy for obese people that they have for anorexics. To me it is just the same illness at different ends of the scale.

It's like there's a spectrum of what's acceptable in society if you don't quite fit in and what is not acceptable. It's crap. and I'm more sad that it's taken me til the age of 30 to realise it

- I don't recognise your general 'defence of obesity'...quite the opposite. The prevailing view seems to me to be that it is your own fault if you are obese and it's all down to your greed or lack of self control or self respect. It would be nice if there were more understanding around it.

I agree, I see it as a sort of defense mechanism for some obese people tbh especially the ones that glorify over eating with "I just love food" or "who wants to be skinny" for example.

If someone seriously underweight said similar "I hate food it disgusts me I don't want to be overweight" Rightfully so people would be concerned for that person's mental state.

But I find it's a touchy subject and where the whole "fat shaming" comes in to play.

Well, I think in some ways obesity is a more challenging addiction than say, drinking. When people are addicted to drink, the strategy is to stop drinking alchohol, and avoid places and people that trigger this need.

How do you go cold turkey from eating?

“almost 6 in 10 women are overweight or obese”

Unfortunately, it seems majority rules where it comes to weight issues. It’s become normal to carry more weight than you should. You should hear the gasps when I tell people I had a salad for lunch… “A SALAD? SURELY THAT ISNT ENOUGH? NO BREAD OR MEAT??”

No, a nice healthy salad, I am a healthy weight with no health problems; So I think I’m doing just fine with my salads  its because you don’t become ‘high’ etc as you do with most addictions, it’s not seen as serious, and obviously people can still live normal lives – turn up to work, have normal relationships. People want to ignore the health implications, because they feel until the day they are told their cholesterol is too high etc, then its not a problem for them.

I’ve not realised anyone defend an eating disorder, especially one that makes people morbidly obese.

I’ve had quite a few damaging comments on here when I’ve replied to posts about similar.

It's a difficult one. With other addictions it is a choice to 'begin' as it were. The decision is made to take that drink, start smoking weed, progress to coke, ecstasy etc whilst we need food to live.

You cannot go cold turkey from food without a drastic operation. Even then you still NEED food to survive. You do not need alcohol, drugs, gambling or sex to survive. I've only got a handle on my food addiction and binge eating in the last 3 months and honestly if a year ago someone had said take 2 tablets every day it'll give you all your nutrition and you'll never feel hungry I'D have jumped at it.

The other thing is food is such a part of social life as well. Where do you go to meet friends? Girls nights involve meals and drinks. Dates are out for dinner etc etc.

I suppose ultimately no-one has ever found themselves on the streets , stealing from family, not paying the mortgage etc due to a food addiction.

I'm a recovering alcoholic who has got fat since I stopped drinking.
I get huge amounts of praise/sympathy/pats on the back etc for my sobriety but I feel my food issues are seen as greed and a lack of my own willpower.

I don't recognise any general "defending of obesity" at all, in fact it makes me pretty angry when people say there is - you'd think there were mass obesity beauty pageants in the papers every day with one brave soul being the only one to "tell it like it is" the way people go on about it.

What I've seen is thin people announcing loudly that being thin is easy and that obese people are lazy and disgusting vs obese people saying "please just let me live my life and accept that if it was as easy as "just eat less" I'd have done that years ago".

Also like pp have said you need food, how much food is what the issue is.

We would not expect an alcoholic to ONLY have half a bottle and to not think "I might as well finish it"

Same applies to people with a food addiction in my opinion.

Showerofshite, is it the sugar you’re having? My dads a recovering alcoholic, he hasn’t had a drink in over 15 years, he loves his chocolate as do many of his friends in a similar position, they all think it’s the sugar they still crave from when their bodies got used to surviving almost solely on beer. Hope it’s not offensive to ask!

I'm guessing you aren't fat OP - otherwise there is no way you'd think that there is a commonly held view of it being ok to be fat and isn't your fault.

I can guarantee you that is not the case.

How about instead of vilifying anyone suffering from any addiction we all have some empathy for people that are struggling / have issues and try not to make their life any shittier - whether it is drugs, alcohol or food causing their problems.

No addiction is easy to beat - if it was there would not be any miserable addicts.

As others have pointed out, food is a difficult one - you can't just stop eating, and eating healthy is still eating - it's just a slippery slope to a 5000 cal binge.

You wouldn't expect an alcoholic to be able to take a medicinal shot of vodka every night and never go over the prescribed amount.

It's easy for me to say that not being drug or alcohol dependent is easy - but i'd be a cunt to then say that to an addict and refuse to have any empathy for their situation and recognise that they CAN'T just stop. Food is no different.

But yeah.... i've certainly not seen any great numbers of MN defend obesity.

Interesting opinions. I suppose I hadn't thought about needing food either way or it making you homeless. I've never had a problem with my weight admittedly but the shit I've had for drinking too much as if it's self inflicted is shocking. I need (for want of a better word) to drink to manage my crippling anxiety. It's self medication although a form I'm trying to wean myself off of. I've met extreme binge eaters that are clearly trying to fill the same emotional hole, but somehow this is ok and drinking is not.

I don't know, I think MNet is not very representative, in real life, few things are as generally condemned and despised as being overweight, even when otherwise healthy, let alone obese!

Have you looked at statistics about how overweight people are treated even by health professionals? and often overweight people are really not bothering anybody by being overweight, they are despised just for existing.

On the other hand, binge drinking, even when at unhealthy levels is often glamourised, as part of having fun, even though drunken violence, drink driving etc. are quite a significant problem in many societies.

But I agree with you on your main point, I think neither obese people nor alcoholics should be humiliated, ostracised and condemned. They are complex, difficult conditions to live with and treat, and people who find themselves in the position of having to face either one should receive all the help and support they can get.

Exactly. I'm not fat shaming, but I've been to the doctor so many times about my drinking and just got waved away. Then you see posts on here about being overweight or putting on weight during marriage and yet if they said I started drinking far too much during marriage they'd be slated. I do take your point though that in rl overweight people are pariahs. But so are drunks.

Also the perception of addiction and eating disorders that make you lose weight is that it's not the person's fault.
If you are overweight you are a greedy pig with no self control who should not want to buy clothes, have sex or do anything except scuttle into your home with a walkers multi pack because you look awful, make other people uncomfortable and the rest of the world sees you as a non person.
I've been fat and thin and these attitudes disgust me.
The fact that obesity is rising at such an alarming rate tells me that there has been some change in the way life is lived that has resulted in the epidemic and that science not fat shaming will solve it.
People are mean and shallow.
They should stop judging because a large percentage of slim/healthy weight people don't have to try to be that way, they just are for some reason which is possibly genetic and the rest are thin and have to make a huge effort to stay that way and often don't have a healthy relationship with food.
Thin does not always mean healthy. Thin doesn't make you a good person. Obese doesn't make you a greedy pig.

Hmm-I think you must be working with a very small sample of opinions. Nevertheless-it’s probably not an exaggeration to say that eating disorders rarely lead to the same kind of problems that drugs and alcohol do (eg criminal activity, involving violence or negligence that cause loss and/or physical harm to others). That may have a lot to do with the the view of those kind of addictions. But I honestly don’t see a lot of sympathy being doled out to binge eaters, more often, serious obesity provokes disgust and accusations of ‘what about the cost to the NHS’...

I think it could be the sugar hungryhippo. My dad is also a recovering alcoholic - he allows himself "the odd drink" at special occasions as a demonstration of how he's not like the other alcoholics in his family, but when he's in a sober period he eats sugar like it's going out of fashion.

I don't know about other MN but I have sympathy for anyone who suffers from an addiction.

The very very obvious difference between an addiction to food or sugar compared to alcohol or drugs is that it doesn't significantly change behaviour and is much less disruptive to family life. You can continue to work, drive, be responsible for your children. It isn't as likely to make you more prone to anger or to spend money you don't have.

We're all brainwashed to believe we should be average 2 stones less than our natural weight. Its mostly fashion, even in medicine, and keeps weight loss industry in business. How do you go cold turkey from eating? By developing anorexia. Look at it, its a growth industry, just another way of making women insecure and inadequate.

I’d also say that ‘food addiction’ isn’t really a thing...there’s evidence to suggest that sugar lights up the same dopamine receptors as cocaine for example, causing a craving for more. But no such response to say, avocado or steak. So some people definitely have an addictive response to certain foods but the reasons behind eating disorders are more often many and complex, more so than a ‘straightforward’ addiction (physical response, obviously many reasons are behind the path to addiction) to drugs or alcohol.

@kittykarate
Well, I think in some ways obesity is a more challenging addiction than say, drinking. When people are addicted to drink, the strategy is to stop drinking alchohol, and avoid places and people that trigger this need.

How do you go cold turkey from eating?

I hear this all the time but it’s rubbish! You don’t have to stop eating completely, you just have to stop eating the crap. No one is addicted to broccoli, it doesn’t release the same endorphins as sugary fatty food.

It’s like saying alcoholics would really struggle because you can’t survive without drinking liquids! They don’t stop drinking they just stop drinking alcohol.

I've met extreme binge eaters that are clearly trying to fill the same emotional hole, but somehow this is ok and drinking is not.

How blunt do you want us to be? The fact is, people who use food to fill the emotional hole don't follow it up afterwards by making physical holes in other people.

Most people seem to know that research suggests that a preposition towards addiction runs in families. What is less generally known is that statistically, binge eating is very prevalent amongst those who grew up with a parent with an alcohol problem, because many people cope with their addictive impulses by steering themselves towards a comparatively less harmful addiction than their parent had.

Marx reportedly said that religion was the opium of the people, and maybe it was, but today food is the opium of those with responsibilities. You can gorge yourself sick, and you will still be safe to drive the next day. No-one ever got fired from work for turning up under the influence of too much food, and a binge on Saturday night doesn't leave you comatose and unable to participate in family life for most of Sunday.

Just more on the understanding the other side... there’s also a misconception that a binge is an over indulgence in something pleasurable, which is how a ‘normal’ eater might experience overeating a bit. I don’t know how an alcoholic experienced a fall off the wagon but any binge eater I’ve known (I’ve spoken to quite a few) would never describe a binge as a pleasurable thing. I would go so far as to compare it to self harm.