F.orse is also a bit of a reality show like Lives on the edgewhere obese people more than evidently try to lose weight: seeing those stories, many think that we can talk about obesity only when the weight is beyond standard.
Too much weight, poor health
It is not so. And there are many “unsuspected” obese, people who have exceeded the limit of simple overweight, but who do not realize it and thus put their health at risk. Because excess pounds in the first place hurts. Beyond certain limits, one can no longer speak of body positivity and of feeling good about oneself in one’s body, but of a disease that must be faced and treated.
The border can sometimes be difficult to draw. And also for this reason a campaign is underway on social, web and television aimed at spreading The truth about weight, from the title of the initiative. The invitation is a don’t hide behind false beliefs because it is often believed that a diet is enough to solve everything, or that a chubby kid will lose weight as he grows up, or that the excess weight is the fault of a “physical constitution” that is not exactly thin. All false myths that are easy to believe.
Obesity is a disease and has nothing to do with bodypositive
The distorted view of the body
Also because, as Iris Zani, president of theAssociation Obese Friends Onlus who supports the campaign: «There is still a distorted view of the body. Especially the female one. On the one hand the search for a perfection that does not exist. Or to adapt to “standard measures” that it is not even clear why or by whom they were established.
On the other hand, false beliefs that lead to confuse the reality of the facts. And they make you think you have to agree to live with a few harmless extra pounds. From believing that you are doing well to doing nothing for your health, when you are clearly overweight, the step is short. Unfortunately, the reverse also happens ».
Take care of yourself
“Let’s think of the wave of criticism that has engulfed two singers, Adele and Noemi, when they lost weight, “exemplifies Zani. “A woman who decides to take care of herself and lose weight is mocked, if she chooses to undergo surgery to succeed she is even blamed: it is when one judges the body of others that one falls into erroreveryone has the right to make their own choices without having to account for the reasons “.
The true body positivity in short it is loving your bodyeven if it does not meet the aesthetic standards that are the most popular, but it also means realizing when it is the case of losing weight because otherwise you risk your health.
At the base of many pathologies
Because the question is all here: excess pounds hurt. Being obese means you are more likely to develop diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease.
Obesity is also believed to be a cause of at least twelve different types of cancer (including breast, ovarian and endometrial cancer). And, according to estimates by the World Health Organization, which defined it as a real new epidemic, it is related to at least 200 thousand new cases of cancer And 1.2 million deaths across Europe every year.
Obesity in Italy: numbers tripled
Scrolling through the data of the last Obesity report in Italy of the Auxological Institute of Milan also in our country there is nothing to be happy about: around the age of 50 at least half of the population has excess kilos, but 11 percent are obese and the percentage grows going towards the South.
“The number of people with obesity has tripled since the 1980s and today we also have the sad European record of childhood obesity,” says Luca Busetto, president of the Italian Obesity Society. “In the face of all this and despite the fact that in 2019 Parliament approved a motion to recognize obesity as a disease, excess weight is not yet considered a pathology. Only 8 percent of patients are being treated in a specialized center and are followed by professionals ”.
Much depends on the lack of perception of the problem: the international study Action-Io, which investigated behaviors and attitudes towards obesity to understand what are the obstacles that prevent it from being treated, revealed that 62 percent of obese people think they are just a little overweight.
Even when a little boy is “chubby” it is no better: the data from Action – Teens, presented last May at the European Congress on Obesity 2022, show that one in three parents does not recognize their child’s obesity and that one in four teenagers don’t realize they are.
The team of experts is a necessity
If this weren’t already worrying enough, the picture is worsened by the difficulties faced by those who recognize they have a weight problem: obese children in two out of three cases do not know how to deal with the disease and they feel solely responsible for their own weight, moreover even today even eight out of ten doctors think that obesity should be managed simply by improving the lifestyle. Result: many think they can do it alone, they embark on unsuccessful diets that bring them back to square one or worse. And they suffer.
«The obese person has a great psychological pain, he would like to be like the others but he can’t. Often returns to take refuge in food because it is the only consolation, in a vicious circle from which it is difficult to get out without qualified help »explains Zani. Recognizing that obesity is a disease, moreover quite complicated to deal with, given that so many endocrine, psychological and metabolic factors play a role, would be the first step. Not only to have practical support in therapies (today there are no Essential Levels of Assistance designed for obesity, so all treatments are borne by the sick), but above all to be looked at with a different eye, as Zani underlines.
“We should finally understand that being obese is not a fault, a vice, a problem that cannot be solved because one is weak and does not know how to diet. A person with diabetes or cancer is not offended or bulliedwe approach them with empathy and respect: the same should also happen with the obese, who should be helped more to find a cure ».
The new campaign also tries to respond to this need: on the site laveritasulpeso.it, in addition to finding information about the disease and the ability to calculate if your weight is healthy, the list of centers dedicated to obesity therapy reported byItalian Obesity Network.
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