Eating Disorder Talk

So research in the area of obesity has recently turned up some plausible proofs of some wacky theories. There’s the virus that causes fat cells to expand - you get it, and you can blame your weight on being sick. And now, there’s a gene that controls fat formation.

The virus is not yet treatable, nor has a vaccine been introduced. But it would give obese and overweight people a sense of justice - knowing that they’re afflicted with a sickness out of their control. The gene, in fruit flies at least, appears manipulable. Meaning they could, in theory, turn up fat formation so that people who have trouble gaining and keeping weight are successful. Alternately, they could turn down the formation, allowing overweight and obese members of society a genetic diet.

And this is what all of my recent media raving has come to: The media is so inspired and littered with celebrity weight ideals, eating disorder rumours and “scientific gains” to combat the obesity epidemic. It’s enough to make you never want to eat, again. Or never stop, depending on your habit du jour.

Why do we want to take control away from people when most who have issues with disordered eating - whether not enough, too much or digesting it, fully and naturally - when control is what most disordered eating revolves around? Bulimics purge as a means to cleanse of the lack of control they felt while binging (or eating in general, sometimes). Anorexics sometimes only have “control” over what they put into their bodies and how they choose to use it (such as in the case of over-exercising). Overeaters and Binge Eaters, well, eating can be seen as a coping mechanism to situations and feelings over which they have no control.

I see treating, medically, a weight problem (outside of extreme risks to health, of course) akin to sedating the opiate addict - yes, they come out clean on the other side, but without the pain and coping of withdrawal and therapy, what did they learn and what will stop them from returning?

I’m not condemning overweight people as bad. But the fact, until recently, existed that being overweight is about simple intake and output. Sure some bodies don’t function as effectively as others and the hard-fast rule of losing 3,500 calories means a loss of one pound is few and far between, in reality. But that doesn’t mean fixing it with a vaccine or medication, does it?

We need, as a world, community, species to come to terms with the fact that we are ultimately responsible for everything that we’ve experienced. We choose to lose weight, to starve, to binge, to sit without moving for a day, to drive to the corner store, etc.

Isn’t that a good way to take control?

obesity, fat gene, fat virus, control, diet, binge, eating disorder, anorexia, bulimia, overeaters, locus of control