(CNN) – In deciding to label one third of Americans – fat people – as diseased, the American Medical Association not only went against the advice of its own experts, they also failed to include anyone from the fat community in that decision.
There is a consensus among three groups of people – those who proudly self-identify as fat, fat studies scholars and advocates of the Health at Every Size approach – that the AMA is putting profits before people and redoubling its focus on weight and weight loss when that approach has, for decades, failed to deliver. It doesn’t make people thinner or healthier in the long term, and it encourages weight stigma, prejudice and discrimination.
The AMA seems eager to expand weight-loss treatment and convince insurers to reimburse for it. Big Pharma has two new weight-loss drugs out, with users losing at most only 10 percent of their body weight at a monthly cost of $100 or more and possible health complications.
Bariatric surgeons would like to expand insurance reimbursements for the practice of surgically interrupting healthy internal organs. And the $66 billion per year weight-loss industry has a stake, too.
“I can guarantee you that if there was no money to be had in this, the term ‘obesity epidemic’ would not exist,” said clinical psychologist Peggy Elam.
At news of the AMA’s pronouncement that obesity was a disease, fat community members started the #IAmNotADisease hashtag on Twitter. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, proclaimed a vote of no confidence in the AMA and called for “an immediate roundtable discussion that includes higher-weight people from every community.”
As a result of the AMA’s decision, fat people who face health challenges will encounter even more weight bias in medical settings and will likely encounter more difficulty obtaining treatment unrelated to weight.
For more than two decades, health professionals who promote the Health at Every Size concept have argued that a weight focus does no lasting good and much harm to physical and mental health and to fat people’s social status.
They are finding that a weight-neutral approach based in self-acceptance and social justice yields far superior results for people’s health and happiness. People are able to develop enjoyable, sustainable eating and exercise habits and a positive feeling about their bodies.
If the AMA truly cares about the health of fat people, they will end the war on obesity.
Marilyn Wann is a weight diversity speaker internationally.
