This month a 389-pound Quebec woman was awarded a human rights victory and ten grand..... for being morbidly obese. She successfully ousted another tenant from her parking spot so she could park closer to the condo in the underground garage. The fact that the condo association had denied her request for a few years was considered to be discrimination against a disabled person.
The woman has a number of health issues. Physically disabled, diabetic, wears an oxygen tank... the list goes on and on. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I'm not passing judgement. However, one thing guaranteed is her obesity complicates whatever medical issues she might have had to start with.
I fully understand there are physiological explanations for obesity. However, let's be real.....honest here....these medical reasons truthfully account for a very small fraction of obesity cases. The vast majority of the time poor lifestyle habits are the culprit.
Jillian Michaels so wonderfully explains hormone function in her book Master Your Metabolism, researchers have only recently discovered that fat cells are not inactive, quite contrary, “fat is an enormous endocrine gland, actively producing and reacting to hormones”. In other words the more body fat, the more out of whack the endocrine system gets. As Jillian explains...it is a vicious cycle. Leptin, ghrelin, insulin, cortisol... weight gain wreaks havoc with hormones. Scientists are convinced there are still more yet to be discovered. Remember, unfortunately when we lose weight, fat cells are still there, they only shrink. Previously over-weight people have to work much ha rder at keeping the weight off.