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Comment by citruscomputing | Hacker News Reader

Something my therapist pointed out to me is that obesity is directly linked to childhood and intergenerational trauma; calling it self-inflicted is not accurate. Even if we're focused on healthy eating, food deserts exist. No man is an island, &c.

Also, to cite an HN darling[0], obesity is, at the very least, a lot stranger and more complicated than CICO.

> we also need to prevent the exploitation of disability programs

What if we _encouraged_ the "exploitation" of disability programs? What if everyone who wanted or needed it got help, regardless of whether someone thinks they "deserve" it? What if people didn't have to worry about failing to re-prove they still need help? I would rather that myself & my disabled friends live in that world.

[0]: https://slimemoldtimemold.com/tag/a-chemical-hunger/

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> Something my therapist pointed out to me is that obesity is directly linked to childhood and intergenerational trauma; calling it self-inflicted is not accurate. Even if we're focused on healthy eating, food deserts exist. No man is an island, &c.

The idea that obesity is self inflicted runs contrary to our current understanding not just of psychology but of physiology. Most people don't have a constant struggle to maintain a healthy weight generally people with obesity even if they lose weight have to work extremely hard to not regain that weight and most fail.

> The idea that obesity is self inflicted runs contrary to our current understanding not just of psychology but of physiology.

Eating your feelings (emotional eating) is commonplace. I'm saying it's a uniform cause, but common enough to pass the bar of "contrary to current understanding of psychology".

i'm late replying but i'd argue that emotional eating isn't entirely self inflicted. It's partially biological (our bodies naturally crave higher calorie foods during times of stress), partially down to learned behaviours that you may not be able to break without outside help.

> What if everyone who wanted or needed it got help

That's always the ideal surely. But there are at least some cases where simply providing people with material necessities and access to medical care etc. doesn't always feel like it's really helping them - I have one such friend, and while I genuinely sympathise with his very real mental illnesses, it's hard not to think sometimes the fact there's no expectation he will ever need to provide for himself at all might be part of what's stopping him turning his life around.

> calling it self-inflicted is not accurate

Controlling the motion of your hand to your mouth is entirely within the powers of even amoeba. No one forced you to eat yourself to death.

It's strange how we are so tolerant of the obese but alcoholics who climb into a bottle because of PTSD are considered derelicts. "Healthy at any size" has been the most effective form of long term population control.

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