Obesity

 Here is a snippet from Dr. Simeons manuscript .  His theory after 40 years of study and testing was that obesity was a disorder and that overeating was not the cause but rather a symptom of the disorder.  When I read his paper on obesity I was drawn in by his uncommon approach.  I have often felt like not matter what I eat or how much I exercise I slowly but surely increase in weight over time.  Only by dieting every year or so do I keep from turning into the Stay-Puff Marshmallow man.


Obesity a Disorder

As a basis for our discussion we postulate that obesity in all its many forms is due to an abnormal
functioning of some part of the body’ and that every ounce of abnormally accumulated fat is always
the result of the same disorder of certain regulatory chanisms. Persons suffering from this particular
disorder will get fat regardless of whether they eat excessively, normally or less than normal. A person
who is free of the disorder will never get fat, even if he frequently overeats.
Those in whom the disorder is severe will accumulate fat very rapidly, those in whom it is moderate
will gradually increase in weight and those in whom it is mild may be able to keep their excess-weight
stationary for long periods, in all these cases a loss of weight brought about by dieting, treatments
with thyroid, appetite-reducing drugs, laxatives, violent exercise, massage, baths is only temporary
and will be rapidly regained as soon as the reducing regimen is relaxed. The reason is simply that
none of these measures corrects the basic disorder.