Obesity is not a lifestyle problem or a failure of willpower. It is a chronic disease as serious and potentially deadly as diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.
Yet, people with obesity are treated differently than those with any other disease. Many are fat-shamed and discriminated against for having obesity, and very few receive a formal diagnosis or counseling from their physicians. As a result, as many as 96 percent of Americans with obesity do not obtain quality care at a time when new therapies have been shown to achieve clinically significant weight loss.
Addressing this situation requires “breaking glass” to destigmatize obesity, end weight bias within the healthcare system, and confront the inequities in obesity care among older adults and communities of color. In effect, systems change will only happen when people with obesity think differently about themselves and their disease and have the knowledge, skills and confidence to view themselves as equal partners with their health providers in decisions about their care.
