The politically correct term for fat people is suffering from obesity

The power of the F word has recently been highlighted by the UK public health minister Anne Milton who explained that telling people that they were Fat as opposed to Obese could motivate them to do something about their weight problem.

We have written on a number of occasions at Ukmedix News about how offensive calling people 'fat' can be and that it is often used as the ultimate insult designed to cause as much hurt as possible. The politically correct term for fat people is "suffering from obesity" which gives the implication that it is some sort of disease rather than a result of overeating.

Anne Milton, who used to be a nurse said that if she looked in the mirror and described the way she looked as fat she would be more worried than if it merely made her look obese. She said that people should have "the information", about their condition.

Ms. Lindsey Davies who is the President of the UK Faculty of Public Health explained that there was a huge amount of "stigma to being a fat person" and being offensive was not the way forward. She described obesity as something that "happens to people" as opposed to "something they are."

On the other hand Steve Field from the Royal College of General Practitioners said that Anne Milton's statement was welcome and should serve as an incentive for doctors to be more direct and honest with their patients.

From our own research at Ukmedix News we have seen how there's a fine line between blunt speaking and just being offensive when it comes to talking to overweight individuals about their weight.

Some doctors feel that by being tough and direct they will motivate their patients to do something but often it has the opposite effect. In fact, what doctors need to do is to be extremely clear about how dangerous obesity is, sympathize with their patients about how difficult it is to lose weight and even explain to them that they understand that obesity is not only harming their physical health but also undermining their psychological health too.

Many individuals who lost weight can point to a person who gave them good and understanding advice which helped to motivate themselves to become slim and healthy.