Would Buddha, Jesus and Mohammad Agree that Obesity is a Disease?

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS 
By Ernest Disney-Britton
Buddha in his six years of continuously practicing all forms of severe austerity.
If we model our lives after the lives of Jesus, Buddha or Mohammad, can we also be fat? Not if we look to the examples from history's religious artists, and now you can add the American Medical Association to that list. According to ABC NEWS, "The American Medical Association confronted some weighty issues at its annual meeting in Chicago this week. In perhaps its biggest policy change on weight and health to date, the AMA recognized obesity as a disease." For 1,000s of years, artist-followers of Jesus, Buddha or Muhammad have given us examples of the ideal we should embody. This ideal is slim, perhaps even gaunt; a person who walks extensively (exercise), fasts regularly, and always eats and drinks in moderation. True-followers, who treat their body-temples like Jesus, Buddha or Mohammad don't need the American Medical Association to "weigh-in."
Depicting the prophet Mohammed
"White Crucifixion" by Chagall

Comments

I would venture to say being overweight isn't something that can be a deciding factor of whether a person is faithful or not!
I agree that obesity is not a sign of being a good or bad person, but the case also be made that if you are "truly" walking in the shoes of Jesus, Buddha or Mohammad, then you could not possible be overweight! Certainly, vanity weight control, athleticism, and health weight control are "other" reasons for people to be slim but that's not the point here. The point is how can someone who lives a life of self-sacrifice and working constantly for others be overweight? I can't find an example of anyone who fits that criteria, and so it seems to me that where ever you find a fat person, clergy or other, you are looking at a person who is "not" living up to the example of service and self-sacrifice modeled by Jesus, Buddha or Mohammad.
For many of us, summer vacation is a time when we eat too much, drink too much, do too much physically, and perhaps neglect to take our medications. That's why vacation heart attacks like the one suffered by TV star James Gandolfini are tragically common, a top cardiologist tells Newsmax Health. "When you’re on vacation, you don’t eat the same way that you do when you’re at home. People tend to indulge, and that can lead directly to a heart attack,” said Chauncey Crandall, M.D.

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