According to Medicare, obesity is a disease. But according to others, it's actually a lifestyle.

April Herndon, an associate professor of English at Winona State University in Minnesota, is one person who is tackling the issue.

Psychology Today writer Alice Dreger, a professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, asked Herndon to address some obesity questions. In regards to whether it's a disease or a lifestyle choice, Herndon said, "The truth is that obesity is so complicated that most doctors and scientists will admit that the answer may change for each person or (gasp!) that we just don't know."