Obesity 's Detrimental Effect To The Future Generation America’s future generation may become the first to not outlive their parents. Obesity has become an epidemic that has started to increase throughout the years. Many do not realize how obesity is transforming an individual’s health. Due to consuming unhealthy foods America has become the most obese country in the world. This disease has impacted an individual’s physical appearance and is affecting their lifestyle. The younger generation ranging from eighteen to twenty-five year olds is falling victim to this detrimental disease and it is transforming lives into shorter life expectancy rates than prior generations. Not only has this outbreak brought excessive weight gain but also a variety …show more content…
The current menu features food that is loaded with calories and it has become a daily habit for individuals to eat because they have become addicted to the life of processed and fast foods. The businesses are the ones that are just as responsible for the current health situation the young generation is facing because companies have created commercials that have a powerful message for its viewers which is to buy and eat the meals seen. Mark Bittman, author of Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables states “[t]heir mission is not public health but profit, so they 'll continue to sell the health-damaging food that’s most profitable, until the market or another force skews things otherwise” (4). According to Bittman 's assertion companies do not necessarily care how healthy the food is but only about how much profit each meal can make.Companies should invest on improving the menus into less fattening and processed food items. In Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables, Bittman goes on further explaining that due to new marketing methods the obesity rate has increased dramatically in the past three decades (20). Marketing healthier food options can being to help fast food companies become more reliable for individuals who choose to maintain a healthier lifestyle. Fast food and other companies should also reduce the quantity …show more content…
The government should help fund the Agricultural Department in order to provide healthy products for public places such as fast food restaurants and college campuses for lower prices. In No Lunch Left Behind, Alice Waters and Katrina Heron mention that the Agricultural Department needs to start providing healthy foods for the young generation by having farmers serve unprocessed products that are fresh and not made by using toxic chemicals, as well as supplying the healthy food to the young adults to eat (8). By producing healthy foods that do not consist of chemicals the young generation can live longer and not suffer from this detrimental disease. The government should also have regulations for fast food restaurants to serve healthier products for a lower price than the obesogenic food items. Currently many high calorie foods are cheaper compared to salads and other healthy products, which for many individuals makes it easier to choose the cheaper items even though it is unhealthy. By allowing healthy foods to become more affordable to the young generation can consume high quality food and maintain a healthy lifestyle. By having the government provide regulations for farmers and businesses the young generation can help reduce the obesity
It is natural for a society to be concerned for the future generations. With the rate of obesity growing in adults and children, many begin to see it as an issue that needs to be addressed. New reports show “ childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years” (cdc.gov). Overweight and obese are not actually the same. Overweight is defined as “having excess body weight for a particular height from fat,” and obesity is defined as “having excess body fat” (cdc.gov). With obesity comes the chance for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Both can be
Fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society. Everywhere you turn you can see a fast food restaurant. An industry that modestly began with very few hot dog and hamburger vendors now has become a multi-international industry selling its products to paying customers. Fast food can be found anywhere imaginable. Fast food is now served at restaurants and drive-through, at stadiums, airports, schools all over the nation. Surprisingly fast food can even be found at hospital cafeterias. In the past, people in the United States used to eat healthier and prepared food with their families. Today, many young people prefer to eat fast food such as high fat hamburgers, French-fries, fried chicken, or pizza in fast
Section 1: Typically, we need a well-balanced meal to give us the energy to do day-to-day tasks and sometimes we aren’t able to get home cooked meals that are healthy and nutritious on a daily basis, due to the reasons of perhaps low income or your mom not being able to have the time to cook. People rely on fast food, because it’s quicker and always very convenient for full-time workers or anyone in general who just want a quick meal. Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation argues that Americans should change their nutritional behaviors. In his book, Schlosser inspects the social and economic penalties of the processes of one specific section of the American food system: the fast food industry. Schlosser details the stages of the fast food production process, like the farms, the slaughterhouse and processing plant, and the fast food franchise itself. Schlosser uses his skill as a journalist to bring together appropriate historical developments and trends, illustrative statistics, and telling stories about the lives of industry participants. Schlosser is troubled by our nation’s fast-food habit and the reasons Schlosser sees fast food as a national plague have more to do with the pure presence of the stuff — the way it has penetrated almost every feature of our culture, altering “not only the American food, but also our landscape, economy, staff, and popular culture. This book is about fast food, the values it represents, and the world it has made," writes Eric Schlosser in the introduction of his book. His argument against fast food is based on the evidence that "the real price never appears on the menu." The "real price," according to Schlosser, varieties from destroying small business, scattering pathogenic germs, abusing wor...
It is within them that the obesity and obesity related problem can be solved for present, past and future generations. Learn the nutrition facts about foods and what type of diet is unique for each person, or what sort of exercise routine a person should follow. One big problem people face is not knowing where to even find healthy choices. With a little research, millennials would find out where his or her local supermarket sells the healthiest choices in the store. But all this learning will be wasteful if not passed on. Why hoard all this useless information for personal gain? The more help that everybody receives, the greater chance this country has of solving this laden problem. All it takes is the right mindset of staying healthy, and the right information to keep living and making healthy
Obesity in the United States, which the media has labeled a national crisis, has also been connected to poverty rates. Big fast food industry’s target poor communities, and spend millions of dollars each year to create advertising that appeals to these specific areas. These industry’s also target naïve children when advertising because they know that eating habits developed in childhood are usually carried into adulthood. Children who are exposed to television advertisements for unhealthy food and who are not educated well enough on good nutrition will grow up and feed their families the same unhealthy foods they ate as kids. A big way fast food giants are able to make certain young people have access to unhealthy food is by strategically placing franchises in close proximity to schools. They will often place three times as many outlets within walking distance of schools than in areas where there are no schools nearby. The way fast food advertising is targeted towards children is very alarming considering how important good nutrition is for young people and how a child’s eating habits can affect their growth and
Obesity has been identified as one of the risk factors affecting directly and indirectly the health outcome of the population. Even though many approaches and programs have been conducted in order to reduce the obesity rate, this health issue is still a big headache and keeps being put on the table. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), overweight and obesity rate have been increasing significantly in the past two decades in the United States with more than 35.7% of adults and almost 17% of children and adolescents from 2-19 years olds being obese ("Overweight and obesity," 2013). As Healthy People 2020 indicated, in the period from 1988-1994 to 2009-2010, the age adjusted obesity rate among U.S adults aged 20 and over increased from 22.8% to 35.7%, which means increased by 57% while the obesity rate among children and teenagers from 2 to 19 years old increased from 10% to approximately 17%, witnessing the increase of 69% ("Nutrition, physical activity," 2013). Obesity has impact both on economic and health of the nation. Obesity is the risk factor of serious chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, type II diabetes, certain kinds of cancer, and other leading causes of preventable deaths ("Overweight and obesity," 2013). Moreover, obesity continues to be economic burden in terms of medical costs for either public or private payers up to $147 billion per year which increased from 6.5% to 9.1% (Finkelstein et al, 2009). In 2008, medical spending per capita for the obese or obesity related health issues is $1,429 per year, as 42% higher than “those of normal weight” (Finkelstein et al, 2009, p.8).
There is no doubt that obesity has taken its seat as one of the top disease that strikes the world today. In America, obesity has now spread through the country leaving 2 out of 3 adults either overweight or obese, and worldwide 1.5 billion are overweight or obese (Overweight). The cause of this disease stems from multiple reasons such as the increase in modern food production, putting out ample amounts of food causing the prices for meat, groceries, and especially junk food to plummet. Subsequently, Americans especially were more inclined to purchase more food and showed an increase in the average American house hold food intake by 1,000 more calories a day (Dreifus).
The obesity epidemic is one of the most pressing issues at this point in both American society and U.S. public policy initiatives. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention 35.9% of U.S. adults over the age of twenty are obese (CDC, 2013). The CDC further notes that 69.2% of U.S. adults twenty years of age and over are overweight (this percentage includes those who are obese). The obesity problem is not exclusive to the adults in the U.S. The CDC notes that 18.4% of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 are currently obese (CDC, 2013). These statistics illustrate the severity of the obesity epidemic in this country, but what can be done to address or even correct this problem? Many people have proposed solutions, but few are as radical as the proposal from Michael Bloomberg (the New York City Mayor) in 2012.
Since the 1960?s obesity in America has more than tripled regardless of sex or race. Today 30.5 percent, or 69 million, American Adults are considered obese (?AOA Fact Sheets? np). In addition, 13 percent of children aged 6-11 years old are considered overweight, and well on their way to becoming obese. Obesity causes over 300,000 deaths a year and costs the country $117 billion dollars, prompting health care providers and the government to label it an epidemic (?Overweight and Obesity?? np).
Fast food restaurants such as Burger King and McDonald’s, create advertisements where it urges people to consume their product. For example Mcdonald’s created a product where you can get two items such as a mcdouble and a medium fries for three dollars. According to “The battle against fast food begins at home”, by Daniel Weintraub, it shows how companies are intriguing their customers. “ The center blames the problem on the increasing consumption of fast food and soft drinks, larger portion sizes in restaurants and the amount of available on school campuses”(1).For the most part, the Center for Public Health believes that fast food companies are the problem for health
Millions of American people buy fast food every day without thinking about where, how and why. The ramifications of fast food is impacting the American people both around the waist line and the community where they live at. “As the old saying goes: you are what you eat.” (Schlosser) The customer have made the choices to eat fast food or not. The industry doesn’t care about the customers; studies have shown that the fast food industry is the reason for the rise of American obesity. “Live fast and die young” (Moore); this could not be more true when looking at the impact of the fast food industry.
To fix the problem the main sources must be targeted; it starts with educating the people. Having a health class that teaches people about the health risk of unhealthy lifestyles needs to become a mandatory part of school curriculum. Having a health class must be present in all levels of education for it to be effective--without this the plan goes awry. For those who plan to go to college these classes would be more than useful for future health and to prevent the freshmen fifteen. By teaching about the benefits of a healthier lifestyle over an unhealthy lifestyle, obesity and obesity related diseases can drastically fall. These classes would consist of live demonstrations on how to cook healthier, experiments, statistics and much more. Some may claim that a class like this would have no effect on people’s consumption and health choices, but many people are willing to change during a time of crisis or an eye opening revelation. Although these classes will not affect every student as intended it will still be an effective one and its impact will be noticed on the fight against obesity.
Over the last three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society and has become nothing less than a revolutionary force in American life. Fast food has gained a great popularity among different age groups in different parts of the globe, becoming a favorite delicacy of both adults and children.
Obesity is a big social issue in America. Due to the popularity of fast food and other unhealthy foods, more and more Americans are developing health diseases and disorders. We should be getting the correct daily nutrition amount, but because of our fast paced lifestyles we sometimes do not have enough time. Fast food restaurants make it possible to grab a meal and go. We often do not pay attention to the nutrition amount, but are simply looking for a quick bite to eat that will fulfill our hunger. Fast food is assisting in the increase of obesity in America (“Phrase” par.2).
Society should consider the physical and emotional problems of obesity in our nation. “Obesity is defined as an excess proportion of total body fat (Mayo Clinic).” American society has become increasingly obese, “characterized by environments that promote increased food intake, unhealthy foods, and physical inactivity (cdcinfo@cdc.gov).” Our nation increasingly has become consumers of a fast food diet. It is so simple to just pick up food on the go and not deal with the hassle of cooking and cleaning up afterwards. What are nation needs to acknowledge is the health risks they will obtain if they do not acquire a healthy life style.