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Relationship between genetics and obesity
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Obesity in the media essay
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The author Marilyn Wann wrote a very entertaining piece on being fat and how she was and is treated. In the piece she attacks a lot of commonly held beliefs on fat people. She attacks these claims and even provides evidence from health journals that disproves many of the myths that are held in society today. Her stories and experiences are really cases of injustice and unfair treatment. However even through all of the occasions in her life where she was mistreated because of her size she is not bitter or has no animosity towards people.
In the article that she wrote, she has a lot of distinct mental models about healthy body weight that few people have. The way she approached having a “healthy” bodyweight is by believing that there is no such thing. She got to this mind state because of the fact that when she went to get her check-up at the doctor’s office, she did not have any problems with her blood pressure, cholesterol, or blood sugars. She is a very healthy individual who eats her vegetables and exercises. She is a legitimately healthy individual despite her size. Her other mental model towards having a healthy body weight is that even people who are at a “normal” body weight or are thin can still have health issues. She has a great mindset towards her size and because she is so confident, she was able to start up her own magazine for fat people, that has become a success.
The mental models that are held by many medical care industries and health insurance companies have had a major impact on the health and wellness of fat people. For example, the author of this article has to pay an astounding 4 times the rate than a thin person would have to pay on her health insurance. This rate is due to the fact that...
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...s also cause individuals to look at fat people and assume that they are unhealthy or at risk of dying prematurely and this is certainly not true.
My mental model on having a healthy body weight is not very strong. I do not believe that there is a set body weight that will determine how healthy you are. I do believe that people should exercise and eat healthy whether or not they are trying to lose weight. When I was younger I was one of the many people who thought that fat people were unhealthy, but after reading about nutrition and recognizing different body types I quickly changed my perception. My mental model is based on how I was taught in class and also how my parents approached exercise and nutrition. Clearly, after reading this article I feel like I am much more informed on the issue of body weight and its relation with health and overall wellness.
In “Cruelty, Civility, and Other Weighty Matters” by Ann Marie Paulin, she was trying to get across a very important message: skinny doesn’t mean happy. The main idea was about how our culture in America encourages obesity because of the food choices they offer, how expensive weight loss pills and exercise bikes is, and etc., yet the culture also is prejudice against these same fat people that they encourage. It’s a constant back and forth in America between what is convenient with the little time we have in between everything we have to do each day and working out to be skinny enough for everyone to not judge you. Ms. Paulin wrote this article for literally everyone, this article was for skinny people to show them like hey, you’re not all
The article “Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance” is written by Mary Ray Worley, a member of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. She writes of her firsthand experience as a “fat person” in society. Throughout the article, Worley explains what it is like to be obese and describes the way society treats those who have a weight problem. She attacks the idea of dieting, criticizes medical professionals for displaying an obscured view of health risks, and defends the idea of exercising to feel good rather than exercising to lose weight. Unfortunately, her article seems to reflect only own opinions and emotions rather than actual facts and statistics.
“Fat Acceptance”: An Argument Lacking Validity Cynara Geisslers’ essay “Fat Acceptance: A Basic Primer,” was published in Geez Magazine in 2010. The focus of the essay is to refute the pressure of society to be thin and promote self-acceptance regardless of size. While this essay touches on many agreeable points, it tends to blow many ideas out of context in an attempt to create a stronger argument. The article takes on a one-sided argument without any appropriate acknowledgement of the opposition, overlooks the risks of ignoring personal health, and has a strong feminist ideology associated towards the essay which tends to make the validity of her argument questionable.
The author brings in the mental health aspect and talks about the ridicule that is a part of a heavy person’s life regularly. She notes that people will make rude comments, or comment about what they have in their grocery cart at the store. She states that people are not that into getting medical help by reason of a doctor almost always attributing health issues to the fact a person is fat. She talks about how she has tried so many times to lose weight, but she realized that she needed to just make peace with her body. Spake and Worley disagree on how people should handle their addiction.
This story is to help you realize that it is an actual real world problem and you can help us with this issue. The story is about a surgeon who got a MacArthur award and many people were disgusted just because she was a full-bodied woman. One hateful comment was by Neil Cavuto, “Obesity is the No. 1 issue facing our country in terms of health and wellness, and she has shown no that she was born this way, not that she woke up one day and was obese. She has shown through being lazy, and making poor food choices, that she’s obese”, this lady is getting her education to become a great surgeon so much that she got a MacArthur award so many people thought she had a grand amount of potential and save many lives one day. Rude comments like these can actually hurt people who are obese so much that they will not want to go to the doctor because they do not want to hear the criticism from the doctor along with what everyone else in the world is saying. The words stick with you and that could lead small health problems that could be fixed instantly to larger ones that are not as easily fixable. These larger health factors are what is bringing up insurance and the reason the government spends billions of dollars every year. Type two diabetes is very treatable, but also
However, one day Tony Robbins, understanding Hal’s situation, hypnotizes him into seeing people’s inner beauty and not their external selves. And after that incident, he fell in love with Rosemary, woman who appears to him to look beautiful due to her kind, generous nature, but is, in actuality, morbidly obese. This proved people should not be judged by their looks because every person is unique and everyone possesses special qualities. Furthermore, obese people aren’t always happy and they remain melancholic to feel normal and this can also be related to what Jennifer A. Coleman said in her article Discrimination at Large “Fat people aren’t jolly. Sometimes we act that way so you will leave us alone.” Everyone can be changed through consistency so there is no point in mocking a fat person. A strict regimen of exercise can change the shape of a person and he can become the next model. However, Americans think fat people will always remain fat despite their hard work. Neil Steinberg stated in the article O.K., So I’m Fat “Others assume that thinness is forever beyond my grasp.” Maybe, it will be hard for the obese people to get into the right shape but with time he/she can get the body he
Obesity is a big problem in America and she lets us know that by stating
The irony is the fact that a majority of Americans are fat by national standards. Over 90 percent of women don't conform to the diet standards developed by insurance companies in the 60s. The media create a need to lose weight because they realize most Americans aren't statistically thin. By creating a standard of what is "normal" and then creating a need to achieve this normality, an industry of dependence is born - dependence upon diet pr...
We have historically witnesses how society has come to accept the concepts that women who are as thin as paper have the ideal body. This, in the larger context, affects eating behaviors. To some, it led to people eating less especially women. Others, however, take them negatively and instead binge into eating. As years passed, we now realize that this concept have evolved into the consideration that thin is out but fit is right. Such concept today shape beliefs in eating and so regulate behaviors that would have to promote healthy eating
Obesity is a very common health problem in the U.S., and the number of people considered obese is forever increasing. More than 35.7% of U.S. adults are considered obese (“Adult Overweight”). The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism points out that “obesity is a chronic medical condition characterized by too much body fat” (Beeson, Hill, Wyatt). It is diagnosed by a number called the Body Mass Index or BMI. This number calculates the amount of body fat based on the person’s height and weight. The higher the BMI the more body fat obese people have which leads to obesity. An adult with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight. An adult with a BMI of greater than 30 is considered obese (“Adult Overweight”). While Obesity is an extremely serious problem in the U.S., this condition, except possibly for the cases of genetic and hormonal disorders, can be prevented by portion control, exercise, and eating a well-balanced diet.
This public health issue does not only effect individuals but the national as a whole in regards to the health care system costs. Obesity in children "costs the health care system $14 billion per year, much which comes from public funds" (Glanz, 2008). Also, obesity is expected to cause 112,000 deaths per year in the United States(Gollust, 2014). In addition, many changes seen in the health care sy...
Methods commonly used to calculate body weight goals involve ideal body weight (IBW) and being in the “normal” range for BMI. If IBW was used to calculate a weight goal for Mr. McKinley, then his weight goal would be 166 lbs. If BMI was used, this would require Mr. McKinley to lose over 230 lbs. However, both of these methods are highly unreasonable, given Mr. McKinley’s current body weight, BMI, UBW, and considering that he has weighed over 250 lbs. for over 20 years now. Therefore, both of these methods are unacceptable for determining an appropriate weight goal for Mr. McKinley. A 5-10% loss in body weight in obese persons is likely to improve blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels.1 Since Mr. McKinley has already lost a little
In the media there are people who view women a certain way, and if we don't hold to the standard that we are not as good as other women who are the size the media says we have to be. In an article it said that "Large women in America are to all intents and purposes invisible in today's thinness-obsessed culture. A big women is neither seen nor heard, and is defined purely in terms of her weight and other people's prejudice." (Goodman par 1) This is a hard thing for women that a heavier to understand because they want the person to think that they are heard. This plays into the way that they think and the way that women look at their bodies. You can see this happening with different types of televisions shows, which put on the show thinner women. "Practically the only television programming that addresses her directly consists of weight-loss ads, the message: lose weight. You're not real women unless you're thin (Goodman)". It is hard to think that this statement could be true, but
The BMI scale is a measurement to determine if a person is obese, overweight, or underweight using their height and weight. This topic has progressed into one of controversies. Reasons would be that obesity rates have doubled from 14% to 31% in the United States since the mid 1970’s. The increased number of fast food restaurants, and processed food are being blamed for this yet there is freedom to choose what and where to eat. Back then, many people bought food that was grown and produced by farmers who produced fresh products. This is considered the logic behind obesity rates being intriguingly lower than they are today. Also, an estimated 300,000 deaths were because of unhealthy weight in 2013, being the third highest cause of death, behind high blood pressure and smoking. The large spike of deaths sparked interest in medical associations and doctors to begin “making a move” to fight
Many folks who become obese are people who abuse the calories their body needs on a daily diet. As stated in “Overweight and Obesity Statistics”, everyone body needs a certain amount of energy from foods to have a proper balance. If the calories you have eaten sum up to the amount of calories you have used or have not burnt, you will start to have a problem if this eating habit continues. You will now be in the stage of overweight, if you do not burn the extra calories you consumer. In March 2004 the CDC publishes a study showing that poor eating habits and lack of exercise were the second leading death in the Untied States (“Chronology”). For example, one major reason why people become obese in America is because the environment is full of fast food restaurants. If you look to your left you will see McDonald’s, you look to your right, and you see Jack in The Box, you look behind you and there is Carl’s Jr, and if you look in front of you and you see a Burger King. According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, “17% of children and adolescents (aged 2-19) are obese. The prevalence of obesity in America has risen dramatically over the past two decades and continues to increase” (qtd. “Weight Control and Diet”). You see these places all over the place and not to mention food advertising is a big cause for obesity. According to What Causes Overweight