Obesity

“My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of obesity” may be a more accurate depiction of the song “America” in today’s society (Fen). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 34.9 percent of adults in America were obese in 2011-2012, and the number of young people who are overweight has tripled since the 1980’s. Obesity is an epidemic that not only causes many health problems, but also puts people at a much higher risk for several other dangerous health issues. Obesity is affected by and effects many different aspects in one’s life.

Obesity in the United States of America does not effect all of the population equally. In fact, it is far more predominant in underprivileged neighborhoods and among groups with lower education and income. An article in The Advocate called it “the poverty-obesity paradox”. Socioeconomic factors influence food choice behaviors, overall diet quality, and bodyweight due to inequitable access to healthy foods. Affordability of healthy foods has more of an impact on eating habits than proximity of a supermarket. Lower quality diets, lower diet costs, and lower socioeconomic status are all associated with foods that have added sugar, added fats, are good tasting, and convenient. Healthier diets that cost more are linked with more affluent people. In this paper we will use Center for Disease Control facts and scholarly articles to prove that higher obesity rates in poor neighborhoods is a consequence of economic insecurity.

Millions of Americans and people worldwide are overweight or obese. Obesity develops when “calories consumed exceeds calories expended” (“Obesity and Genetics”). “Obesity rates have more than doubled in adults and children since the 1970’s,” and in the present day it is estimated that “two – thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese” (Ogden). Being overweight or obese highly increases the risk of deadly health problems, therefore this statistic states that the majority of the United States population is at risk of obtaining life–threatening diseases. Around forty years ago obesity would not effect this abundant number of people; however today’s society consumes more fast food in addition to spending most of their hours doing sedentary activities (Green). There are now many causes of obesity such as environment, genetics, bad habits, culture and economic level. Obesity has many negative impacts on the human body. It can very likely cause diabetes, joint pain, sleeping problems, depression, and many hazardous diseases (“Explore Overweight”). In contrast to this, there are some possible solutions to obesity such as physical activity, dieting, and surgery. Obesity is a widespread epidemic that unfavorably affects the body, but with exercise fused with dieting the disease could be kept to a minimum.

This correlation is extremely significant since it shows that food insecurity, in reality, manifests itself through many different forms, and people that are already suffering from food insecurity are also prone to obesity and poverty. Indeed, food insecurity is much more severe in reality, as it is intimately linked with other social issues as well. Food insecurity’s relationship to obesity and poverty paves the path for us to delve further into the major as well as the underlying causes of food

The problem of obesity plagued has this Nation for many years. It is a disease that has affected many adult Americans, now it has spread to our children, and at their young age obesity can be threatening, according to the CDC “childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 year,” (CDC). Children’s obesity is a problem in America causing major health issues like high cholesterol, hypertension, respiratory ailments and other major health issues. Obesity also costs our society $223 billion per year and some of those costs come from Medicare and Medicaid (Harvard Men Watch). Solution have been offered, like having schools change they food the serve, being active, and eating healthy foods. These proposals have failed because they did not address one of the major causes of the growing number of obese children, which is fast-food. There should regulation for fast-food restaurants to make changes to their menu choices an example of this would be adding more vegetables, fruit, as well as having smaller proportions and foods with fewer calories. The solution I am proposing will work where others have failed because it will attack one of the unhealthiest places many American eat and that is at fast food restaurants.

The field of radiography requires a lot of critical thinking, and with the growing rate of obesity, radiographers need those critical thinking skills even more. Obesity is a major issue in the United States and issues concerning this disease can be quite deadly. The article “Obesity and Medical Imaging Challenges” brings to light several of the issues as to why our population’s obesity rate is increasing and poses solutions to those problems.

Winterfeld, Amy. "Low-Income Americans Face a High Risk of Obesity." Obesity. Ed. Erin Dillon. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven, 2007. 49-57. Print.

Obesity is a medical condition that affects children, teenagers and adults, and in recent years has caused many disorders that are potentially life-threating. All individuals consist of fat in their body, but sometimes body can store more fat than needed in the body due to a disorder or excessive eating, therefore they would be classified as obese. According to Professor Jane Wardle, obesity rates started to rise soon after 1984 and she explained that it steadily raised under one percentage a year. Furthermore, obesity is believed to be a started from America, as throughout WW2, the world witnessed America dominate with new powers and develop new technology. This technology started to replace physical effort in both work and leisure. This reduced the amount of energy that was spent and a prime contributor was the creation of fast foods, which increased the amount of energy intake creating an energy imbalance. Subsequently, the list of contributing factors grew larger, whether that was the mass production and use of cars, the introduction of microwaves or the birth of strategic advertisements. Not to mention, children born during the technological boom grew attached and adapted to technology. Today teens’ food choices are an outcome of social influences, which are leading to an escalation of obesity rates, thereby creating an unhealthy lifestyle. This paper will discuss the three main factors contributing to the epidemic obesity. The factors being the changed food eating ways over the years, advancements in technology and lastly strategic advertisements.

Secondly, one of important causes is fast food. Fast food causes obesity because it is one of the cheapest way for children and adults to find a meal if they don’t feel like cooking. McDonalds is the number one restaurant that makes us Americans fat because they’re the cheapest and have good burgers like big macs, quarter pounders and French fries. But more and more it seems like McDonalds corruption wants Americans to be come fat. When eating fast food it can cause h...

Since 1970, the obesity rates in America have more than doubled. Currently two-thirds of (roughly 150 million) adults in the United States are either overweight, or obese (Food Research and Action Center). According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “overweight is defined as a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 whereas obesity is defined as a BMI greater than 30.” There are numerous factors that contribute to obesity such as: biological, behavioral and cultural influences (Food Research and Action Center). While these factors all have a large role in obesity, there is no factor with as great of an influence as poverty.