Obesity means having more body fat than normal. Many people get this confused with being overweight, but there is a difference. Being overweight means weighing too much. For example, someone can be overweight but not be obese. However, if someone is obese they are in fact overweight. Both of these terms have different meanings, but they both have a negative effect on the body. There are ways to stop obesity, if those people are willing to work for it. In most cases when people do not try to change, the outcome is fatal. Obesity kills.
America is on top as one of the most obese countries in the world. In fact, since 1980 the obesity rate has almost tripled. Approximately thirteen million, which is about seventeen of U.S. children ages two through nineteen are obese and more than one-third, which is equivalent to thirty five or more than seventy eight million of U.S. adults are obese (Martin 3). The amount of people becoming obese is not a coincidence. Obesity is very complex and incompletely understood, which is why many people do not fully comprehend the concept. Many people believe that food is the only reason obesity is increasing. This is true, however, there are so many other factors that lead to obesity that many people do not think about.
One of the main factors that we all know about is not eating healthy. Now a days many people do the simple routine of picking food up for dinner instead of cooking something themselves. It is a lot easier buying something already made rather than going to the grocery, buying the food, then taking the time to make it. It is also cheaper to go through the drive thru rather than buy all the ingredients for a meal. In this case, the cheaper and easier way is not the best decision. Eating out...
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... such as a set weight you want to be at, striving to eventually get there within a certain amount of time. This is a great strategy because it gives those people trying to lose weight something to look forward to. It gives them hope that they can do it and transform who they were to who they want to be.
People need to come to the realization that obesity is taking over and so many people are dying because of it. It is a choice people make to eat whatever they want and not to exercise. As a whole, we need to work on bettering our eating habits and learn to do some type of exercise every day. Sadly, if we do not work on this more and more people will become obese and more and more people will die. If obesity rates stay consistent, by 2030, fifty one percent of the population will be obese (“Obesity facts” 1). Let’s not become that statistic. Stop obesity! Save lives!
Obesity is a huge problem that needs to be resolved because it affects all people, unlike most issues. People of every gender, every age, and every race are at risk of being obese. Obesity rates in America have nearly doubled within the last twenty years. Something must be done not only to prevent obesity rates continuous rising, but also to dramatically increase the percentage of obese people in America altogether.
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
Obesity is a choice one makes. If an individual has too much body fat, they can exercise it off. The life one lives as an American permits living sedentary lifestyles that induce obesity. Obesity can potentially cause disease but it itself is not a disease. There are several factors that play roles in obesity.
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).
Today, 78.1 million American adults and 12.5 million children are obese. Obesity in America is a unstoppable epidemic. Since the 1960s, the number of obese adults have doubled and the number of obese children have tripled. Because of America’s obesity problems, Surgeon General David Satcher issued a report saying; "The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight," said that obesity "have reached epidemic proportions" in America. Obesity in America has no doubt reached epidemic proportions. Since 2001, America has been the most obese country in the world. This essay discusses what obesity is and how it is affecting today’s America by answers the following questions:
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).
According to the USDA, at the start of century 21st American people have increased their daily caloric intake by consuming five hundred calories more than in 1970. As cited by Whitney & Rolfes (2011), there are many recognized causes of obesity such as genetics, environment, culture, socioeconomic, and metabolism among others; but the cause most evident is that food intake is higher than the calories burned in physical activity. Excess of energy from food is stored in the body as fat causing an increase of weight. During the course of the last 40 years, obesity has grown enormously in the United States and the rates remain on the rise (pgs. 272-273).
The fight against obesity is not the responsibility of any one person or group. It will take an entire reevaluation of what we consider appropriate or trendy in our nation. As Judith Warner stated in her article, Junking Junk Food, it took the entire nation coming together and regulating our food consumption during World War II. She states that only by approaching the problem on two fronts were we able to succeed. By educating people about nutrition, and making eating healthy a public concern rather than one targeted at individuals will we be able to make a comeback against this epidemic.
There is no question that obesity is a big problem in today’s society, but whom or what's to blame? Is it the big food corporation, lack of education, or are the people to blame? The fact of the matter is that the obesity epidemic is caused of many different factors. All it means is that it will be a harder problem to fix, but it shouldn’t deter anyone from tackling this problem head on. If people don't, the consequences from ignoring something this immense can be devastating—it’s time to stop talking and time to take action. The burden of fixing this problem lies heavily on the Millennial generation, this proposal will show how to solve it.
About 2.8 billion adults every year die of obesity (Diet). Rachel Epstein wrote the book “Eating Habits and Disorders” which talks about obesity being a disease. Obesity is a condition with extra body fat which often starts to form in childhood (Epstein 25). While obesity for some adults can be life-threatening (Epstein 25). It can also form psychosocial problems (Epstein 25). Being obese causes a risk in diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, kidney trouble and more (Epstein 25). Being obese during pregnancy can cause many problems for the mom, and for the baby (Epstein 25). Any of these things could cause many problems either in the future, or in the present (Epstein 25). The worse the eating habits, the harder it is to cure (Epstein 25). The government needs to do more about obesity because obesity rates are rising, many kids are being victims of obesity and they don’t even know it, also Medical Care is taking a big part with the growing obesity rates.
Recent studies have shown that these increases in extreme obesity rates are not specific to a certain population, but are rather an integral part of the weight distribution in the USA, and the more extreme the obesity, the higher the rate of growth [4]. Thus, the public health concerns associated with this growth are of extreme importance given that those who are obese in any form are much more likely to suffer from obesity comorbidities including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, asthma, sleep apnea, and stroke. (Ginny Garcia, Ph.D. & Thankam S. Sunil, Ph.D. & Pedro
By taking a stand against the rise of obesity, America’s bodies will be in healthy condition, and are able to be the positive motivation for others to follow. Once more people choose to live a happy and healthful life, the decrease of obesity will begin to show. The solution to solving the issue of obesity in America can be possible by: eating healthier foods, getting proper exercise, and setting boundaries on what fast-food industries can sell to customers. People need to get up and get moving for the problem of obesity and its trail of nasty effects will consume the healthy way of life everyone knows today.
Over the course of the last few decades, the U.S. has seen a drastic rise in the spread of obesity. Through the rise of large-scale fast food corporations, the blame has shifted toward the mass consumerism of these global industries. It is, however, due to poor lifestyle choices that the U.S. population has seen a significant increase in the percentage of people afflicted with obesity. In 1990 the percentage of obese people in the United States was approximated at around 15%. In 2010, however, it is said that “36 states had obesity rates of 25 percent or higher”(Millar). These rates have stayed consistent since 2003. The obesity problem in America is
Obesity, also referred to as being overly overweight, is a condition caused when one eats excessive amounts of food leading to storing more calories than one burns. These calories are stored as fats1. Obesity can develop from several causes and is usually influenced by genetics.