Introduction
For a long time, obesity has been one of the notable health concerns that America has struggled with during the last five decades .Obesity as a health concern is not limited to America alone, it is a serious concern among other affluent societies like European countries. A considerable number of Americans spend a significant amount of money trying to lose weight. Obesity become an important focus in the news items during the year 2002.According to research findings, the rate of obesity among the American was at an average of 12% in 1990 and this rate was at 23% in the year 2005(Menifield, Doty and Fletcher 83-8).
As obesity continues to persist as health concern within American communities, the question on who is most responsible for the wide-spread obesity has not been adequately answered. Considering that there have been concerted efforts to intervene on the rising cases of obesity like research funded through public funds to generate knowledge on the possible mechanisms of controlling weight, enactment of regulations to help consumers in making better food choices, and numerous programs to encourage active healthy lifestyles. This coupled with educational programs meant to increase the public awareness on how to diet properly, the issue of obesity is largely a matter personal responsibility.
Causes of obesity
DeBruyne, Pinna and Whitney (176) explain that the problem of being overweight or obese is mainly as a result of energy imbalance within the body. It is commonly believed that people who are overweight have taken in more energy foods but they do not make use of this energy, so the excess energy is stored in the body tissues in the form of fat. As a remedy to losing the excess fat, many fitness therapists...
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...er Education, Inc. 2008 Summer; 19(3):83-8.
Shils, Maurice and Shike, Moshe. Modern nutrition in health and disease. 10th Edition.Philadelphia.Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006.
Works Cited
DeBruyne, Linda, Pinna, Kathryn and Whitney, Eleanor. Nutrition and Diet Therapy 7th edition, California, Cengage Learning, 2007.
Harvard Health Publications. Healthy Solutions to Lose Weight and Keep it Off. Boston, Harvard Health Publications, 2009.
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Menifield CE, Doty N, Fletcher A. Obesity in America. Abstract only. The ABNF journal: official journal of the Association of Black Nursing Faculty in Higher Education, Inc. 2008 Summer; 19(3):83-8.
Shils, Maurice and Shike, Moshe. Modern nutrition in health and disease. 10th Edition.Philadelphia.Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006.
Whitney, E., DeBruyne, L. K., Pinna, K., & Rolfes, S. R. (2007). Nutrition through the Life Span: Childhood and Adolescence . Nutrition for health and health care (3rd ed., pp. 301-329). Belmount: Thomson/Wadsworth.
Obesity in America is a very serious problem affecting many Americans currently and is a problem that continues to grow each year. “Over the past 40 years, the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled in the United States” (Wimalawansa). This issue is known to many but believed not be an issue to care much about but this is not true. Obesity in America affects everyone regardless if they are obese or not. In order to resolve the problem, we can slaughter all the adults that are currently obese in America.
Wardlaw, G.M. and Smith. Contemporary Nutrition: Issues and Insights. 5th Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill, pp 85, 2004.
Obesity moved across the nation without regard to sex, race, and age, or so it seemed. However, it strikes some groups more than others. Furthermore, 69 percent of non-Hispanic black women are overweight or obese and 58 percent of non-Hispanic black men are overweight or obese (?Overweight and Obesity?? np). Studies show that minorities in a lower socioeconomic bracket are more likely than whites in a higher socioeconomic bracket to become obese (?
Calioglu, Arpi. “Eating Healthy.” Total Health 17 (1995): 42. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Roesch Library, Dayton. 18 Oct. 2002 <http://library.udayton.edu>.
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).
Since 1916, the United States Department of Agriculture (the government agency responsible for all U.S. policy regarding agriculture, food, and farming) has revised their recommendations several times. Unfortunately, money talks and the USDA’s recommendations are based on outdated science and are influenced by people with business interest. Even so, its recommendations are considered almost “holy” by physicians, nutritionists, and dieters, but in reality, they are the root cause of the problem. A single visit to our local public school cafeteria and it will become clear that they do not have the best interests of the children at heart. What they are feeding our innocent children is preposterous. Doctors, the people we trust and expect to be “the experts”, do not know much about the subject of nutrition. A vast majority of medical schools in the U.S. require just 25-30 hours or less of nutrition training, and some do not require at all. So doctors must rely on the ...
Proper nutrition is important in maintaining a long and healthy life. Most Americans are rushed due to their busy work schedules, and do not take the time to plan their diets properly. Like me, most Americans are unaware of the importance of eating a healthy diet and consume too many foods without the proper nutrients. Throughout my life I have been fortunate. I have not had any major health problems, and have been able to consume most foods without having to worry about gaining weight. These last two years, however, I started to gain weight and have become concerned with my diet. Changing my poor eating habits has been difficult for me, however, having this assignment has taught me that it is not as difficult as I previously imagined.
"Global Dietary Changes Threaten Health." World Health Federation. Medtronic Foundation, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. .
Phillips, F. “Vegetarian Nutrition.” British Nutrition Foundation: Nutrition Bulletin 30.2 (2005): 132-167. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
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Wellman, N. S., & Friedberg, B. (2002). Causes and consequences of adult obesity: health, social and economic impacts in the United States. Asia Pacific journal of clinical nutrition, 11(s8), S705-S709.
Nutrition assessments include clinical and dietary assessment, anthropometrics, as well as biochemical, laboratory immunologic and functional indices of nutritional status (Gibney, 2005). In epidemiological studies, different dietary investigation tools were designed to assess the nutritional status in individuals and populations, nutrition monitoring and surveillance and diet-disease research (Friedenreich, et al., 1992, Taren, 2002).
MacLennan R, Zhang A. “Cuisine: the concept and its health and nutrition implications-global.”Asia Pacific J Clin Nutr. 13.2(2004):131-135. Print.
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