It is not difficult to notice that over the past 30 years, America's waistline has been growing. According to the American Obesity Association (AOA), close to 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million are obese, and 9 million are considered severely obese. Overeating, consuming unhealthy and fatty foods and a lack of exercise are the most common causes that most people attribute to obesity, but a closer examination of the issue reveals that a chaotic and hurried lifestyle and an over-dependence on technology are partly responsible for creating the conditions where an unhealthy lifestyle has become the norm for most Americans.
The percentage of Americans overweight from 1976 to 1980 was almost 20% less than today's number of overweight Americans. What is different today that causes us to be 20% larger than we used to be? Well it could be the smallest technological luxuries that we take for granted. For instance in 1976 if you wanted to roll your window up or down in your car you would have to crank the window not push a little button and watch it power it's way up. The same goes for locking your car doors; you couldn't just push a button on a little remote and hear the clank of the locks engaging you had to physically lock all the doors. Think of the technological advances that we have made in society in the last 30 years or so. Think of how many things we physically don't have to do anymore, all we have to do is push a button and presto, it's done.
Ebay.com, The Home Shoppers Network, Amazon.com, etc... All of these networks have one common promotion, laziness. We can't even go to the store to do our own shopping anymore. We get on the Internet behind a screen and go to the online shopping malls. Even walki...
... middle of paper ...
...s are only granted a half an hour for lunch. There are some that bring healthy lunches but the majority of the students eat the processed foods from the cafeteria. However in European countries such as France everyday in the middle of the day there is a one or two hour break where the city literally stops and goes home for lunch. The idea of a healthy home cooked meal has slowly been taken out of American society with the exception of the holidays. Even when Americans do have a home cooked meal the chances are that half of the food on the table is processed food. As long as there is an abundance of processed food the phenomenon of American obesity will continue.
America's waistline is still growing today. Our chaotic lifestyle, combined with our abundance of fast, and processed foods has created the perfect equation for the over weight society that we have become.
Proud to be an Obesemerican I couldn't open up a magazine, you couldn't read a newspaper, you couldn't turn on the TV without hearing about the obesity epidemic in America. —Morgan Spurlock Mr. Sanders retires from fast food and is now obese. He decides to get a checkup by me, Dr. Cerulli. “Hello, Mr. Sanders, It seems your health screening results have come in,” Dr. Cerulli said. “Sounds terrific,” Mr. Sanders said, with his over-sized checks clapping to his neck fat like an encore. “While Mr
It is nearly impossible to turn on the television or radio and not be hit with advertisements introducing the latest fast food trend – fresh and healthy food options. More often, the media bombards us with slogans such as Subway’s common pitch to “eat fresh” or McDonald’s million-dollar advertisement campaign to try the new fruit and walnut salad. Attention has made an abrupt turn from the greasy, deep-fried originals at the fast food chains to more health conscious food choices. Even a documentary
day. Not the land mass, the mass of the people. Almost thirty six percent of all Americans are obese (“Obesity and Overweight” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). This number increases daily. This condition causes a myriad of health issues. If Americans do not change their lifestyles, as soon as the year 2037 there could be more obese, unhealthy Americans than healthy Americans. The percentage of obese Americans rose 21 percent from 1980 to 2013 (“Prevalence of Overweight”). That equates to
Obesity in America is an epidemic affecting nearly 38% of adults across the nation, and we need to work together to cure it. Obesity, being a nation wide issue, will be immensely difficult to put to an end, but it’s not too late to stop its spread. Obesity rates have been on the rise since the early 90’s, and we are going to set out and find a way to stop it in its tracks. Obesity has a longstanding relationship with the United States. The rates of obesity have risen exponentially over time, and
people, because obesity is an expensive disease, and because very often it is due to poverty that people cannot afford healthy foods, the government must control the amount and the range of foods which we buy and eat. Healthy foods must become affordable. Poor populations must have access to high quality foods. The production of harmful foods should be limited. All these would be impossible if the government does not take active position against our diets. Introduction Obesity and overweight remain
people pressing lawsuits is readily accepted, and companies are looking out for it all of the time. There is almost always someone else that a person can blame for his or her misfortune other than themselves. Obese people are joining right in the trend also. They believe that the fast food industry can be found responsible for the weight epidemic that is blooming in the Untied States. The idea of a class-action lawsuit against fast food companies is a new idea that sprung from the class-action
How Diet, Exercise, and Culture Effects Obesity Obesity rates have skyrocketed within the last 10-20 years. This is in direct correlation with the diet and exercise habits of cultures. As cultures begin to incorporate different culture’s cuisines into their own cultures, the obesity rate starts to increase. This is most likely caused by their heritage history being accustomed to their culture’s cuisine history. Then diet and exercise come into play as well. We live in a time where technology has
males have especially been influenced. Blythman (2012) states that since our diets rely on convenient ready-made food, our consumption of salts is worrying to an extent where it may cause health concern. These findings can correlate to the rising obesity issue in Brunei as our results indirectly point not only to the much lacking desire to understand the nutritional value of fast foods that students are consuming excessive amount of sugar and salt, but also the practice of sedentary lifestyle since
fast food industry taken control of American obesity? Fast food has become a major part of American obesity. The number of obese Americans has greatly increased in the past few years. With the number of fast food restaurants popping up all over America, comes the number of obese Americans. Fast food is a cheap and convenient. With its high caloric content, it is easy to see why fast food can cause a heavy population. Fast food has become a leading factor for obesity in America. This is mainly because
In the United States there has been an expanding issue of obesity since the 1990's; and only until now with the growing trend of gym memberships for personal fitness has the epidemic been mitigated. The wide availability of fast food and second kitchens has led to high obesity rates. However, the availability is only the product of intense consumer demands. Fast food manufacturers would only supply ridiculously unhealthy food if and only if the consumers had a high demand for such garbage. As was
Individual Project 1 1. Given the trend in obesity among American consumers, which industries stand to benefit the most? Why? Given the obesity issues in the American consumers, the food industry has benefited from this trend. Under the Societal Marketing Concept organizations have to balance company profits, customers’ wants and the society's interests. The problem is to determine what is best for the society in this case. Because there is a difference between short term consumers’ wants and
often been observed that obesity follows a socioeconomic gradient which adversely affects the poor. This paper proposes the outline of a sociological theory of obesity as a consequence of ‘globalisation factors, such as labour market deregulation. Forced to work longer hours – and with lower levels of job-security – workers in low paid jobs have fewer opportunities to burn calories, and are more likely to consume fast-food. This combination has led to higher levels of obesity among the poor in countries
College Physical Education Requirements Intro. Many Americans live an inactive life-style. We typical spend all day at work or school, and then when we return home, all we want to do is eat and sit down in front of the television, or some sort of electronic device. These bad habitats have been forming in adults lives, since their early adulthood stage, ages 18 -25. When, people enter inti the real world and actual jobs, we are bombarded with stress and time crunches, which lead to these unhealthy
fattest nation in the world. Obesity has become an epidemic among society. The main contributor to obesity in America is the abundant number of fast food restaurants and lack of exercise. Eating Fast food is very unhealthy and will effect someone’s long term health. In his film Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock’s job is to go on a 30 day McDonalds’ binge to show the effects of eating large amounts of fast food. During the film, Spurlock stresses three main factors of the obesity epidemic. The three main
The Politics of Obesity A March, 2005 headline on CNN.com brought deeply disturbing news to the American public: “Report: Obesity will reverse life expectancy gains.” For the past 200 years, life expectancy steadily increased thanks to medical advances such as the discovery of antibiotics and vaccines, but this upward trend is no longer guaranteed. Childhood obesity has already reduced the average life expectancy between four and nine months. “[T]oday’s generation will have shorter and less