...Being overweight obesity has been a long regarded health issue among humans, not only in the United States but in other major countries. The highest proportion of the most obese people in America would be Mexico. Obesity itself, has grown into a major global epidemic. “Over the last decade, profound changes in the quality, quantity and source of food consumed in many developing countries, combined with a decrease in levels of physical activity among the population, have led to increase in the prevalence of diabetes and its complications.” There is a worldwide ratio of one billion people being overweight or obese, while 850 million people being underweight. To understand the true size of the American obesity epidemic, one must first understand...
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...Every year 300,000 Americans die from an obesity-related disease or disorder. Of course, this is not a surprise considering the unhealthy diets and lack of physical activity Americans are so accustomed to but what if there was a way to reduce the number of people dying from these avoidable diseases and disorders? How much money and food could the U.S government save if we just got rid of all the couch potatoes taking up most of the space in the United States? Obesity is very much a common problem in North America, specifically the United States. According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Exam Survey (NHNES), “More than one in thirteen adults were considered to have extreme obesity.” With fast food places on every street corner and the rise in popularity of smartphones and social media preventing people from leading healthy lifestyles, there is no surprise that the number of basketball-shaped persons has increased. Obesity is not only common, but it is a serious and costly problem as well. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “The estimated annual cost of obesity in the U.S was $147 billion in 2008 U.S dollars; the medical costs for people who have obesity were $1,429 [USD] higher than those of normal weight.” Serious measures must be put in place to reduce the number of people with...
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...Obesity in America had been a problem for decades, it has been drastically increasing because of the fast food corporations and their hidden plan. This epidemic affects both people in local areas and on a larger global scale. Unhealthy food corporations in America have manipulated the lives and diets of many Americans, causing harm to people. Some examples of harm are diabetes, heart disease, and eventually even death. People might argue that any harm people endure due to eating unhealthy is the people’s fault because Americans have their own free will to eat whatever they want. This would be true if it weren’t for the billions that are wasted in advertisements and things of that nature to almost force people to eat unhealthy. There are multiple sides to this argument, whether it’s defending the companies, the people, or even the animals, obesity will always be in the hands of the people with power, the fast food corporations...
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...Warner expresses the idea that obesity is caused by diet and that it is not going to change anytime soon. While this may be true, there are many more factors to this epidemic than the human diet. Obesity can stem from a lack of understanding of proper eating habits, having a poor exercise regimen, and the convenience or availability of food. There also are hardly any efforts being made to change this diet as well, while Michelle Obama had good intentions on the eating healthy initiative, Warner was right in that it will take a lot more than a few tv commercials to change the American diet. One major component of the high levels of obesity in America is a lack of understanding and education. In a standard health class, the only material taught is looking at the food pyramid, and what a balanced meal should be or rather what it should look like. Rarely do students ever hear how to eat properly aside from an evening meal, they are just told that the daily allotted calories a person is supposed to eat, but not...
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...America is a fat country and that is a fact. One third of adults and roughly 12.7 million children are obese in the United States of America ("Overweight & Obesity.", Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2015). Furthermore, the numbers of obese people are rapidly rising at an alarming rate. America’s excessive food consumption and lack of exercise is catapulting the obesity epidemic in America to reach new heights. The word “obese” describes an individual who has too much body fat in which 25 percent of the body weight is from fat (Mosby's Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing & Health Professions 2012). On the other hand, obesity is a condition in which the body has accumulated too much fat. This condition occurs when there is excessive...
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...There has long been an ongoing debate about whether obesity is a choice or not a choice. Some may say that people can choose to be obese because, after all, a person chooses what and how much they eat. They also choose whether or not they exercise. Eating the wrong things and not exercising a lot is a cause of obesity. Others may argue that obesity is not a choice and that genetics play a major role in a person’s obesity. Genetics such as Leptin Resistance, Impaired Hunger-Hormones, Cushing’s Syndrome, and Hypothyroidism all lead to weight gain. A person cannot control their genetics so obesity is not a choice in their case. Statistics show that less than 5% of americans have ideal cardiovascular health. Statistics also show that less than 2% of americans actually consume ideal diets. Poor diet and poor exercise are major factors that lead to obesity. You can decide if you want to exercise or if you want to eat fast-food all the time. Bad habits also leads toward obesity. Smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol are bad habits that paves the way for obesity. Smoking and drinking are both choices and as we all know you make your own choices, which means that you choose if you become obese....
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...Obesity is increasing at alarming rates in our society. While excessive attention to “thinness” carries its own physical and mental health problems, increasing overweight is a much “larger” problem in our society and currently affects over two thirds of the population. This handbook sponsored by the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) has been written with the layman in mind and is meant to be a comprehensive and concise source of reliable information for the educated consumer. In contrast to smoking, which has decreased due to improved public health awareness, overweight and obesity have steadily increased — particularly over the last twenty-five years. On average, obesity shortens life by six to seven years. Excess weight increases the risk of deadly diseases such as heart disease, stroke and cancer. One of the great ironies of advances in medical technology is that deaths due to heart attacks, stroke, and cancer, which have rapidly declined in the past, are now leveling off and in some cases increasing due to obesity-related conditions. For example, diabetes, which is directly related to being overweight, is increasing rapidly, and deaths due to heart disease in diabetics are also increasing. Similarly, cancers linked to obesity, such as colon, prostate, and breast, are also increasing. Right now the American Cancer Society considers obesity to be the second largest cause of preventable cancer, after cigarette smoking. Within ten years, obesity might exceed smoking...
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...to reduce obesity among society in Malaysia is making a good dietary choice. As we know individuals of different ages and activity levels have diverse calorie needs. The extent to which we consume of a certain sort of food, for example, leafy foods which are fruits and vegetables, ought to rely on upon ones calorie requirement (2000, p. Para 2). On making a good dietary choice, we should start from the early stage (Alya Hamzah, 2014). The steps that should be done in the early stage is breast feeding. Breastfeeding has been indicated to ensure against obesity in later years (Alya Hamzah, 2014). Furthermore, parents should encourage their children to consume plant-based nourishment, for example, carrots, cabbage and watermelon and choose fish and chicken as a protein source (Alya Hamzah, 2014). As an adult, we also...
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...Obesity, a condition of an excessively high proportion of body fat, is associated with elevated risks of cancer to occur throughout the body. Obesity is also a risk factor for coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic illnesses. Americans currently have the cheapest food in history when measured as a fraction of disposable income. Along with the real decreases in food cost, per capita food availability has increased. Consequently, this smaller share of disposable income now buys many more calories, leading to the increase of obesity. The obesity epidemic has been fueled by historically low food prices relative to income. In the United States alone, an estimated 34,000 new cases of cancer among men (4%)...
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...Obesity rates have more than doubled in adults and children since the 1970’s. Obesity is widespread and continues to be a leading public health problem in the U.S. In addition, severe obesity is a serious and increasing problem among children,adolescents, and adults. More than one-third of U.S adults are obese. In general, rates of obesity are higher for Black and HIspanic than White woman, higher for Black and Hispanic men than White men, higher in the South and Midwest, and tend to increase with age. Research also shows that the heaviest Americans have become even heavier the past decade. Recent national data show that 57.2 percent of Black women and 46.9 percent of Hispanic women are obese compared to 38.2 percent of White women. One in six children and adolescents are obese in the U.S. About 15 percent of low-income preschoolers are obese. Obesity rates tend to be higher and have increased more rapidly over time among Black and Hispanic children than White children. The prevalence is also higher among children living in the Southern region of the U.S. Based on recent national figures,...
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...That is a whopping 7.6 million Americans. Obesity-related consequences include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. These are some of the leading causes of preventable death. The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008. The medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight. If Americans do not change their poor eating habits by 2030 forty-two percent of American adults will be obese which could put our economy further into debt. According to ABC News This article states that by the year 2030 over fifty percent of Americans will be obese. According to the model published in The Lancet last year estimates that if adult obesity rates continue at its current rate all 50 states rates could rise above 44 percent. Thirty-nine states could have rates over 50 percent and 13 states obesity...
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...In America, 38% of all adults are considered obese. This is a significant amount of the total population. Among the many health problems Americans deal with, obesity is one of the most prominent. Therefore, there needs to be an increase in efforts to prevent this growing problem of obesity. Some of the main areas where improvement is needed include low-income families, health care plans, portion sizes, and overall eating habits of Americans. Food stamps are very commonly used in the United States. In fact, one out of every eight people in America use food stamps. This wide-spread use of food stamps is a main factor in the increase in obesity in the US. When families using food stamps go to the grocery store, they buy food that they can store for later because one shopping trip needs to last them the whole month. The families cannot buy fresh food such as fruits and vegetables because of this. They end up buying junk food and other unhealthy options. Also, if the family’s food supply gets low, parents end up starving themselves to provide a sufficient amount of food for their children. They then end up going shopping for groceries on an empty stomach. This prevents them from thinking rationally, and the parents end up buying food that will not be beneficial to the family (Vanderkam). There are many...
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...One of the fastest growing epidemics in the United States is childhood obesity. The amount of children that fall in the obese category has more than tripled since 1970. It is now estimated that one in every five children in the United States would fall under this obese category. This rapid growth has resulted from many changes in our society including: How we measure obesity, increased technology, increased availability of fast food, and an increased intake of sugar. To understand what it is that causes childhood obesity its necessary to have a solid comprehension of what obesity is and how its measured. The dictionary definition of obesity is “a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body”; however,...
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...threat of the 21st century. Will most certainly land you in the obesity, having too much body fat (adipose tissue) category.1 Recently I’ve become very interested in obesity, curious why people are overweight. Is it because they just like eating large quantities of food, psychological reasons, the media, or is it genetics. The general questions: Why do people become obese? and why is the younger generation affected more? I needed to know these answers. Of course, the type of food and the amount of food we consume affects us in a great way: negatively and positively. One of the reasons leading toward...
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...Although some might say that altering individual choices and applying dietary restrictions are the best ways to tackle the obesity epidemic, I strongly believe that developing a national plan that entails environmental, educational, and industrial aspects is the most fit solution. While addressing obesity, the first things that come to mind are diets and individual choices. Thus, to hinder this epidemic, dietary restrictions and control over eating habits need to be exercised, much like our ancestors have done with staying away from gluttony. (Critser, 2001, p. 1, par. 3) [According to Koplan and Dietz, dieting and prevention are an effective method for treating obesity, especially in children and adolescents.] Despite the fact that dieting is thought to be healthy and energy giving, this lack of eating is only a sign of depression and illness (Seid, p. 5, par. 16). [In addition to that, and as mentioned by Worley, there aren’t any kinds of research that prove that dieting is, in fact, effective when it comes to treating obesity; on the contrary, it could have lasting harmful effects on the person’s health and state of mind.] What must be taken into account is that the human body, due to evolutionary factors, has a tendency to maintain its weight and prevent the person from starving. That is, when we diet and consume less food, our metabolic rate will decrease and slow down till it becomes compatible with the amount of food consumed (Worley, p. 3, par. 11). Add to that, people...
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