As Richard Carmona states in “The Obesity Crisis In America,” “Nearly two out of every three Americans are overweight or obese”(1). Why are Americans so overweight? I believe the three main causes of obesity in America are; the lack of motivation to exercise, the convenience of fast food, and America’s perspective that everyone is fine just the way they are. One of the primary causes of obesity is simple; lack of exercise. If we don’t even bother to workout, do we expect to magically lose weight and stay healthy?
Traditional Exercise vs. Weight Loss Supplements Isaias Felix Com/155 University Composition and Communications 1 June 17, 2013 Michele Armentrout Traditional Exercise vs. Weight Loss Supplements Whether you want to lose 10 or 100 pounds, traditional exercise for weight loss is a safer alternative to weight loss supplements. Recent studies have shown that most Americans are unhappy with their body size and feel the need to trim the extra fat. The ever increasing business in the weight loss industry proves that most people are looking for a way to take off the weight.
Although obesity in adults continues to rise, the citizens of this nation are accustomed and less attuned to this issue. Never in the history of this country have there been so many obese children; and we are not prepared to deal with the enormous consequences childhood obesity will bring. Physical and neurological impairment, that could lead to a nation plagued with chronic illness, insurmountable debt and financial ruin. Although all are at risk for obesity, none are more at risk than those who are poverty stricken. The poor in this country are not able to afford healthy food, nor are they in the position to spend time exercising, both of which could help reduce their chances of obesity; lowering the cost of healthy foods through government subsides, and creating programs that support healthy living and exercise in poor neighborhoods could be two solutions to this growing problem.
But in reality it is actually quite difficult to stay dedicated to a diet and a healthy life style. Like I stated earlier our fast food industry is ruining out food pyramid. Making healthy foods more expensive and harder to come by just doesn’t make sense in my eyes. It’s the unhealthy stuff that should be expensive such as a “Whooper” or a “Mc-double” compared to a healthy veggie. Staying dedicated to your diet will bring great joy.
The broken food system is an issue derived from the access to food; it is an uncanny crisis pertinent to 870million people (Oxfam 2012). Society’s endeavour to alleviate this crisis leads to an array of issues such as poverty, nutrition and environmental degradation. The existence of the broken food system is inextricably linked to a “wicked problem”, a cycle of insoluble problems that continually exists. The characteristic of a wicked problem has no absolute solution (Rittel & Webber 1973). A broken food system arises from the inability to purchase food due to poverty, "There is food on the shelves, but people are priced out of the market" (Lean 2008, p. 1).
The accessibility of fast food in schools encourages students to eat unhealthy, which is detrimental to their health. For example, students are always buying foods such as fries and burgers; they are not realizing how bad this food is to their health and body. When students are severely overweight or obese, they may get diseases in the future such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and cardio-vascular disease. Fast food is one of the factors leading to these dreadful diseases. A fast food meal may contain 900-1600 calories, which is almost half of the calories most people need each day.
The Modern Plague: Obesity With one of the highest obesity rates in the world, many Americans are affected by this disease, however, they continue to make poor choices in regards to their health. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that over 65% of U.S. adults were overweight, 32% were obese, and about 5% were extremely obese (Marchiondo). Considering that more than half of our population is at risk for obesity, Americans do not seem very distraught. Even with all the dieting techniques, negative depictions in the media towards heavier individuals, advanced technology to help combat obesity, and being one of the world’s most developed nations in terms of resources
In the article “Don't Blame the Eater” the author David Zinczenko blames the fast food industries by accusing that the fast food centers are the one causing obesity in small and young children's. He claims that the fast food industries aren't providing any kind of warnings because of which children's are consuming excessive fats and gaining weight day by day and resulting into this disease called “overweight”. In my opinion, however it isn't the fast food industries that makes a person fat, it is just a genuine
Many adults survive on high calorie diets without knowing and do not find the time to exercise as much as they should, and obesity is the result of this behavior. It is true that there are various interlinked reasons why obesity is so prevalent among adults in our society today; however, poor health education, limited exercise, and poor eating habits are the three main factors of this epidemic. “Twenty to forty percent over ideal weight is considered mildly obese; forty to one hundred percent over ideal weight is considered moderately obese; and one hundred percent over ideal weight is considered severely, or morbidly, obese” (Health and Medicine Encyclopedia - Vol 19) . “BMI is a common measurement that uses a person's height and weight to formulate a measure of overweight or obesity... Patients were divided along BMIs in four grades: pre-obese (BMI < 30), obesity grade 1 (BMI 30-34.9), obesity grade 2 (BMI 35-39.9) and obesity grade 3 (BMI ≥ 40)” (EurekAlert, 2010).
Most people could lose 10 to 25 pounds in a month. Not only did they lose the weight but their cholesterol is very high. None of the side effects are told to people in these two diets because the inventors want to sell their products for the desperate people and make money. Other diets like cabbage diet, liquid diets, and soup diets are some of the other ones that help people to lose weight very fast but they get constipated and may become dizzy, which some people may even pass out from the lack of nutrients. When people go back to their normal eating habit they will gain twice as much weight as they lost in the beginning and may develop other health issues than they had before starting the diets.