Caloriic Balance And Public Health Policy Summary

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The U.S. mythology is full of images of glory and physical hard work. From winning the Olympics to cowboys and to hardworking miners, yet 50% of the U.S. is over weight and 22% obese. More-so 60% of overweight children between the ages of five to ten have cardiovascular risk factors which could become a chronic issue as adults. It is clear that obesity has become an epidemic in the United States. A BMI or body mass index of 25 kg/m2 or more can be considered a health issue. In the article “Caloric Imbalance and Public Health Policy,” by Jeffrey Koplan and William Dietz, they try to categorize obesity as a disease and something that is needed to be approached toward very soon. As does Greg Crister in “Too Much of a Good Thing” tries to explain…show more content…
Though, many physicians argue that a BMI of 25 kg/m2 or greater is a serious health issue and needs to be changed for its own sake. I will try to argue that, it is our everyday living and eating habits that influence the way we look in the mirror and this caloric imbalance and lack of exercise is what needs to be changed. “An excess of energy intake over expenditure leads to storage of energy in the form of fat” (474.) A simple calculation stated in “Caloric Imbalance and Public Health Policy” written by Koplan and Dietz. After a survey conducted between 1977 and 1978 and 1994 to 1996, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture found that men and women daily energy intake had increased. With the growing popularity of fast food chains, it is easy to see the reason behind the excess calorie intake. When an individual can buy a filling food fast with $5, why go and buy groceries and cook? And also it could be that our society is becoming a fast pace world that there is no time to sit and enjoy a…show more content…
Greg Crister writes in “Too Much of a Good Thing,” that many baby boomer parents believe that children are able to distinguish when they are full and have the right to make bad decisions about what they eat. “That may be true” according to Crister but he argues that in a world that billions of dollars are spent to attract kids and their families to enjoy a greasy fast food, its not always the best choice to let children decide. In most cases, since parents are the main role models of their children, they should be the ones to teach their young to eat

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