Obesity of Americans is caused by eating junk food or regularly going to fast food restaurants. People usually go to fast food restaurants to eat in order to save money. People save their time because the food is made very quickly in fast food restaurants. Cheap food and junk food are high in calories. Regularly eating in fast food restaurants makes people fat. In the article is McDonalds exporting American obesity by scot reeves says “the recession has helped McDonald’s generate strong sales as consumers looking to stretch a buck trade down to cheaper fare, but tough economic times appear to limit breakfast and lunch sales. Last year, sales at outlets open at least a year rose 5.3% in the US and 8.2% overall.” Due to the low affordable prices of mc nuggets and big Macs the recession has affected a lot of people resulting in more people choosing McDonalds than other establishments. The Recession has had a major impact on people’s lives. People has become too stressed to work off the extra pounds and because there is no excess money to spend, the only foods families can afford are fast food or frozen dinners.
Heredity is not the only cause of obesity. Arn Astrup, in his article named “What Causes Obesity?” states that, “Many people think that when a disease is hereditary, it is inevitable that people will suffer from the condition but this is not true." For example, living in China versus living in America is a practical way to show the relationship between the effects of heredity and living environment. If people in America had grown up in China with non-fat foods and hard daily work and commuting with other means of transportation, it would be rare to be obese.
According to the American Medical Association, being obese means that 30% of your ideal body weight is constituted by fat. As a general idea, the American Dietetic Association provides these thresholds for obese weight. Obesity occurs when a person has a greater calorie intake than he or she burns during that day (Hwang 1999). David F. Williamson of The New England Journal of Medicine (1999) states that doctors need to encourage greater weight loss in obese patients due to the fact "...that obese people are twice as likely to die from any cause as people of normal weight”. Doctors should have outreach programs that help their obese patients find solutions to their problem. Knowing what causes obesity isn’t enough to cause change. Doctors and other people need to donate money to help these people achieve their goals and help to provide for making America a healthier place to live.
Unhealthy eating habits are a direct cause of obesity. You can say that “Americans are switching to the dark side… of meat” this includes burgers, and fried chicken. These foods are made with a high concentration of saturated fat and contain too many grams of fats and calories. That is why people gain extra pounds. According to Bern, "Daily carbonated sodas and two- for-one value meals are sacrifices we make at the cost of our health, carrying an extra risk for certain types of cancer” (Losing Weight: More than Counting Calories). People’s health improves when a variety of fruits and vegetables are eaten, not junk food. The reason is not to force a person to eat foods the person hates but rather to find ways to introduce vegetables in Americans diet. Eating Fruits and vegetables can gives people energy to do daily activities such as working out and job orientated work. Christine Gorman in her article “How to Eat Smarter” explains that many doctors have recommended a diet containing fruits and vegetables as well as small amounts of nuts and dairy products as a means of lowering blood pressure and ‘bad’ cholesterol, which cause heart diseases and certain types of cancer.
In addition to healthy eating habits, increased physical activity helps to manage body weight. A report from the National Center for Health Statistics recommends, “Sixty minutes or more a day of activity to prevent weight gain and get additional health benefits (National Center for Health Statistics). Any exercise that makes people break a sweat and gets the heart beat going with ten minutes of resting time is recommended. This exercise does not have to be too difficult to do or lengthy. It just has to be beneficial to improving health. An example of a constant and consistent form of exercise will help get rid of any additional pounds can be jogging or running.
While physical exercises are beneficial for people’s heath and weight loss, most people do the opposite and spend more time in front of their television or computer. This problem is very serious for children because they spend more time than adults watching television. Advances in technology have caused problems towards obesity in children today. Instead of children playing in the park or riding their bikes they would rather play computer games or go on facebook which requires less physical effort. As a result, today there is record breaking child obesity. Child obesity is a person between birth and puberty, and obese is extremely fat. This disease is caused by a lack of exercise and is a major factor to child obesity. Physical exercise can be painful for obese individuals. Therefore, starting an exercise program should take proper caution. Obese people have problems that effects proper weight loss such as, muscular weakness, movement restriction, and poor circulation of blood in people’s bodies. Exercise has been found to have many benefits in the treatment of obesity. Although exercise alone is not enough for significant weight loss but, the combination of diet and exercise is necessary produce changes in their body’s composition. The major health issues in the United States are unhealthy eating habits, lack of proper exercise, and hereditary influences.
The benefits from exercising or participating in physical activity on a regular basis speak for themselves. On a website provided by the Department of Kinesiology and Health at Georgia State University, there were numerous benefits of exercise listed. Those benefits included: reducing the risk of premature death, lowering the chance of developing and/or dying from heart disease, lowering blood pressure, and reducing the risk of developing diabetes. All of which can be caused by obesity. One benefit not listed is reduction in the amount of money spent on life and health insurance.
Obesity must be fought with all the weapons available to people. These weapons include children participating in physical education at school, and providing more healthy food on school campuses. Society needs to be well informed about the dangers of being overweight. When people are well informed, they will be able to eat healthy foods and burn more calories in order to conquer their obesity. Everyone will need to play a part in assuring that today’s American society will be healthier and the people will live longer and happier. This can be done, but many people will have to play an important part by being more considerate of what they sell, cook, serve and allow themselves and their families to eat.
Exercise is needed in everyone’s lives. Today, outdoor activities and athletics should be stressed more than ever because of the problem of obesity. Gym classes should carry more weight in grade schools. Outdoor activities should be promoted and encouraged by authorities. With the rising cost of medicine, this approach would serve people to save money. Also, exercise is good to take off stress from work and/or studying. Cities should make sure that streets have sidewalks where citizens can jog and walk to almost anywhere they desired whenever and wherever possible, especially in residential areas. Bicycling is a good work out too. That is why; local authorities should include bike lanes in to ensure that cyclists have a place to ride their bikes. Greater emphasis should be placed on hiring teachers that have background on the health or physical field. Schools should make commitment to serving healthier foods. Obesity can be managed if people control their eating habits and manage their life style properly. If people will not make the changes in their lives, obesity, which is caused by unhealthy eating habits, lack of proper exercise, and hereditary influences, can ruin or even take away many more lives. That is why; people must consider obesity to be dangerous to their lives.
Works Cited
Astrup, Arne. “What Causes Obesity?” 22 Oct. 2002. 2 Apr 2004 <http://www.notdoctor.co.uk.healthadvise.facts.obesity.html>.
Bern, Linda. “Losing Weight: More than Counting Calories.” 4 May 2000. 29 Mar 2004 <http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2002/102fat.html1>.
Bouchard, C. “Heredity.” 3 Oct 2001. 29 Mar 2004
<http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/nutrit/pubs/unders.html>.
“Exercise as a Therapeutic Modality for Obesity.” 18 June1999. 29 Mar 2004
<http://www.obesityonline.net.fatloss/summary.html>.
Gorman, Christine. “How to Eat Smarter.” Time. 20 Oct 2003: 51. “National Center for Health Statistics” 2 Sep. 2002. 29 Mar 2004 <http://www.healthpraci.com/text.page/text.neus.0107.html.>
Obesity. Obesity online. 22 0ct 2003. 29 Mar 2004 http://www.obesityonline.net/PriorityStudies.html
. Hwang, Mi Young. "Are you obese?" The Journal of the American Medical Association October 27, 1999 1596.
