Causes Of Obesity And Obese Americans

Obesity or overweight has become, a common factor for millions of people in America and other countries. Since the 1980’s the number of obesity or overweight adults and children has more than doubled. Today nearly one third of 2.1 million people are either overweight or obese. Here in the

Obesity has been a growing problem in the U.S. for more than a decade. Various reasons and theories are thrown around as to the cause of this severe problem by psychologists, dietitians, and professors trying to pinpoint a single cause. Due to America’s vast supply of resources, luxurious living standards, and moral of the country, there is no one cause for obesity contrary to advertisements offering a quick-fix drug. America’s obesity problem is rooted much deeper than just cheap fast food and poor choices. Medical conditions, influence of genes, unhealthy lifestyles, and mental illnesses are all contributors towards obesity in any one person. Obesity is a serious problem in America with multiple contributors and one lone solution

Obesity in America is a continually growing problem and even worse our own children are sharing in this problem. A commentary in the Washington Times reports that sixty million Americans are obese. What really is the meaning of obese? Obese is having a body mass index of thirty percent or more. In recent years, the percentage of obese Americans has risen. In the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, the percentage of obese Americans rose from 22.9 in 1984-1994 to 32.2 in 2003 and 2004. The study also says if you throw in the number of "over weight" Americans (body mass index of 25 to 29.9) the total jumps to 66.3

Obesity is an epidemic that is putting uncomfortable strains on the American health care system. With just under two-thirds of the American adult population being overweight or obese, a lot of time and effort has gone into uncovering the causes of this rise in the weights of American citizens. Several theories have been developed to help solve the mystery of America’s rising size. Obesity cannot be traced back to a single factor, but rather many aspects have contributed to the rise of obesity in America. Parental influence, media exposure, and individual’s rate at which they metabolize food all play a significant role in contributing to obesity in America. The threat of obesity in this country is growing, and as a nation it is imperative that we understand the underlying cause of the epidemic, and prepare a comprehensive plan on how to tackle it. It is imperative for the nation heath to better understand the causes of obesity in America.

Obesity in America is alarmingly increasing and the numbers are even bigger than they were a generation ago. Today, the attitudes towards dieting and exercise are some of the reasons why obesity is dangerously increasing in the United States. Obesity is not only caused by not exercising and eating healthy foods, but it is also caused by genetic factors. It has been so long since most Americans have had jobs that involved constantly moving because there is not a need for all Americans to be on the fields or on the factory floor doing all the work, so this causes more jobs that involve sitting throughout most of the work day.

The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention defines obesity as having a BMI over 30 (CDC). In the year 2000, roughly 30 percent of 20 year olds in America were obese. By 2003 that number had risen to 32 percent. That is a small window of increase. From the 1970s to the early 2000s, the percent of obese Americans doubled. This means that in 1970, only 15 percent of Americans were obese, and in the thirty years following, obesity took a sharp rise. In 1960, 13 percent of Americans were obese. The mean percent rise per year in the 1960s was 0.2 percent. The mean percent rise per year in the three decades following the 60s was 0.5, and then in 2000, the percent rise per year again increased, this time to 0.6 percent. This does not seem like

Besides, escalating advances in technology has facilitated everyday life by creating more time-saving and labor-saving products, which results in a reduction in people’s energy utilization. Hence, in order to ameliorate the Americans’ lifestyle, it is necessary that stakeholders including the government, food industry, health care ministries as well as personal individual work together and find out solutions. Defined by World Health Organization (WHO), “obesity results from an imbalance of calorie intake and expenditure, and as a disease whereby the excess body fat has accumulated to the point where the health of the individual may be adversely affected” (qtd. in Stevens). When a person is overweight, their body mass index is usually over 25, and when a person is obese, their body mass index is usually over 30. “From 1960 to 2006 the number of obese Americans has increased from 13.4% to 35.1%”

Obesity has become increasingly more prominent in American society. The Unites States has even been termed an overweight nation. Some twenty to thirty percent of American adults are now considered obese (Hwang 1999 and Hirsch et al 1997). With this in mind, Americans constantly look around themselves determining their weight status as well as that of those around them. While some Americans do fit the healthy category, others enter the underweight, overweight, and even obese categories, all of which can be unhealthy.

America is suffering from a national eating disorder. Men, women, and children are eating more unhealthy than ever and paying the price for it. Obesity has become one of the top causes of death, after cigarettes. This begs the question, who’s to blame for all of this? Whether you believe it is the responsibility of consumers, companies, or the U.S government the truth is that it is no one and everyone’s fault. The obesity epidemic in America is a complex problem with complex causes, but its solutions are rather simple.

Obesity is a big problem in the United States today. According to Harvard Women's Health Watch, “33% of American adults are obese, compared with 15% in the late 1970s. More than 60% of women are overweight or obese”. When it comes to losing weight, many people devotedly believe in the 80/20 rule, which is what and how a person eats is 80% of the effort in losing weight. This is somewhat disconcerting if these people live in America because of the obesity epidemic currently going on, which is caused by the many problems concerning America’s diet. One of the more important problems causing the obesity epidemic is portion control. Portion control, or the lack thereof, is a very important matter when it comes to eating healthy. Oversized

Obesity is a trouble that nearly every country in the world is facing, but there is a lot that people can do to repair it. More people die in the United States of too much food than of too little. In the 1970’s, people ate about 2,160 calories per day. Today, people eat around 2,673 calories per day. Americans are eating about 25 percent more calories than in the 1970’s. This happened because both plate sizes and portion sizes have expanded. Food became cheaper and faster to get. It could be difficult for people ages 18 to 25 to have a nice, healthy, home-cooked meal. So, instead of going on an empty stomach, most millennials choose to get unhealthy fast food. Consumers are just as much at fault for their obesity as the fast food

What we eat and drink can cause obesity, which contributes to many other increased risk conditions, such as increased mortality, increased rates of chronic diseases and lower quality of life. About 300,000 of deaths in the U.S. are attributable to obesity related factors. Therefore, besides its social and physical costs on the individuals, there are monetary costs. United States spends about $190.2 Billion annually on obesity related illnesses and this makes up more than 20% of all healthcare costs.

Is youth obesity a problem in the United States? Obesity continues to get worse by the year. In 1980, around 35 years ago, 7% of children aged 6 to 11 were obese. In 2012, this was looked at once again. It was found that this percentage increased by nearly 11%. Only 5% of adolescents in America, aged 12 to 19 were obese in 1980. By 2012, this increased by almost 16%.

Obesity has increased in the last few years in America and many people have begun to suffer from overweight problems . About 72 million Americans - more than one third - are obese . Being very obese means you might have a lot of health problems related to your weight such as, heart disease , stroke , high blood pressure , type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer disease . Obesity means having too much body fat. It is not the same as being overweight, which means weighing too much. A person may be overweight from extra muscle, bone, or water, as well as from having too much fat . Some of the Americans use surgeries as solution for their obesity . In other words , Weight loss surgery might be an option for people who have extreme obesity (BMI of 40 or more) when other treatments have failed. Every day we can make choices to eat differently , move our bodies more and enjoy a healthier life . I believe that obesity in America has become more common because of so many reasons.

Obesity and when it occurs depends on two major factors. The first of these two factors is diet. Some people consume mass amounts of calories. In addition, the sources of many of these calories are sugary soft drinks and carbohydrate-laden foods that are not generally healthy for anyone to eat. The second major factor is physical activity. Some people lead very active lifestyles while others are much more sedentary. Most people fall along the middle of that spectrum.