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Obesity: Choice or Disease

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Time has only developed the human body into a fat hoarding machine, using food as comforting agent, instead of its main purpose of nourishment. With a busy day to day life as a typical American you do not have the access to the gym, which means the quick processed food you are eating will be stored as fat in your body. Fast-food restaurants, fattening foods, and the easy access to the sugar aren’t helping with the rising problem of obesity. The accumulation of excessive body fat is known as obesity, unbelievably in 50 years the rates of obesity has went from 33% in 1950 to the rates increasing by 214% in 2000 (LIVESTRONG Foundation 2014). Undeniably screaming the haunting truth about obesity making it a life threatening choice rather than a disease. Obesity is a buildup of fat in your body. Obesity is measured and defined by body mass index or BMI. As an adult the BMI should be around 22-25 to be in a healthy range (European Association for the Study of Obesity 2013). If the BMI reading number is over 30 you are considered to be obese. As your BMI increases it can be classified as severe, morbid, or super obesity. In West Virginia alone about 32.5% of the residents are obese, and 14.4% of children are considered obese (Center of Disease Control 2010). Nation-wide the percentage of obese adults is greater than 69.2%. Imagine three people and two of them being overweight, leaving one to be looked at as a healthy weight. How can we help these numbers whenever

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