Obesity In America

Ask any person on the street what is the one issue that consumes more than half of the nation and the answers will vary from cancer to the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Most Americans are blind to the modern day plague that consumes even the nation's youth. What is this black death that promises health complications in the future, obesity affects more than two-thirds of American adults and one-third of American children. The term obesity is defined as the condition of being grossly fat or overweight. The “American diet” of processed foods is the root of the problem. The nation's health conditions have declined since the 1970’s and reached an all time low in the early 2000’s. The solution lies within the 18-27 year olds of the country

Pollan defines the American problem as “unhealthy people obsessed by the idea of eating healthily.” (Pg. 3) The vast majority of consumers in our society are ones that envision themselves as striving towards a healthy lifestyle, yet many of these consumers don’t realize that in their attempts at eating healthy they are on a slow decline. A large sum of the population garners their information on which foods to eat from their daily news sources, trying new fad diets and picking up any food that Buzzfeed or the Huffington Post tells them will better their health (Pg. 1). This behavior in turn leaves those desperate for a slimmer and healthier bodies utterly confused and desolate.

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

In the United States today, obesity has become an enormous problem. In the last 3 decades, the number of people overweight has increased dramatically. A study done by the Centers of Disease Control showed that since 1980, one third of our adult population has become overweight. America is the richest but also the fattest nation in the world and our obese backsides are the butt of jokes in every other country (Klein 28). The 1980s were a time when Americans suddenly started going crazy over dieting, jumping onto the treadmills, and buying prepackaged non-fat foods. However, while all of that was going on, the number of obese Americans began to increase. According to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 58 million

Obesity has been framed as a topic of personal responsibly for a long time. For many, the fundamental notion has always been that if you stop eating junk food and eat “healthy”, you will maintain a healthy weight. According to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control’s 2007-2008 Health and Nutrition Examination survey, it was found that 73.7% of all Americans 20 years old or older were overweight, obese, or extremely obese. That is a lot of fat people and it is hard to believe that fast food alone is responsible for 70% of adult Americans being overweight.

In the past forty years, the average American’s weight has skyrocketed. This can be traced to the introduction of fast food into our everyday lives. Fatty cheeseburgers and grease laden French fries have replaced fresh fish and crisp vegetables. Americans have come to value convenience more highly than personal health and consequently we are paying for what we consume.

While it is common for many Americans to be preached to on a daily basis about the importance of healthy eating and exercise, what most don’t consider is that one doesn’t have to completely give up the food that they love in order to strive to become more healthy. Even though the best thing for America to do would be to give up unhealthy eating habits completely, this goal is just not realistic. Fast food and unhealthy eating are too deeply ingrained in American culture to change within a decade. As of now, the best thing to do would be to incorporate better foods into their daily diets in order to better balance out the unhealthy food. This way, at least not all of the total calories consumed on a daily basis are from saturated fats, and other bad foods. Approaching America with this idea can be less intimidating than to suggest completely taking away junk food. This way people are more coerced into the idea and are more likely to switch over to a healthier diet than telling them to eat healthy right off the

America today is in the middle of a nutritional crisis. Throughout the country, the obesity epidemic has struck every population demographic. According to recent projections made by the United States Government, 63.9 percent of Americans are either overweight or obese. That is over half of the population! What exactly is the culprit behind this crisis? How can someone fix this issue? The answers lie in the average American Diet. The diet consumed by Americans is one of, if not the worst diet in terms of saturated fat, trans fats, lack of carbohydrates, over consumption of protein, and overall malnutrition. Recommended Dietary Allowances adopted by nutritionists around the globe and countries such as the

Good news! We’re Number 2! As declared by a 2013 report from the U.N., America has only the second highest obesity rate in the world at 31.8%, second to Mexico with an obesity rate of 32.8%. America has held on to the title of most obese country for over 60 years. From 13% obesity in 1962, estimates have steadily increased right up to 2013’s 32.8%.

To conclude, Americans need to be concerned about their food consumption. The origin of where most food comes from, and the conditions in which livestock are raised contributes to many health risks that Americans face. Those who consume meat risk their health, and their children’s health. Due to the food industry that keeps the truth away from the public, many people not only uninformed, but also mislead by these corporations. Obesity has become an epidemic in the U.S. that many Americans are struggling to battle. However, by raising concern and seeking truth many Americans can overcome their

Most Americans today are unhealthy because of their eating habits. We’re all individually responsible for ourselves, but the government should take role to help us out.

In a country that has grown the reputation of being overly unhealthy, in-productively is only one side of the coin. The other side is dieting, and how it has become vastly intertwined with American culture. Almost anything informatively health-related will state the harrowing consequences of eating poorly. However, every article, video, research paper, and advertisement made to inform people of the results of poor dieting — is almost irrelevant, for there are an unanimously greater number of advertisements supporting unhealthy food choices. If one were to compare how often an advertisement appears on the television for something healthy versus something that is not, the results would be staggering. A statistic provided by Prevention

When people from other countries are asked to describe Americans, their first word tends to be fat. This embarrassing stereotype is recognized because over one third of adults in America are obese (CDC). Although shocking, it is the United States’ truth. The countries’ lack of genuine values, and increasing interest in commercialism is to blame. With the help of congress, America can pull its self out of this health crisis by creating educational curriculums devoted to healthy eating, and implementing taxes on unhealthy foods.

America’s diet is filled with loads of sugar and fatty foods that are processed which causes many health issues. For example, in Mark Bittman’s article, “Bad Food? Tax it, and Subsidize Vegetables,” he addresses that Americans should change their diet because the average Americans consumes loads of unhealthy food which results in health problems along the line. Mark Bittman states that, “Right now it’s harder for many people to buy fruit than Froot Loops; chips and Coke are a common breakfast. And since the rate of diabetes continues to soar — one-third of all Americans either have diabetes or are pre-diabetic, most with Type 2 diabetes, the

Americans’ current health habits are an issue because it leads to long-term consequences. Food is one of the major necessities for living. The body relies on its nutrients to operate properly, but if a person does not obtain the necessary substances from food, malfunctions in the body may occur. The country suffers from numerous diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and even cancer, due to carelessness of the food they consume (Bittman par. 1). Many deaths and sufferings are caused by the damaging foods being eaten. These deaths are remorseful because they could easily be avoided if Americans would make better decisions on the types of food they purchase. The country is satisfying their hunger by devouring great amounts of processed and modified foods frequently that are