Obesity Rhetorical Analysis

Why is it that America, deemed to be the most developed and advanced country in the world, has the largest epidemic of childhood obesity? Obesity is a frequent topic of discussion, and extensive research and studies to find the root of this disease. So why are some American children, despite the knowledge of the importance of health, variety of food that is available, and health awareness at schools, are still gaining excess weight? Lack of proper nutrition and sedentary lifestyle of some American children may be contributing to the rise of childhood obesity in the United States.

One in three Americans kids are obese or over weight which is a staggering and alarming rate at the same time. So looking 20 years into the future that number could double if nothing is said and done about what we are eating. The public school food in school lunches are unhealthy for many alarming reasons, but not much can be done immediately due to strict guidelines and budgets that schools must follow. A lot of it goes to kids not exercising, and more time watching TV, or playing on the computer. And now days more families have less time to make nutritious home made meals. So they tend to eat School cafeteria lunches that have minimal nutrition’s and harmful calories. To prevent your kid from being over weight mean adapting what you eat, and having to exercise at least 60 minutes a day. If the changes are made to change school lunches, it can help them from being obese, children can improve their lifestyle choices, and lastly it prevents them from getting harmful diseases.

Many researchers have conteracted with each other and have shown the health effects obesity has brought up. They have seen many kids suffer from type 2 diabetes, strokes, variety of cancer, and even osteoarthritis. As for another effect they seem to have a high risk of cardiovascular diease or high blood pressure.Along with that they also have a greater risk for bone and join problems,sleep apnea, social and psychological problems. They have estimated about 70% of children have cardiovascular diease and some start of prediabetes.The centers for Diease Contol and Prevention say that more than one-third of kids and adolescents in the U.S. are overweight. The medicare cost for Obese Children cost for a lifetime 19,000, which is more than the lifetime for normal weight kids. Obesity health effects are caused by not getting enough physical activity. Schools

There are more children overweight now than ever before. The reasons for this are that parents are do not care what their children eat, their portions are too big, or children are just too lazy. There are statistics to back this up. Statistics show that 30.7 % of Caucasian children, 30% of African American Children, and 37.9 % of Mexican American children are overweight “(Overweight)”. Those statistics are just for children in America if we included stats from other parts of the world it would be worse. The source of these statistics is an article called “Overweight in Children,” which was found on Americanheart.org.

One million people in the United States have diabetes or pre-diabetes. How does someone get diabetes? Is it because of diet or genes? The truth is it is actually because of both. Neal Barnard discusses during his TEDX talk “Tackling Diabetes with a Bold New Dietary Approach”, a refreshing and different way to change the diet to help slow down diabetes.

Today, the rate of childhood obesity in the United States continues to rise. Obesity, a lifestyle disease, is rampant in the current world; it has become common because families lack sufficient information about the existence of health journals and articles on healthy eating habits. The cause of obesity is associated with many other factors, such as nutrition. Adolescents consume large amounts of sugar and engage in little to no exercise. That said, the consumption of large amounts of sugar is not always the direct cause of obesity; in some instances, obesity may develop in an individual due to genetic factors.

Forty years ago in America childhood obesity was rarely a topic of conversation. A survey done in the early 1970s showed that 6.1% of children between the ages 12 and 19 were overweight. Eight years later the same survey was done and 17.4% were considered overweight (Iannelli). “Childhood obesity epidemic in America is now a confirmed fact since the number of overweight or obese children has more than tripled during the last 30 years” (Childhood Obesity Epidemic). “Over the last 20 years, the prevalence of obesity in children aged 6 to 11 years has tripled from 6.5% to 19.6%” (Childhood Obesity Epidemic). As a nation statistics should be alarming. Why are American children today so obese?

The problem is childhood obesity. This affects 1 in every 3 children and adolescents, who have a Body Mass Index (BMI) that is far larger than average. BMI is a calculation using a person, of any age,  height and weight to calculate measurements that tell how healthy an individual is.  When focusing on specifically four-year-olds a study from Sarah Anderson and Temple University’s Dr. Robert Whitaker conducted a search showed that  “...more than half a million 4-year-olds are obese…” ("Childhood Obesity Facts."). This problem was created by the expansion of fast food and the overconsumption of non nutritious, and fat filled foods. It is known that a big, if not even the biggest, factor that goes into a child becoming/ being obese is what they

A growing problem in America is childhood obesity which literally gets over looked every day. Children who are obese are more likely to have cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and other serious health risk when they get older. Childhood obesity has increased highly over the generations. In my opinion causes for childhood obesity includes, not having enough physical activity at home or in schools, and food habits, which the parents is in control of when it comes to their children.

The past years America has experienced an epidemic increase of the obesity in the population causing heart attacks, diabetes and more diseases that obesity leads to, kids are the most vulnerable because all the temptation that fast food places put on them such as commercial, toys, playgrounds, and clowns all this just to get kids filled with excessive amounts of calories leading kids to obesity and many other diseases.

The rate of child obesity from 2003-2004 for ages 2-19 was at a rate of 17%. As of 2015 age group 5-12 has dropped 20-28%. There are many reasons why children are becoming obese and overweight. Common reasons are due to genetic factors, the lack of physical activity, and unhealthy eating patterns. Every child that may be obese has a different situation and cause for their obesity. The main point to look at is the actions of the parent and the kid themselves. (wjon.com February 2016)

In order to impede the epidemic of childhood obesity, the actual causes of the problem need to be evaluated and dissected. Obesity in children is becoming a huge problem in American society. In the past three decades, the rate of overweight children has increased by 300%. This is an alarming rate that is only climbing higher. Every member in society should take steps to becoming healthier. This would help the present generations as well as future generations to come. The lifestyle of Americans keeps us too busy to be a healthy society.

In the humanistic perspective, obesity can be caused from a number of different things. Gender differences could be a recent factor to why children are becoming more obese from a younger age. We can link this to how social media is teaching its younger viewers. Social media today talks a lot about how women do not have to be super skinny to be pretty and to embrace their natural curves of their body. It also talks about men “bulking up” and eating a lot more in order to do so and gain as much muscle as possible. Children from a young age seeing this everyday can be the cause of so much weight gain because they do not understand when to stop or what

The main question now is what is obesity, a quick sum up would be the excessive body fat that increases the risk of health problems. Obesity is the gateway to all of the worst health problems ranging from diabetes to stroke and even cancer. Being obese means that the person is taking in more calories than they could burn off. This mostly affects “26 percent of schoolchildren”(7) states Daniel Weintraub. That means that 26 percent of kids are overweight and no one is helping them. This generation that is and is coming is going to be born to die. “One in five adolescents, ages 12–19; one in five kids, ages 6–11, and and one in ten preschoolers, ages 2–5 are considered obese, not just overweight” states Felix Gussone, MD from America’s Obesity Epidemic Reaches Record High, New Report Says. Being overweight and being obese has two different meanings for example being overweight means having more body weight than is considered normal or

Many schools are starting to remove unhealthy foods from the cafeteria menu and even the vending machines. Obesity in children is affecting not only their health but even their performance in school and home. They become more lazy and tired which causes them not to complete any work for school. Certain health conditions come with eating so much fast and unhealthy food. Health complications include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and even bone problems just to name a few. Fast food is slowly killing people but they fail to realize it because the food tastes so good. Maintaining a healthy diet instead of eating fast food, and having some regular physical activities each day will help prevent obesity or becoming overweight any day.