Unhealthy Eating

Obesity continues to be a problem in the United States. With obesity rates on the rise something must be done to prevent this massive issue. Seventeen percent of children and adolescents about 12.5 million are obese (Diet). Obesity is the result of a rise in fat that accumulated over time due to the lack of exercise and having a calorie surplus due to unhealthy food. An adult with a BMI (body mass index) higher than 30% is considered to be obese (Obesity). There isn’t a direct focus on obesity, because people don’t think it’s an important issue. To ensure a better future, solution is needed now. The solution to ending the obesity epidemic by encouraging a healthier lifestyle on children at young ages, improving nutrition at schools and restaurants, as well as providing more time and space for citizens to get physically active.

As per Healthy People 2020 most Americans do not consume healthy diets and are not physically active at levels needed to maintain proper health. As a result of these behaviors the nation has experienced a dramatic increase in obesity in the U.S with 1 in 3 adults (34.0%) and 1 and 6 children and adolescents (16.2%) are obese. In addition to grave health consequences of being overweight and obese. It significantly raises medical cost and causes a great burden on the U.S medical care delivery system ("Healthy People 2020," 2014, p. 1).

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force encourages rigorous behavioral dietary counseling interventions for adults with hyperlipidemia and other known cardiovascular and diet-related chronic disease such as diabetes (Healthy People.gov, 2011). Creating nutritional and physical activity worksite programs assist in the Healthy People 2020 objective to reduce the incidence of obesity. Another strategy to decrease the occurrence of obesity is to educate families on the importance of reducing the amount of time spent watching TV, movies, playing video games, or searching the Internet. To support families, alternative physical activities should be recommended and available for families. In an effort to fight obesity, Kent county needs increased public awareness of healthier food choices, availability of local fresh fruit and vegetables, and engaging in regular cardiovascular or strengthening exercise. This can be accomplished by a health fair sponsored by Bayhealth Medical Center, partnering with local farms, such as Fifer Farms, local fitness centers, and the YMCA.

The rise of eating healthy even forced some food makers to remove unhealthy ingredients from their products. By targeting healthier and organic foods and ignoring the junk foods, this will increase the eating habits of several teens and adults. This generation needs to change the way they eat because it will show later in the years on their blood pressure on how much they need to eat or what they need to be eating to stay healthy. Those who choose to eat hamburgers, fried chicken, surgery foods are in danger to have a higher rest of an unhealthy body were it will lead to make changes when it is too late and their bodies are already mistreated with all these filthy foods. Now commercials are using good influential information in which it states that 20 min outside doing an activity can help every day. This informs parents to guide their children to go steps and leading them to go out play, run or do a fun activity that will keep the child busy and hyped, this will helps the child by exercising and staying healthy. It also gives tips to feed the child a healthy snack every two or one hour by giving then fruit, vegetable or a small healthy meal to maintain his body strong and energized. This also fits for teens and adults as in going out have a jog, ride a bike or walk every day for an hour or two. Also to maintain a healthy diet and eating healthier. There also information in schools that helps Teens and children, meals in schools changed more healthy foods are giving and less fat and non-organic foods are losing their place in the schools by removing

America, like any other country, has its assortment of problems: immigration, debt, or foreign affairs but one issue that is rather hard to overlook, literally, its obesity epidemic. The extra pounds have become a sight all too common in America’s society, “men are now on average seventeen pounds heavier than they were in the late seventies, and for women that figure is even higher: nineteen pounds.” (Kolbert). Obesity does not just affect adults in this way either, the kid population has been getting bigger, according to the numbers on a scale “the proportion of overweight children, age six to eleven, has more than doubled, while the proportion of overweight adolescents, age twelve to nineteen, has more than tripled.” (Kolbert). This issue has been a major concern to doctors and scientists for decades and in recent years, has even has the American Medical Association recognizing obesity to be a disease (Pollack). That is a highly debatable statement because obesity itself is a preventable lifestyle. Obesity is avoidable and curable to all (or at least most) of its sufferers. For some citizens, obesity is not a choice, rather genetics, but for the majority of the population, obesity is caused by an unhealthy diet and lazy lifestyle, and for these certain individuals, through a lot of work and discipline, the return to a healthy lifestyle is not as impossible as it may appear.

Even when controlling for ethnicity and socioeconomic status, results still indicate that watching TV contribute significantly to obesity. For example, a study conducted in the United Kingdom concluded that an increase in TV hours on weekends correlated with higher BMIs at 30 years of age. For each added hour of time spent watching TV on weekends at age 5, obesity risk increased by 7%. The impact of watching TV on children’s weight is even more pronounced when there is a TV set in the child’s bedroom. A study of children between the ages of 9 to 12 suggested that having a TV set in their bedroom significantly increased risks of obesity, regardless of physical activity. Moreover, when TV viewing time is decreased, obesity as well as other measures of adiposity are reduced as well. Multiple studies have also documented the positive association between increased TV exposure and increase risks of childhood obesity in the Latino

In recent discussions of obesity, food, and health, a controversial issue has been whether what people consider being healthy or obese. People share their personal beliefs or experiences about being healthy and about what others need to do or eat to be healthy. On one hand, some people find ways to blame others about the unhealthy eating habits our society has, while other people think that we are responsible for our eating habits, and that we need to choose the healthiest way to eat.

We all need food and water to live, don’t we? There are so many options: from a hamburger and soda, to pasta and a glass of water. The choices we make in our diet can boost your metabolism. People make poor choices for their diet every day. Continuing this lifestyle may cause them to become obese. The Fed Up documentary concludes many valid facts on how the rate of obesity is increasing, especially in terms of adolescents. Food industries are giving inadequate suggestions to assist in solving this problem.

The United States as a nation is struggling tremendously with high an outrageous obesity rate. According to the documentary “Weight of the Nation,” obesity is number five out of the ten leading causes of death. The lifestyle in the United States has become a “norm” that has to be changed quickly. It is imperative that we as adults draw into our youth the importance of eating healthy. We as people are in control of our own health and can prevent ourselves from getting chronic diseases such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

We could use the Transtheoretical Model of Change. This is the time we educate those that constantly who eat fast food or are considered obese. We must educate them on what is nutritional and what isn’t. One of the bigger problems of persuading the public from fast food is the fact that it is just “cheaper.” One of the biggest questions we face today is, “Why would people pay $2 for a hamburger but have to pay $7 for a salad?” As educators, we must be prepared to answer any and all questions. We must then motivate people into actually consider changing their behavior. They need to consider the pros and cons of eating

Obesity is an increasing epidemic affecting the United States in an alarming and negative way. In the past centuries it was rare for Americans to be obese. Today they’re numerous factors contributing to the epidemic but they can be reversed with awareness of the severity of the issue, it’s affect on health, and a willingness to make changes in their daily life.

These efforts to improve health have sparked a beginning to The Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which is a public-private partnership that has leveraged over $1 billion to support over 200 projects in over 30 states since 2011 to improve access to healthy foods in low-income communities. Pilot studies for the Philadelphia Healthy Corner Store Initiative, now bringing healthier products to over 600 corner stores, showed a 60% increase in the sales of fresh produce. In addition, they demonstrated increased local economic activity and jobs and generation of local tax revenue (Heiman, Artiga 2015). The social impact on obesity continues to challenge the health care systems and must be recognized that all aspects of well-being play a major role a more positive

On July 16, Julie Paszkiewicz held a health convention for children and young adults in the local community to discuss popular diet fads, health misconceptions and different ways to make healthy eating enjoyable. Julie Paszkiewicz has an undergraduate degree in sports medicine from Central Michigan University and a master’s degree in nutrition from Georgia State University. The purpose of the convention is to inform the different age groups about health and what you must do to remain healthy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and nearly quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. The spread of misinformation leads to bad habits in children which leads to worse habits as an adult.

According to Alyssa Brown, “51% of adults want to lose weight, [but] barely half as many (25%) say they are seriously working towards that goal. This discrepancy between Americans’ weight-loss desires and behaviors has existed for years”(Brown). According to society, the definition of a healthy person is someone who exercises often and eats healthy foods. Even though people want to be healthy, becoming healthy is a hard task. Surely it is much easier to lay around at home and eat chips than to work out at the gym. Maybe this is why obesity rates are on the rise. A medical study estimates that “75% of the U.S. population will be classified as overweight or obese or obese by the year 2020” (NewsMax). People wonder, what is the solution to this

Obesity has rapidly emerged as a serious health issue in America. The cause of obesity results from America’s social injustices. Today, food advertisements are in all places promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. Considering the great expense of healthy foods, low income families can barely afford fruits and vegetables. These two factors contribute to the increasing obesity rate in the United States. Unfortunately, it has taken an excessive amount of Americans to become obese for America to become aware of the issue and take action. Although obesity is still an increasing problem, America is fighting to reduce the number of obese citizens. As a result of low income and the media advertising unhealthy lifestyles, America is in the midst of an obesity epidemic.