Research Paper Draft
Obesity is one of the greatest uprising in America in the last 25 years, it is now said that half of Americas states obesity rate has risen above 30 percent. Throwing it back to 2000 there was not a state in America that had been at 25 percent (Raby). If a person is walking now the street in a downtown city 1 in every 3 people would be considered obese. How has obesity effected the U.S. and what has cause this epidemic to occur so quick throughout America? Obesity is a routine disease for adolescences and adults who do not realize the chronic illnesses that occur with this disease who do unhealthy eating and living habits (Some Good). Obesity is a wide spreading problem that is transpiring because healthier options are much more expensive, and lack of physical activity through the distractions in everyday life, also much easier and quicker to obtain unhealthy food.
Obesity is escalating each year in America, researcher say that genetics is a high cause of overweight in children, which will influence their adulthood weight patterns. The body mass index (BMI) plays a factor on they say to children as young as 2-5-years-old, and are at a high risk of becoming obese adults (Office). There is a portion of time in history that obesity is considered an acceptable trait to have. During the Renaissance period was a time in history were being obese meant that a person was well off or rich, many people consider the bigger the person the more attractive in that period. Obese people in that period was considered to be in good health because they had money to eat where the slim individuals were not in good health because of the lack of food that was able to be purchased from being the poor. Overtime that has changed where it seems that if a person is wealthy that they are usually in good health and shape, where a person living in poverty are most the time overweight. At any time throughout life an increased eating of excess calories from all the fats in food and added artificial sugar that cause a short peak of energy which is associated with a lot of fast food (Office).
Fast food is already so bad for an individual but what it does is it fills a person up for a short period of time and they become lethargic and don't want to be active, but in a couple hours or even less they become hungry again so they either start snacking a lot or repeat the pattern of eating unhealthy quick food. The fast food industry has taken over in the last couple decades in its now the average everyday meal for most families and individuals, instead of home cooked healthier food. It has destroyed influence the obesity rate so much in America is has destroyed people's lives and nevertheless people continue eating that food. Many people get too caught up in their lives to be able to take a couple hours to make food, individuals now do what is the quickest yet, laziest way to feed oneself and family. Although that is not all cases sometime people really do not have enough money to go out and buy a bunch of food so they will buy a large portion of food filled with fats and calories so themselves and families will not starve. The average family struggles with time and money which influence what they eat and daily activity, we are no longer a wealthy country where every person can eat healthy food.
America is no longer flowing with money where people do not a parent or family member who can support the family and have a stay at home parent who can cook. Becoming over weight in the last 40 years has sky rocketed through the roof. "Obesity changed relatively little during the 1960s and 1970s, but it increased sharply over the ensuing decades-from 13.4% in 1980 to 34.3% in 2008 among adults and from 5% to 17% among children during the same period. The prevalence of extreme obesity also increased during 1976-1980 and 2007-2008, and approximately 6% of U.S. adults now have a BMI of 40 kg/m2 or higher (Office)." These rates are unbelievable, in this amount of time it has raised so much that it is making America one of the fattest countries in the world, even though after researching that 9 out of the 11 states in the south are considered to have the highest obese rates in the country, throughout the rest of the country it is said that they have lower rates (Raby). There is such a high risk for a person who is obese their life is in jeopardy, there is substantial amount of illnesses they can happen, the most common are high blood pressure, diabetes, heart diseases, cancer, and psychosocial effects. A lot of those deaths can be contributed those main illnesses, "Each year obesity-related conditions cost over 150 billion dollars and cause an estimated 300,000 premature deaths in the US (Obesity)". With the rates being so high and starting to rise in the 2000s and a short period before it really shows how this new generation, has been effected by eating habits, inactivity, bulling, self-esteem, mental disorders, stress.
How a person feels about their body image plays a factor in obesity because it might be that someone is bulling a person on how big they are or even how small and cause them to eat for a sense of happiness and satisfaction which is linked with body image. People use to eat three small to medium size meals a day but now it is normal eat large and supersize meals that is unnecessary and expanded the stomach to eventually eat more and more. The amount a person can consume has double and maybe even tripled in some cases, we no longer seen small portion of carbs and calories with fruit and vegetables, now the average plate is filled with large amount of carbs and calories and little if any vegetables or fruits. Stress can be linked to overweight with all the many emotions and feelings of stress, like stated before people to for pleasure and happiness which can help with stress but will not help with a healthy life style. Some other factors will also include all the distraction in everyday lives such as television, social media, games, and even work and school.
With a very extensive advance in technology over the years it has now become an everyday part of life, even the car and buses have made societies lazier, no longer walking and running or even riding bike for transportation. Whether a person is at school, work, and at home it will be use throughout the day, to either kill time and boredom, or to further educate or get distracted form the outside world. One of the most influential technological items that would be associated with being obese would be the television. "The association with obesity may be mediated in part by the effects of television time on food consumption. The more time children spend watching television, the more likely they are to eat while doing so and the more likely they are to eat the high-calorie foods that are heavily advertised on television (Office)". In most people's life, they do not know a single person who does not watch television multiple hours of the day, and while watching television a person will eat multiple times because of just sitting there and end up watching advertisement they make them hungry or boredom. A problem with television now is there are all these shows that just display the lives off all these obese individuals such as "My 600lb life" and people then accept themselves with being overweight and obese because they never think that they will never be that big. Also, now the fact the we have cellular devices that can distract individuals from being active is a huge reason for the lack of activity in their life.
People no longer want to work out or go outside and be adventurous, they would rather watch television or be on their phones and lay around and eat large portions all day and not burn all of the calories that where consumed. Even though there are gym about every couple of blocks people do not think they need to go, and they just do not have the motivation to go workout and be physical. In recent years there has been a cut back on physical education and health programs, no longer is it a required class to take throughout school. With the cut back that is taking away the education that adolescents need to learn so they can take care of their bodies. Those programs are in critical and influential to some people, it teaches them how to exercise and stay in good health. Those classes educate people on what to eat and how to fuel the body with nutrients and vitamins that are critical for growing and having a healthy life. Once a person gets to the inability to work out because of joint pains or health risks they have no motivation to make a life change. They feel as if now they are obese that they cannot change their body, but there are cases where people with educate themselves and change for the better and do not was to risk their life by eating bad food and not being active. Some people are lucky enough to have a desire to work out and learn how to keep themselves happy because they know being overweight and obese is easily avoidable.
Food portions and non-nutrition diets and a big reason people are so obese in America, some of it can get very confusing, or they just are doing it the wrong way. "Today, each American puts away an average of 195lbs of meat each year, compared to just 138lbs in 1950's. Consumption of added fats also shot up by around two thirds over the same period, and grain consumption rose 45% since 1970" (Public Health). There are many different answers that people and websites and other things will give you but the best to try a couple different diets and food portions and also at least physical activity once a day. The interesting thing this that most American want to be cheap when it comes to eating food, but once gaining weight off that food people will spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on weight loss schemes, pills and surgeries such as liposuction and lap-bands (Public Health). Most Americans do not even know what they are eating anymore as long as it tastes good to them, even though some if this food is fake and not real or added with so much stuff to enhance taste and size. All they additives can sometimes take years but end up put a person at a serious health risk, such as being obese.
There was a good amount of food companies were replacing the animal's fats there were removed from low fat animals and putting hydrogenated oils and sugars. Those hydrogenated oils can be very critical to someone's health and can mess with good and bad cholesterol levels, cause diseases like diabetes or heart disease. "Hydrogenated oils are restructured vegetable oils that carry high levels of trans-fats" (Public Health). Trans-fats are bad fats consuming a lot lots of bad fats overtime can cause overweight and obesity. Throughout time people may end up realizing the food being consumed at fast food places or large and supersize portions will affect their weight and health.
Getting on the right diet for one's body, also realizing that a person should love themselves how they are and by loving themselves they can achieve a great love diseases free live if willing to put in the work. Once getting on a routine and seeing how much it can make a difference in everyday life and not seeming so down and lethargic it will overall help. Even though it may seem more expensive to get cheaper food like fast food or unhealthy, sugary, fat filled food in the long run buying healthier food can keep a person filled longer and burn more calories instead of storing fat which causes obesity. Cooking at home will most of the time be healthier than eating out, but it is all about who wants to live a heathier life and not have struggles with obesity. Obesity is a serious matter that a large percentage of Americans deal with and die every day from.
Obesity in an arising epidemic that is happing in America, with the lack of exercise and the oversized food amounts consumed in an individual's body. Without the physical education programs people with no longer believe or know how to exercise and take care of themselves. Educating people on how to get healthy and stay healthy is something that could progressively change the upcoming generations and there change into adulthood. Even though distractions and technology is an everyday thing that blinds people from the importance of health and activity, change can always happen. All of this research matter for there are took many premature and unnecessary deaths happening from obesity, changing some small routines in life can really make a difference and not have to deal with the struggles of obesity.
Works Cited
"Obesity." Stanford Health Care (SHC) , Stanford Medical Center
Office of the Surgeon General (US). "Background on Obesity." The Surgeon General's Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation., U.S. National Library of Medicine
"Why Are Americans Obese?" PublicHealth.org
Raby, John. 1 In 3 American Adults Are Obese.
"Some Good Obesity Topics for Research Paper Ideas.
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