America The Fatty

Introduction

America's 'Obesity Epidemic' has truly become just that, a full fledged epidemic. Over these previous years the number of overweight Americans has risen to enormous numbers. According to the United States Census Bureau, there are approximately 296,000,000 Americans currently living in the United States. (National) Also according to the United States Census Bureau, 56 percent of those Americas are overweight and 21 percent are obese. (United) That is approximately 165,760,000 Americans who are overweight and 62,160,000 of those Americans are obese. Those numbers are staggering.

Why has this happened? How could so many Americans have become so overweight? "The National Institutes of Health estimates that 97 million American adults - 55 percent of the adult population - now are overweight or obese." (Bettelheim) This causes for many different health problems including high blood pressure, and diabetes. These chronic health diseases cause annually nearly 300,000 deaths. While $3 billion dollars a year is spent studying diseases like cancer a mere $100 million dollars is spent to combat obesity. (Bettelheim) The causes, effects, and methods of treating this epidemic will all be probed and examined throughout this paper.

Why Have We Become So Fat?

There are a number of different reasons for the occurrence of such weight gain. Mainly our increased technology, excessive advertising, and fast-food industry are all to blame for our country's spike in percent of people who are overweight and are obese.

As our technology increases and daily luxuries make many daily routines less strenuous on the body. As the times progress it is not uncommon for there to be 2 and even 3 cars per household. This cuts down drastically on the amount of walking/running that the everyday person does. Computers have become such a necessary commodity in our lives, many people now work at home watching a computer screen for hours at a time. Kids are much more inclined today to talk to friends through the internet now more then ever.

They have also found new and less aerobic ways to play with each other. Much less kids today will play video games over the internet with one another rather then going outside and playing games like stick ball or soccer. Aerobic activity is no longer a necessary in order to have a good time with friends; sports are being phased out of the lives of this nation's children.

Advertising companies in this country only aid in the obesity epidemic. Companies like Pepsi and Coke are spending millions to advertise their product in schools all over America. (Kilbourne 83) The targeting of advertisements of products that are high in sugar and cholesterol at young children is detrimental to our country's health. Aside from just the promotion of fatty foods, the promotions of products that attract children to use the computer more and video games more is another way that children of this country are being brainwashed to perform activities that stray away from aerobic activity. (Kilbourne 81)

Fast Food restaurants all contain high levels of fat and cholesterol in their foods. Being that these businesses are plentiful in towns and cities all across America it is not uncommon that children and adults alike have regular meals at these establishments. These companies have become corporate giants and done a very good job at convincing Senators such as Georgia's Zell Miller that obesity is caused not by what students are eating in lunchrooms but by not exercising, due to his "shut down (of) a Senate Agriculture Committee staff decision of a ban on soda pop in high schools." (Ruskin 17)

Damaging Effects

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average daily consumption of calories increased from 2,450 to 2,618 between 1971 and 2000. (Harvey 2) This will subsequently add 17 pounds per year on the body. This is a very large increase.

Americans are developing diseases such as coronary artery disease, heart attacks, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure and strokes, many forms of cancer, fatty liver, which may progress to cirrhosis, osteoarthritis, depression, and social isolation all due to their over-eating habits. (Harvey 1) These diseases will most definitely decrease life expectancy and in some cases may cause death.

An overweight person is classified as such if their Body Mass Index is over 25%, and an obese person is classified as such if their Body Mass Index is over 30%. (United) According to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, 56.5% of all Americans are overweight and 21.1% are obese, with 65% of all males being overweight. (United) For children with an education below the 9th grade, 63.1% are overweight. (United) This statistic accurately portrays the physical health of our children.

Combating Obesity

There are many new diet plans that have been introduced onto the American public but there are many other things that need to be done. There needs to be changes in the types of food that we eat, the amount of physical activity that we do, and amount of funding that we give to study this problem.

The Nutrition Charts required to be posted in fast-food restaurants shows that the calories for one value meal at Burger King contains two-thirds of the recommended calorie intake for an entire day. (Bettelheim) Also the everyday meal from your local Chinese food restaurant contains twice that of the recommended fat intake. (Bettelheim) Fatty and sugary foods and drinks are being distributed in our children's schools. All of this needs to stop.

Another problem is the amount of exercise that we do or lack there of. American's are more and more often choosing to drive rather than walk, ride elevators rather than climb stairs, and play video games rather than play sports. With more and more people also working at jobs in which they sit at desks and stare at computer screens all day, physical activity is at an all-time low. People need to be more active; they need to play more intramurals and play a more active role in their children's fitness as well as their own.

As stated earlier, the National Institute of Health spends amounts such as $1 billion dollars for research in areas of heart disease, $3 billion dollars for research in cancer, and a meager (in comparison) $100 million dollars for research in obesity. (Bettelheim) More attention needs to be paid on this problem. The problem