Causes Of Obesity

Obesity is a life threatening condition and is creating a major health crisis in America. The most horrifying thing about obesity is that its victims are becoming younger and younger. What it all comes back to is what people are putting in their bodies, what they are eating. People have horrible eating habits and poor knowledge of nutrition, they seem surprised when they are suddenly overweight and on the verge of obesity. Many people put the blame on getting older and lack of exercise, this is part of the problem, but nutrition plays a much larger role, especially in childhood obesity. Lack of nutrition is key. Bad habits are the source of many people's problems, they are not caring to read the labels of what they eat. Processed foods that contain chemicals not fit for a living organism, a Big Mac with 26 grams of fat and 500 calories, how can people overlook this ("Fast Food Nutrition")? People do not look at what they are putting in their bodies, they do not think of what is natural for them to eat, what they should be eating. People pass these bad habits down to their children, as it is inevitable, and now childhood obesity is becoming a growing concern. The American obesity epidemic, in both children and adults, is being caused by poor nutrition habits which can only be solved by action by the government to provide information for people to develop better habits squelch distribution and consumption of unhealthy foods.

America is in the midst of a major health crisis. Obesity is America's fastest growing health concern ("Obesity"). In the United States alone 40 million people are obese ("Obesity"). The problem is not just that obese people are fat, tend to have low self-esteem, and have trouble working and functioning like a normal person. Obesity can lead to many other problems such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure. "80% of type II diabetes related to obesity, 70% of Cardiovascular disease related to obesity, 42% breast and colon cancer diagnosed among obese individuals, 26% of obese people having high blood pressure" ("Obesity"). It comes to no surprise that people who are obese are not just overweight but are at a serious health risk.

This is not a new problem. No one becomes obese overnight. People used to burn calories for survival. Food has become easily attainable, and the amount of physical activity required for daily living has plummeted. Now people have machines to do their work for them. This leaves people with nothing to do but sit around, and watch TV. No one seems to care. Experts estimate that eventually everyone in the country will be obese (Schlosser 35). "Others predict that if we don't make some changes within the next 10 years, it won't be unusual at all for ER doctors to be treating 17- or 18-year-old kids for heart attacks" (Schlosser 36). Who is going to be responsible for fixing this mess?

No one can seem to isolate the source of the obesity epidemic. There is no one solution to this problem. Although one can blame a lot of it on McDonald's and other food companies, their advertisements are seen almost billions of times more than are nutritional commercials such as "Eat an apple a day," are seen. However one can not blame all of this on fast food alone. The government holds a part in this too. Many people are never taught how to eat right and exercise, there are many places where neither physical education nor nutrition are required courses at school. In SuperSize Me many elementary schools that are visited only have physical education once a week for 30 minutes, when the Surgeon General recommends 30 minutes of exercise four times per week minimum (Spurlock). It does not make sense for the government to recommend one thing but not enforce it in schools across the country.

Food companies make most of their money off of foods that are addicting. Caffeine filled sodas and sugar filled treats. More and more evidence is showing up that states sweet, starchy, fatty foods can change the brain's metabolism and encourage you to eat more of those foods than you normally would.

Since these are the types of foods companies advertise and sell to the public, we need to study them. Funding for nutritional research is better than it used to be, but it's not even close to where it should be. More money is spent on advertising for junk foods than is spent by the FDA to encourage kids to eat a healthy balanced diet. The food industry is obviously a major culprit in the epidemic, but one can't expect or require too much from them. What it boils down to is that they are a business. They are just trying to make money, and please their customers. If we demand nutritious foods, we would get them--no legislation or litigation required. Look what happened with the low-carb foods --the public wanted them and now they're everywhere.

So if it's not corporate America's fault, then whose is it?

You have to put the blame on America's sedentary lifestyle. We're just not as active as we used to be. If people got enough exercise, things would be different. We could all eat what we want to. But physical activity alone is not the answer. One will never control epidemic obesity without addressing calories in, as well as calories out. There are tasty, high-calorie foods available to people everywhere they go. Activity and industry have a role in the epidemic, of course, but you can't discount the behavioral aspect of eating. Many people are overweight because they're stressed and trying to relax--food becomes their crutch.

There isn't one single villain behind America's weight gain. It's a combination of many things, and they all need to be addressed. You can change one or two factors, but the problem won't go away until we sit down and address the situation as a whole. What's America's biggest obstacle to losing weight right now? There's so much cynicism out there. Who can one trust? One cannot trust the government. Food manufacturers are just trying to sell their products. Even doctors are telling everyone to lose weight but not telling them how to do it. Nobody knows what to believe.

One of the most powerful cancer-promoting food ingredients of all is called sodium nitrate. This is an ingredient that is added to virtually all packaged meat products including hot dogs, pepperoni, ham, lunchmeat and other similar products. You'll also find it in bacon, sausages and most breakfast meats. It is listed right on the ingredients labels of all of these foods. In order to find sodium nitrate, all you have to do is walk around the grocery store, read the ingredients labels of various packaged meat products and purchase those products that contain it. Then, consume