Obesity

JOHN STEVENS

Standing as one of the greatest empires of the twentieth century, America has developed as one of the richest and most progressive countries in the world. With aggressive advances in medicine and health, shouldn't the American society be considered the healthiest as well? Unbeknownst to many of modern day American citizens, the American people have transformed into some of the most unhealthy and obese cultures on the face of the planet. Overbearing with technological advancement and supreme economic power, the American society has lost sight of the basic nutritional knowledge that is needed to remain fit. Plagued not by ravishing flues and diseases like many of our European counterparts, American people have fallen quickly to love of food and self degradation.

As the American population expands, so does the average waistline of the everyday American consumer. America in some respects has become a safe haven for the obese. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention illustrates this idea in its discovery the obesity has increased sixty percent in the past twenty years. Not to blame the grown folk, children's obesity in America has almost tripled in the past thirty years. As today's society debates on the growing health risks of the infamous murdering tobacco industry, many in our society have lost sight of the second most lethal killer, obesity. With more that three hundred thousand deaths per year, obesity is developing into more than a bad eating habit.

Developing as a land of the fat, America has formed a community in which over thirty five percent American adults are obese. Surrounded by lard infested drive through

menus and the constant desire to eat on the run, the cause for this growing epidemic is not hard to find. Looking deep into the common American lifestyle and diet, many of the lifelines for obesity can be easily discovered. As life on the go gets faster and faster, many food chains life McDonald's and Burger King offer a quick alternative to the more formal prepared family meal. Disguised by fancy advertising and growing meal portions, it is obvious why the health of the American food has been sacrificed for the packaged and processed foods of the day.

Instead of the fresh picked produce of the fading victory garden, many of today's diets are infatuated with hydrogenated oils, sugars, and various unknown preservatives that only increase the amount of space that the human stomach can