Obesity

Obesity: An Individuals Responsibility

Many countries, other than the United States, literally starve to death while we, in America, kill ourselves with an overabundance of food. Nationally obesity is a preventable epidemic of great proportions that affects the very young to the very old. There are numerous contributions to being overweight or obese as well as many ways to fight this ever-growing epidemic.

Obesity is no longer a simple eating disorder; it has grown into an unyielding epidemic. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention state "Data from two NHANES surveys show that among adults aged 20 - 74 years the prevalence of obesity increased from 15% (in the 1976 - 1980 survey) to 32.9% (in the 2003-2004 survey)." To determine if one is obese, Vol. 83, No. 2, December 2007, issue of The Virginia News Letter indicates BMI (Body Mass Index) is calculated by the following formula: weight (lb)/[height (in)]2 x 703. A BMI greater than 24.9 classifies overweight, while a BMI calculated at 30 or higher is obese. Obesity compromises the health of any individual. Several diseases are considered a direct correlation to overweight or obesity: diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, some types of cancers, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, and gallbladder disease. According to Washington Post staff writer Rob Stein, "America's weight problem is rapidly overtaking cigarette smoking as the leading cause of preventable deaths, federal health officials reported yesterday"(1). While actual diseases associated with obesity are not preventable, obesity itself is.

Obesity is treatable by several different processes. The first major process is to change the lifestyle of the obese by eating a healthy diet. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Dietary Guidelines suggest eating a diet providing 30 percent or less of calories from fat and less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fat. The FDA also recommends "many older adults, children, and sedentary women need fewer than 2,000 calories a day and may want to select target levels based on 1,600 calories a day. Some active men and teenage boys and very active women may want to select target levels based on 2,800 calories per day" (Saltos,19). A second way to treat obesity is by increasing daily activity to include at 30 minutes of exercise per day.

Society places great importance on our weight, how it affects our health, and our appearance. In a fast-paced society, it is easy to pick up a meal, or snack, and eat in a rush. These types of foods are prepared with high quantities of fat, sugar, calories, carbohydrates and preservatives. While each of these is indeed a factor in obesity, they are not the only contributing factor: genetics is greatly influential in size. Families with at least one overweight or obese parent are at greater risk of rearing children who will become obese at some point in their life.

Mental illness has a direct link to obesity as society indicates that if the average person does not appear to be the same size as the rest of society they do not belong, they are outcast and shunned for their appearance. A reaction when seeing an obese person can be to point and laugh at the size and sometimes their inability to fit into general public areas designed for the average person. This reaction causes the obese to feel inadequate and lowers their self-esteem, placing them at a higher risk for depression and at times, suicide. Kevin Caruso stated, "A study by the American Journal of Epidemiology indicates that people who are morbidly obese are five times more likely to be depressed than those who are not" (1).

Several influential people across the country felt that someone other than the overweight or obese individual should mandate weight loss. The Mississippi House Legislature issued House Bill 282 as an act to prohibit certain food establishments from serving food to any obese person. House Bill 282 was based on criteria prescribed by the State Department of Health to direct the department to prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese and to provide those materials to the food establishments. The department is to monitor the food establishments for compliance with the provisions of this act and for related purposes. The Mississippi Legislature 2008 Regular Session voted on this bill on February 19, 2008, and failed to pass. What food establishment, whether fast food or full service, will want to tell any person that they are not able to serve food to them because the state has labeled them obese? Instead, restaurants of all varieties should regulate how food is prepared