Obesity in Everyday Life
By
Tara Ford
Obesity is a battle many people will
Tissue (SCAT) is the fat that is located
encounter in their lifetime. Some people
beneath the skin and located on top of the
will battle being overweight for the rest of
abdominal muscles, they have the body
their life. Here are some examples of
shape of a “pear” and the fat is located
where the average person encounters
mostly in the hips, buttocks, and legs.
obesity in their lives.
People with SCAT have a tendency to have a
Before getting started there are a
few things to know about fat. According to
“Fat Cells & Diseases” written by Gina
Willett. There are two different types of
body shapes where fat can be located: V.A.T
and S.C.A.T. The most serious of the two is
lower risk of heart disease and diabetes.
There is Body Mass Index tends to be higher
in people that are obese. But having a high
BMI does not mean that one is obese. Body
builders have a high body mass index
because of how much they weigh.
Visceral Adipose Tissue (VAT), this is where
The lack of physical activity has also
fat is located in the body cavity beneath the
contributed to the increase in obesity. The
abdominal muscle and those with VAT have
reason of this is because people have the
the shape of an “apple”. Obesity is this area
food intake but no exercise. Some don’t
is a hereditable trait. The accumulation of
have the time to prepare and cook a meal
VAT can predict the onset of heart disease
so they will stop for fast food on their way
and diabetes. Subcutaneous Adipose
to wherever they are headed. Fast food is
tasty, cheap, and easy to get. Then after
match it with a equivalent of body functions
work they are too tired to cook so they
and physical activity.
rationalize and think might as well just grab
a quick bite to eat. Eating unhealthy food
such as fast food will require a lot of
exercise to burn and keep off extra calories.
Many people stay inside and play
video games and watch T.V instead of
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/causes/index.html
participating in activities. As a way of
exercising people could jog/run or ride
bikes to wherever it is that they have to go.
But this is easier said than done. Biking
somewhere takes a lot more time to get to
the desired destination and it is much easier
and faster to just drive. Plus when you take
a car somewhere you don’t really have to
worry about the same things you would
encounter weather wise if you were riding a
bike, and driving saves more time out of
your day than what a bike would.
Overall a good way to stay healthy is
with whatever food you take in you must
Environment is another contributing
factor to obesity. Some bad eating habits
are developed unconsciously when growing
up. When growing up in a household where
food with excessive amounts of calories are
easily accessed such as: candy, chips, soda,
etc, unhealthy eating habits are developed.
There are other unhealthy habits that can
be picked up as a kid while living at home
with parents such as too much sitting
around at home playing video games and
surfing the web and not enough physical
activities.
reinforcing it. But if the parents do not
enforce activities and sit around a lot the
children will have a tendency to be lazy and
not active. When the parents do not watch
their kids there is a higher chance of large
amounts of junk food consumption. Some
http://going-well.com/wp/wpcontent/uploads/2009/09/childhood-obesitytelevision-fast-food.jpg
parents are not home to be able to monitor
what their child consumes in the way of
A researcher surveyed some families to
amounts and what type of food. Growing
study how much TV the youth watches and
up with these bad habits make it harder
he found that “One survey showed 43% of
when as a adult to get rid of.
adolescents watched more than two hours of
television per day” (“Troubled Teen 101”).
Another bad habit that can develop if parents
don’t watch is the skipping of breakfast.
"Breakfast is the most important meal of
the day for weight control," says Ashley
Fenzl Crossman a worker in the ASU's
Department of Sociology. Children have a
tendency to follow the examples that their
parents set. If the parents are active and
reinforce activities the children are more
likely to follow as long as the parents keep
Some obesity isn’t something that
one just develops from unhealthy eating
and or little or no exercise. People can
inherit obesity from their parent’s genes.
Just because a person’s parents are obese
doesn’t mean that the kids will be obese, it
just increases their chances of becoming
overweight. Another way that obesity is
inherited is while the baby is in the womb.
Depending on how much and what types of
food the mother eats while pregnant can
play a role in the development of the child.
food on a billboard and then becoming
Things such as thyroid can cause problems
hungry from seeing that picture is not
with weight. The thyroid gland controls the
true hunger. True hunger is something
body’s metabolism rate. If something goes
that occurs gradually and does not
wrong with the thyroid gland it can result in
instantly happen.
intense weight gain for a person.
What is emotional eating?
True hunger can also wait it does
not feel the same as emotional hunger.
According to dietitian Jane Jakubczak
Emotional hunger such as a crave feels
"Emotional eating is eating for reasons
like it needs to be satisfied instantly
other than hunger" (Emotional Eating:
with the desired food. Obesity is not
Feeding Your Feelings.) There are many
always something that is developed
things that would not really be
from someone’s bad habits. It can be
recognized as eating your feelings. Like
developed and usually is a demon that
when you’re happy you may go eat a
they will have to fight for the rest of
steak or pizza. When your sad you may
their life. A little emotional eating is
eat things like cookies and ice cream,
not bad. It’s when someone relies on
and when you are bored you may
eating to obtain a certain feeling of
munch on things such as potato chips.
being comfortable is where it may start
Items that comfort a person are known
causing some problems dealing with
as comfort foods: cookies, ice cream,
weight. Comfort foods for some people
steak, pizza, potato chips, etc. When
do help them for the time being but in
driving along and seeing a picture of
the long run emotional eating does lead
whatever they consume they must have
to obesity.
a physical activity that will burn off the
Overall obesity is a growing
problem growing here in the United
States because of all the easy access
fast food restaurants that are
everywhere and the lack of physical
exercise. People can eat most of what
they want, they just have to know
calories and carbohydrates that are
eaten. Growing up with different
environments will affect someone in the
way their weight. Then there are
battles where someone has to find
other ways to comfort themselves
rather than eating food.
Bibliography
Willett, Gina. Fat Cells & Disease: Unraveling The Metabolic Puzzle. Bedford: MED2000, INC
2007
Keeler, Sharon. “Teen obesity and family environment.” Medical News Today. 15 Aug. 2005. 20 Nov.
2009 < http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/29129.php >
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www.troubledteen101.com/articles42.html>
“Prader-Willi Syndrome.” Medline Plus. 2009. 20 Nov. 2009 <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/
medlineplus/praderwillisyndrome.html
Warner, Jennifer. “Children Who Play Video Games, Watch TV More Likely to Be Obese.” WebMD.
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<http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/emotional-eating-feeding-your-feelings>
“Inheritance and Genetics of Obesity.” WD. 20 Nov. 2009 <http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com
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