Jairo Lopez
Ms. Frank
Senior capstone, period 1
10/22/13
Obesity argument
Obesity; the plague of the twenty first century; Countless factors go into dealing with
obesity now a day than ever before.
Obesity is a fast growing and counting epidemic within adolescents and adults, although
it mainly affects America, it also plays a big contribution all around the world. Many factors
follow along with obesity including: inactivity, genetics, unhealthy diet, lack of sleep,
depression, medical problems and the list goes on. These factors are a huge part of everyday life,
for example people may be tired at the end of the day from school or work that in the end they
just don’t have enough energy, but what people don’t know is that a quick workout is better than
an hour nap; the University of Georgia says. Sleep is another aspect in obesity, because you may
be sleepy during work and might reach for a few coffee cups or maybe a candy bar or even a
donut just for that extra little jolt of energy and at the moment that may not seem as much but at
the end of the day, the calories just add up without getting any nutritional value. Obesity has
taken over many lives and will cause many to die young. This problem should get widespread
attention because it has cost the government over a billion dollars in health care in the past
decade and the amount of money will continue to rise if the problem is not solved.
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During the 16th century, there were rich but few aristocrats that were some of history’s
largest men, but at the time being large meant that they were in a state of power, it said that they
were not starving that they had something to eat every day, kings for example. In the early 20th
century during the 1910’s people started to purposely gain weight (huff post). The purpose of
gaining in the past is the same idea of losing weight today in the present with supplements to
look better, they wanted to look curvy and a little more thick the main idea is that they wanted to
look healthier instead of underweight. With talk about the war and with the onset of constructing
cities and cars the military and industrial workers realized that the nation needed to change both
body size and body strength, increasing the body mass index to a more overweight and muscular
definition (huff post). Body mass index is the percentage of fat and muscle in the body which is
relative to ones height and weight and is used to calculate whether one is underweight,
overweight or obese(CDC). Generally underweight is considered to be 18% and lower, a healthy
BMI is considered 18-25%, over weight would be from 25-30 and any other percentage above
that is considered obese (CDC).
Obesity has taken the world by storm, according to the world health organization there
are over one million people that are overweight and four hundred seventy five million, and
counting, that are obese (WHO). Mexico becoming first place in the world with the highest
obesity rates since the United States step down to become number two from the previous five
years (IBTime). Mexico having the highest obesity rates with a 32.8% and in children numbers
has tripled in the past ten years. According to research a percent of Mexico’s food is cooked with
unhealthy oils mixed with more oils from the food alone making tacos and quesadillas bleed oil
at your first bites. The United States comes in second place with 31.2% of obesity rates, mainly
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because the U.S invented the sport of competitive eating and because of the spontaneous sprout
of fast food restaurants. With New Zealand coming in third place with a 26%, although it may
not seem like much but still pretty high. Recent research has found that over 9.2 percent of
preschoolers are obese, that’s almost 30,000 children (Gawker). Over all childhood obesity is
creating a major issue because the longer someone is overweight or obese, have a higher risk of
dealing with cardiovascular diseases.
The way Americans have accustomed their selves with these “comfort foods” and the
nation’s lack of activity are creating major issues and bringing health related issues in to this
world, with higher risks of heart attacks, diabetes and many other types of diseases. (“WebMD”)
For example artery stiffening is, when the heart arteries begin to build up cholesterol plaque in
the circumflex coronary, the bypass graft, the left anterior descending coronary artery and the
right coronary artery, these are the arteries that surround the heart carrying blood thorough the
body. If one is to build too much plaque someone could suffer from hyper tension, high blood
pressure, damaged organs such as kidney failure or worst one’s heart could stop. (“American
heart association”)
One reason why obesity has developed is the way people in schools, at work, and
anywhere else you could think of is the way they prepare their food. But in some aspects some
people may not have so much time for lunch during work so they may get something quick and
cheap. Some may not have enough money to get healthier but expensive ingredients for their
daily meal. For example the dollar menus in fast food restaurants have more than 300 calories in
the fries alone (McDonalds). With the rise of many fast food restaurants sprouting up all over the
united states since mid 1950’s, to purposely trying to gain body fat for that curve, to processed
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greasy food we buy from the store and bring into our homes are another contribution to this
epidemic.
Adults in the United States are trying to make a difference in themselves, starting to watch what
they eat, started to eat healthier, becoming active and doing many other things to prevent
themselves from becoming overweight which often lead to obesity in the future.
What about the children? Recent research has shown that fast food advertisements main
target are the children, always wanting something tasty fast greasy food. While the adults know
what is good for them and what is not, children are still too young to comprehend what is going
on with their bodies and health status. Many factors contribute to childhood obesity such as:
modern technology, and video games (US news). These factors play a huge role where children
under the age of 15 are now what society refers to as couch potatoes due to new advancements to
technology, for example Xbox or the PS3, keeping children from going outside to get active;
keeping them home playing video games and probably only eating junk food, causing them to
gain more weight while they are just sitting there starring at the television screen. (“WebMD”)
Another contribution to this epidemic is boredom. Children and adults can’t really ever
determine whether if they are hungry or just bored. Best way to solve the problem is easy, all one
has to do is drink a glass of water, people often need some rehydration causing the body to give
mixed signals of hunger, if you still feel hungry afterwards go ahead and eat but something small
more of snack than a whole meal. People often do this due to nothing else to do causing craving,
in situations like this try doing something else that is not food related, or just eat a cereal bar, but
absolutely no gum seeing how gum tricks your stomach into thinking you are about to swallow
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food and in the end causing your stomach to create acids that eventually lead to premature
hunger and even acid reflux. (“Live Strong”)
According to research, in the past forty years there have been more than 300,000 fast
food restaurants opened in the United States alone, serving over 50 million people each day
rounding that number to 18.25 billion people a year and in 2006 fast food restaurants made an
estimate of 142 billion dollars that year alone, serving frozen meats that already contain a high
amount of oil and calories just to be thawed and cooked in boiling oil again (SFGate).
Childhood obesity is more of a problem than people might think. Childhood obesity is a
severe condition that if children can’t get passed that point and keep being overweight, fact is
that they are going to be the obese future generations. Having negative effects on our country
and possibly our economy; future military cadets, business owners and creating a shortage on
manual labor are at stake. Obesity not only can it make you large but it can cause you to be bed
ridden, causing loss of labor and an increase on health insurance from the government.
Childhood obesity will ruin future generations to come, taking into account that obesity
does run in genetics so chances are even bigger that a child will be obese.
Diet and exercise are the answer to combat this new plague. Committing to an exercise
plan, a perfectly well balanced diet and nutrition of vegetables, dairy, fruit, and grain are the key
to personal health. Dieting, working out and keeping track of time with a busy schedule maybe
difficult however keep in mind that it’s a lot easier to stick to something when you have some
sort of motivation.
I am not implying that in order to lose weight you don’t have to starve yourself; you
don’t have to hurt yourself lifting heavy weights and running to a point that your body may be
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fatigue and malnourished. Eating five times a day is a much more healthier alternative but only
in much smaller portions, your three square meals are fine: breakfast, lunch and dinner but make
sure of what you eat and how much of it, and in between your main meals a quick calorie boost
snack is perfect, as long it all adding up to the calorie intake you should be taking according to
your age height and weight (U.S. Health News). Other small solutions that can contribute at the
end of the day could be, drinking ice cold water in the morning is an easy and simple way to
speed up your metabolism causing your body to warm up the water entering your body
increasing your metabolism in the process.
Some people have argued “I don’t have the time”, “it’s too hard” well let me just mention
that any type of physical activity or work out doesn’t have to be an hour or two hours, a 30 to 60
minutes a day is all someone needs to make a difference, or if you think exercise is to hard well
there are always baby steps, you could begin walking maybe park your car all the way at the end
of the parking lot, or if you take a bus get off one or two stops away from your destination. Many
more have said “fast food is a balanced meal; meat, wheat (buns), vegetables and potatoes. Well
NO! A hamburger meal may only contain fried potatoes and small amount of vegetables;
probably one or two slices of lettuce or tomatoes and is considered unbalanced because of the
excess amount of salt, fats and sugars. Also the meat may be low grade and the vegetables could
be low grade unlike the type you could get at the store. The number one argument people have
given is ‘why should I do any physical activity? I’m already slim and look good? Well everyone
needs to be engaged in some sort of activity if you want to avoid muscular dystrophy, where
your muscles begin to lessen due to inactivity, just because you are slim does not mean you are
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healthy, and if you want to build some sort of muscle, keep looking slim or just to feel great any
sort of activity is the answer.
To fight this battle with obesity, people have to change their eating habits, and change
their activities. Lowering the chances of childhood obesity and lessening the amount of obesity
mortality rates. Little changes may not seem like much but in the end it all of that adds up into
something better, making you in to someone better, faster, stronger. “If you really want to do
something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”
Citations
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"State of Health The Florida Hospital Blog." Childhood Obesity & Technology – What's
the Connection? N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Explore by Topic." Heart & Vascular Disease. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
"Obesity Information." Obesity Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
"Obesity, Cholesterol, and Heart Disease - Weighing Your Risks." WebMD. WebMD, 30
Dec. 0039. Web. 14 Nov. 2013
"Emotional Effects of Childhood Obesity." LIVESTRONG.COM. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov.
2013.
Obesity-Overview." WebMD. WebMD, 30 Jan. 0000. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Obesity Facts, Causes, Emotional Aspects and When to Seek Help." WebMD. WebMD,
18 Jan. 0031. Web. 14 Nov. 2013
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