Fight the disease of obesity

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Fight the Disease of Obesity

by Ali Byers

America has become a society obsessed with appearance, especially with weight. We are conditioned at a young age that the only way to be normal is to be thin. So why are one out of three Americans severely overweight? How did America get so fat? Where did we go wrong? Research has yet to find one main reason, but every individual can give you there own reason, whether it be about themselves or America as a whole.

“Americans enjoy one of the most luxurious lifestyles: Our food is plentiful. Our work is automated. Our leisure is effortless. And it’s killing us,” says Cathy Newman National Geographic senior writer. Being overweight is associated with 400,000 deaths a year and an increase risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and colon, breast, and endometrical cancers. Americans have the choice to eat whatever they want.

In an interview with Amy Steinauer a nurse at the Lakeview Clinic in Omaha, NE, she said, “Americans have the mindset of ‘if we want it, we can have it.’” She used her kids as an example, “My kids just don’t understand that when they are hungry we can’t just stop at Burger King and get something to eat. That is the way of most Americans. It is a lot easier to stop on your way home from work and pick up the family some food than it is to go home and make a family of seven dinner.”

There are so many Americans ranting and raving about the Atkins diet. Yes, this diet will make you loose weight, but only for a minimal amount of time. The effects that it later could have on your body are not worth the risk.

According to Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, “How about using common sense? It’s a simple matter of eating fewer calories.” The average woman should contain 1,600 calories a day and the average man should contain 2,200 calories a day. Calories can add up. If you go over 100 calories a week, you can gain five pounds in a year.

A person can eat healthy and be a healthy weight, but exercising and eating healthy make a great combination. When asked what she thought the number one reason for obesity was, Steinauer replied, “No exercise.”

One in four Americans doesn’t get any exercise at all. Less than a third get the recommended minimum of 30 minutes a day. This is a huge factor with child obesity as well. In a study done by the International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association, less than 25 percent of school-age children get even 20 minutes of vigorously daily physical activity, well below the minimum doctors prescribe. Steinauer states, “When I was growing up I had two options; sit and stare at a wall in the house, or grab a sibling and go play outside with them. Now there are so many options for kids to watch on TV that, if not regulated by someone, a child could sit in front of the TV all day long.”

Below are some statistics calculated by National Geographics on how times have changed.

    Percentage of Americans who were obese in 1971: 14.5 Percentage today: 30.9
    Percentage of overweight Americans who say they are “underweight” or “about right”: 41
    Number of deaths per year associated with being overweight: 400,000
    Number of Americans with diabetes in 1980: 5.8 million Number in 2002: 13.3 million
    Percentage of high school students who participated in PE classes in 1991: 42 Percentage in 2001: 32
    Percentage of children ages 12 to 19 who were overweight in 1980: 5 Percent today: 15
    Teaspoons of added sugars Americans are advised not to exceed daily: bb Number they actually consume: 20
    Average women’s dress size in 1950: 8 In 2002: 14

The Worldwatch Institute reports, there are as many over fed, overweight people in the world as those who are underfed and underweight. According to Dr. Robert Kushner, director of the Wellness Institute at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, “Next to cigarette smoking, overweight is the second leading cause of preventable death in this country.” Not one American is the same, therefore our bodies will act differently to different things. But one thing is for sure, there are many leading factors to obesity, and no matter who you are, there is something you can do to avoid it.

References:

Kushner, Robert MD.(July 2002.)Why Weight Matters:Obesity and Your Health.July 28, 2004, from http://www.healthology.com/focus_article.asp?f=beyond_dieting&c=obesity _yourhealth&b=northjersey.

NA.(January 2003.)Did You Know.July 28, 2004, from http://cms.ihrsa.org/IHRSA/view Page.cfm?pageId=625.

Newman, Cathy.(August 2004.)Why Are We So Fat.National Geographics, 46-61.

(Steinauer, Amy, personal communication, July 28, 2004.)