Friday, March 20, 2009

Obesity in America

Stephanie Harwood
ND 310-05
March 15, 2009
Obesity in America

America is one of the richest, most progressive countries in the world. Shouldn't it be one of the healthiest too? Maybe it should, but the sad truth is that Americans are some of the unhealthiest people in the world. Even though we are living in a country with great economic power and technological advancement, we are also living in a country with the smallest fund of practical nutritional knowledge. We are living in a land plagued with obesity. America is home to the most obese people in the world.
According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), obesity in adults has increased by 60% within the past twenty years and obesity in children has tripled in the past thirty years. A staggering 33% of American adults are obese and obesity-related deaths have climbed to more than 300,000 a year, second only to tobacco-related deaths. Not excluded from this statistic, Native Hawaiians have alarmingly high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. The number of Hawaiian children suffering from obesity is double that of children throughout the nation. In May 2001 the University of Hawaii Kinesiology and Leisure Science Department along with the Brigham Young University Exercise and Sport Science Department conducted a local study and found that more than 20% of Hawaiian children were overweight. Hawaiians aren't the only indigenous people in America that have high rates of obesity. According to Dr. Kelly Brownell, PhD, an expert on American diet and health, a study was conducted with the Pima Indians who live both in Mexico and Arizona. It was found that those Pima Indians who live in Arizona have much higher rates of obesity than their counterparts in Mexico, even though both groups of people have the same genetic and ethnic background. This is also true for many migrants of the US who have a much higher obesity rate than their relatives back home. So the question is, why the American people? What do we do that is so different than the rest of the world? There is no mystery behind this epidemic- we simply need to examine the American diet and lifestyle. Living a life on the go, eating fast-food and microwave dinners, the health of the American people has been sacrificed. Instead of eating a diet of pure, wholesome foods coming directly from the land, Americans eat a diet of packaged, processed, and refined foods. Through technological advancement we have found ways to produce food in mass quantities, make it last longer and taste better. Unfortunately, during this processing somewhere along the line, we seemed to have lost the food. The highly processed and refined products that pack our supermarket shelves are loaded with sugar, hydrogenated oils, and plenty more ingredients that we can't even pronounce. Fast-food restaurants have become mainstreamed in the past 30 years and practically all of America takes advantage of the cheap prices, quick service and tasty meals. Convenient as they may be, these meals contain practically no nutrients. They are comprised mostly of saturated fats and highly refined carbohydrates and are loaded with sodium and sugar. The average adult shouldn't have more than 65 grams of fat or 2000 calories a day. One meal from Burger King, a hamburger and French fries, has 50 grams of fat and 2000 calories, which is almost enough to fill someone's fat and calorie quota for the day! The average child sees more than 10,000 food ads on TV each year, most for high-calorie, high-fat, and high-sugar meals. Not only does the fast food industry spend billions per year on marketing, but they have also infiltrated our schools, signing contracts with them. Our children are bombarded from every angle with these toxic foods making it virtually impossible for them to eat anything else. It is no wonder that we have an increasingly obese population of children (who in time will become an obese population of adults). Americans have re-defined the word food. In the Webster's dictionary food is any nourishing substance eaten, drunk, or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth, etc. In American society food is that which is fatty, tasty, processed, refined and contains no nutrients; a substance detrimental to the body's functions, creating disease, and resulting in death. At no time in history have humans eaten such refined, processed and fatty food and at no time in history have humans had such an obesity epidemic. Since before anyone can remember, our ancestors, and our ancestors' ancestors ate a diet coming directly from the land. In those days obesity wasn't even a word. With modern technology, much has been gained, but some things have been lost. What was instinct for our ancestors must be taught to our children. Today, backwards as we may be in regards to our health, there is always hope. Out of necessity, many obese people suffering from various complications and diseases have learned to change their diet. Those people, with determination and a will to survive, have succeeded in becoming healthy once again. They have learned that cutting out meat products, processed foods, fast-foods, high sugar and high sodium foods, while incorporating whole grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes into the diet is the only way to return back to health. It is not easy to go against the strong current of an unhealthy society but it is a necessity.









Works Cited
"Obesity and Overweight: Trends: U.S. Obesity Trends | DNPAO | CDC." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 13 Mar. 2009 .
"Obesity in America." Down To Earth Hawaii - ALL VEGETARIAN Organic and Natural. 10 Mar. 2009 .
"Understanding Obesity." Welcome to Obesity in America. 13 Mar. 2009 .

14 comments:

  1. America should not have such a high rate of obesity because like you said we have the money to fix this problem. It all ties together with health then health insurance and greedy people trying to get money. Health insurance agencies do what they can so that they can deny people who need necessary health procedures. We need to tax the unhealthy foods and make the healthy ones cheaper so that the healthy way is the convenient way to go.

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  2. This is a timely topic for us in terms of what we just discussed in Learning Module 9 and our day to day living. Now our obesity epidemic is moving around the world. Being at a unhealthy and obese could be our next national security threat.

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  3. The numbers related to the percentage of Americans and American children who are obese is staggering and a direct indication for why intervention for those plagued by obesity. I knew that fast-food is very bad for health, but had no idea that it was so bad that a simple meal is enough to meet a daily quota! You are right, we have the resources and the obligation to work hard to see that changes are made to improve our nations health.

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  4. I think money is one huge problem why America has such high obesity rates. For example I bet most lower class and a few middle class familys are obese. But the high class familys are not because they can afford to eat Healthy.

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  5. I didn't know that the obesity in Hawaiian children was double everyone else. I also did not know that the obesity rate in children had tripled in the last 30 years. But that does make sense. We now have more fast food to choose from, and our lives are more sedentary because of computers and games, and many things that are more "convenient". It seems like convenience is killing us!

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  6. I was shocked to see the actual numbers of obese people in our culture. I thought you provided lots of reasons why our culture is growing bigger and bigger. It was interesting to hear some of the less-obvious things that contribute to unhealthy lifestyles. Thanks for sharing!

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  7. This is another wakeup call for the American people, but I think the main problem is most people have no idea what is healthy for their bodies and what is not. It is going to take more people like us, and more shocking statistics to make people realize that this is a epidemic and it needs to be taken care of ASAP!

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  8. You raise so many good points in this essay! And as you said in the first line, we are one of the richest countries in the world, so why should we be one of the unhealthiest? You provided a lot of research to back your points up, which I thought was great. I've always wondered, since there is so much information on obesity (and how to counter it), why not implement all this knowledge into our schools? A course could be created dedicated to informing students about how to maintain a properly balanced diet, which would put a dent in the level of obesity in America.

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  9. Many people don't realize how much obesity has impacted our society. For those of us majoring in nutrition, we have our work cut out for us! I learned a lot from your report, thanks!

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  10. Great Report and opening! you really opened my eyes!

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  11. This report was interresting because it gives us the reasons why americans are unhealthy. Fast food is very developped in US. One of the reasons why americans doesn't have a healthy diet is maybe because they are always on the rush and they don't have time to cook and in family.

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  12. Good report. The question in my mind is; "Is there still a chance to change this trend. Or is it going to continue getting worse.

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  13. As lazy as our society has become its no wonder that so many people are fat. The numbers are shocking to say the least

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  14. Yes I agree with Adam the statistics are shocking. I admit I am lazy, I tend to eat fast food as I run here and there from school to home, and it is too easy and cheap to grab fast food and eat while driving the healthier food options are much more expensive and time consuming when you are rushing to the next class or appointment. I do pay gym memberships but I never go, and we have a huge gym on campus which I just saw for the first time a few weeks ago, that is wrong~! It is extremely difficult to motivate myself and it is much easier to sit on the couch watching tv while we eat dinner, and my husband is a chef so you would think we would eat healthier, nope! The healthier food is much to expensive to purchase, this is exactly what is wrong with our society, just like me, way to many excuses! I just have to get up and do it.. I do want to say that I feel that the chart with which they determine obesity should be updated and changed as things change over time. I am overweight, but I am 5'8 and weigh 205, that is considered obese, I may be in serious denial but I do not see myself as obese, I do see myself as fat,overweight and out of shape, but obese brings on a view of serious extra weight and the chart views it alot differant as many people who are slightly overweight are categorizerd as obese. I just don not want to believe and accept that I am obese, another excuse!

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