Essay on Obesity: Obesity and People

Submitted By kelsiekilber
Words: 1693
Pages: 7
Open Document
Proposal Final Draft
AP Language- 1st Hour
3 February 2011
Obesity
Food is everywhere. Food is a necessity; but too much food can lead to disastrous effects on your health, self image, and daily life. Many people believe that the problem of obesity is not important; they overlook the serious effects this epidemic has caused. According to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Smoking kills approximately 442,000 Americans each year, while obesity kills 300,000” (Fauber). The effects of this epidemic are clearly proven to be fatal and overlooked as an issue that is not important; if this problem continues to have no effort applied to solve the obesity epidemic, the fatality rate could increase by a substantial amount.
Obesity is an epidemic that affects millions of people of the United States every day. People’s perception about obese people varies, and everyone has a different view of what constitutes obesity. “Overweight and obesity are defined; respectively, as being the 85th and 95th percentiles for BMI for age and sex based on nationally representative survey data. Today 15% of all children 6-18 exceed the upper range of healthy weights for their age groups” (Schmidt). With this increasing rate, the problem of obesity could soon engulf not only the U.S but, the whole world. Food is at our fingertips almost 24/7, most of the time the food we partake in eating is extremely unhealthy to our bodies. As Americans gain more access to fatty processed foods, the rate maintains a steady incline. “By 2015, four out of ten Americans may be obese” (Ambinder). This alarming statistic shows that soon almost 40% of people will be considered “fat”. Among that 40% is the 15% of all 6-18 year olds that exceed a healthy weight (Schmidt).
Overweight people are affected by a vast amount of physical and emotional health problems. The people that suffer from obesity also have a larger risk of being diagnosed with things such as “type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, arthritis, asthma, and increased risk of birth defects” (Johnson). These chronic diseases cause people to have to spend more money for health insurance in the effort to “beat” obesity. “Improper weight and diet strongly correlate with chronic diseases, which account for three fourths of all health care spending [in the United States]” (Ambinder). Because people cannot control what types of food and how much they are putting into their bodies, they not only suffer with looking fat, but also endure the internal deadly problems that can occur. Not only can internal problems affect the way your body works but the way your mind functions as well. Depression can take over one’s mind because of the constant visuals people see as the “perfect body”. People’s perceptions as to what is considered beautiful are stereotypes such as a tall, skinny blonde, or a tall, dark and handsome man. Nowhere does any excess fat fit into that picture. With these subconscious thoughts entering the mind, pressures to maintain a healthy weight become too much for a person to handle, thus returning to the ultimate problem; food. This results in why it’s harder for obese men and women to find love, and marry. If they do find love, these people may transfer their bad eating habits onto their children.
Childhood obesity also is at an increased risk in the U.S as well. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, “the number of obese children ages 6-19 have tripled to 16% over the last twelve years” (Ambinder). The life of children in today’s society differs much from what it was like to live in the past generation. Back in the 1970’s and 80’s, children played outside and were active when they were looking for entertainment. In today’s culture, video games and television have taken up much of kids’ free time. With children spending at least 8 hours sleeping, another 8 hours in school, and about 2 to 3 hours watching or playing something electronic, it leaves almost no time
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on Obesity: Obesity and People

Essay on Obesity: Nutrition and People

In America 1 in every 3 adult is obese and 1 in every 6 kids are obese. Obesity also is a major leading cause for death, victims can experience heart attacks, receive diseases, and diabetes. Obesity is a very big problem for us americans. The soda ban of over 30 ounces should be encouraged to prevent a rise in obesity rates. also daily exercise should be practiced to prevent you from being a victim of obesity. If you yourself do not do anything to prevent yourself from being obese then no one can…

Words 700 - Pages 3

Argumentative Essay: Is Obesity A Disease?

Obesity is a Disease Heart failure, stroke, diabetes, death. All of these are health problems caused by obesity. Three hundred thousand people are dying per year because of this disease. A disease? Yes! Obesity causes many diseases, decreases quality of life, and shortens one’s precious life. Therefore, obesity should be classified as a disease. Many signs and symptoms associated with obesity that lead to the definition of a disease. A disease can impair bodily functions, cause harm and/or…

Words 1048 - Pages 5

Obesity in the USA Today Essay example

Obesity is a condition in which people have too much fat in their body and because of this they end up getting health problems such as diabetes and heart-related problems including mobility issues and a decreased life expectancy. To be considered obese a person’s Body Mass Index (BMI) must exceed 30 gm, the BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight in grams by the square of a person's height in meters. Today, obesity is a big problem facing our society and more than one-third (35.7%) of Americans…

Words 511 - Pages 3

Childhood Obesity Research Paper

Childhood Obesity is a cardiovascular disease that affects the youth of our nation. Obesity is a disease that must be taken seriously. Recently, studies shows that the number of obese youth is steadily growing each year. With the number of increasing obesity cases, people are left wondering what causes childhood obesity. Childhood obesity is a serious disease that has a variety way of starting, several effects that could be more severe as the child gets older, and many ways to prevent obesity…

Words 536 - Pages 3

Essay on Chapter 3 Article Critique

treatment of overweight and obesity in young people. Obesity Reviews, 10(12), 298-314. Chapter 3 Article Critique Child obesity has been on the rise on not only the national, but also the global level. It has become so widespread that now obesity is considered to be one of the most common chronic disorders among young people everywhere. According to the article “A review of electronic interventions for prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity in young people” utilization of electronic…

Words 405 - Pages 2

How to Reduce Increasing Health Care Costs in New Zealand Essay

in New Zealand--------- should government take action to address the growing issue of obesity? The growing number of people becoming overweight or obese has increased in rate dramatically in New Zealand in recent years. It raises a great concern of how to address obesity in a social level. Some people may claim that obesity is a personal issue and not a social problem; however, there is evidence that obesity is associated with an increased risk of health conditions (Ministry of health, 2014) and…

Words 1175 - Pages 5

Microbiology Essay

many parts of the world the growing concern called obesity has been a talked now ever since before the 1980’s. We have often observed that obesity follows a socioeconomic gradient which adversely affects the poor. It is a problematic concern in many U.S. societies and in most industrialized societies as well. It is still a question itself if obesity is a social phenomenon in this current century. This paper will outline a sociological theory of obesity as a result of so many worldwide factors. There…

Words 1201 - Pages 5

Obesity: A stationary killer Essay

become number one in obesity, a category that no one wants to be at the top at. When one looks back on history they are able to understand how changes came to be, and how the ideas of society have changed. Man has always struggled for survival, and throughout history food shortage and malnutrition can be seen as some of our downfalls. Many countries struggled to overcome these obstacles and thrive as a society. If one was to go back a hundred years or so, they would find that obesity was not always…

Words 2071 - Pages 9

Community Paper2010

Services, obesity has dramatically increased in the US over the past twenty years (http:// www.cdc.gov). Each year over 300,000 US adults die from obesity related causes (http:// www.cdc.gov). A leading health indicator for Healthy People 2020 is overweight and obesity (http://www.healthypeople.gov/HP2020). As of 2008, 33.8% of the US health population is considered obese by a BMI of thirty or greater. 32.2% of those obese people are men and 35.5% are women (http:// www.cdc.gov). Obesity is a widespread…

Words 3529 - Pages 15

Obesity: Obesity and Obesity Aneta Urbańska Essay

OBESITY Aneta Urbańska HARROW COLLEGE Communication Skills for Teaching 2013 Introduction Nowadays, more people are suffering from obesity than hunger. These statistics are scary and according to the Healthy and Social Care Information Centre, we find information telling as that over a quarter of adults in the UK were classified as obese in 2010. The World health statistics 2012 reports, that one in six adults are obese. These statics are terrifying. I want to demonstrate…

Words 1046 - Pages 5