Obesity Today Essay

Submitted By AndieBabiee0103
Words: 833
Pages: 4
Open Document
Statistics show that 154.7 million Americans age 20 or older are overweight or obese (Statistical Fact Sheet 2013 Update, American Heart Association, 2013). Obesity is a serious issue towards individuals' physical and emotional health. It is affected by the psychological, biological, and cultural factors in the American society.
To begin with, the emotional well being of individuals play a huge role on whether or not they are overweight or not. Depression, anxiety, and stress are the main factors of obesity. Typically, people with depression rely on food for comfort. Comfort food might feel nice emotionally but physically it can hurt your body. Obesity leads to many different diseases such as: diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, some cancers and strokes. Individuals that have family issues or lack of motivation are also triggers to psychological obesity. It leads people to rely on food for comfort, because they don’t have anyone to talk to. No one is there for that individual to express their feelings to, so they rely on food.
Furthermore, the biological makeup of individuals also has a direct correlation with weight. If you have a slow metabolism you’re more likely to become overweight. Metabolism is determined by measuring the amount of oxygen used by the body over a specific amount of time. If the measurement is made at rest, it is known as the basal metabolic rate [BMR] (Thyroid, BMR & Weight, American Thyroid Association, 2013). However, scientists are finding that the thyroid has played a role in obesity. Tests have shown that most people with obesity also have thyroid dysfunction (Thyroid and Obesity: An Intriguing Relationship, Bernadette Biondi, 2010). Patients whose thyroid glands were not working were found to have low BMRs, and those with overactive thyroid glands had high BMRs (Thyroid, BMR & Weight, American Thyroid Association, 2013). Overeating is a problem for people with slow metabolisms. Your body can only handle so much food. Once it gets to a certain degree your stomach can’t handle all of the food it’s intaking. For example, if you’re filling up a water balloon and you overfill the balloon it will pop. However, your stomach won’t pop,it just doesn’t know where to put all the food. So, it expands and spreads the extra fat from the food throughout the body. Additionally, obesity is hereditary, if you have a family history of obesity you’re prone to being obese as well.
Finally, cultural factors can also produce overweight individuals. People’s surroundings can influence them to eat more with advertising and peer influence. All the fast food around America has a huge impact on overweight individuals, McDonald’s started in 1955 with nine restaurants; today they have 31,000 of them (Fast Food Statistics, 2010). Not only are there a significant amount of McDonald’s in America there are also 12,000 Burger King’s and 6,650 Wendy’s (Fast Food Statistics, 2010). Surrounded by all this fast food will definitely impact the way people eat. The more you’re surrounded by something the more you adapt to it. McDonald’s serves 1 in 6 Americans everyday, thats 108 million people everyday (Fast Food Statistics, 2010). The average
Show More

Related Documents: Obesity Today Essay

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

Child Obesity Essay

Kids today are at risk of dying at a younger age than their parents. Each child that is obese is increasing their risk of a series of health issues. In the United States kids should not be at a risk of dying earlier than their parents. There are many factors that are increasing the nation’s childhood obesity population, but each child has the ability to overcome them. Food from fast food restaurants is not always cheaper it is just the convenience of it that makes it convincing. Even then with the…

Words 903 - Pages 4

Obesity In America

hand and holding a remote control in the other. In reality, this stereotype is not far from being precise. The definition of obesity is the condition in which an individual has an abundant amount of grossly fat and being extremely overweight. Over the span of many years, the life expectancy of an individual has diminished in Americans due to the poor diet that has evolved. Today, the new norm…

Words 1837 - Pages 8

Essay on Obesity: Nutrition and Larger Access Ways

American Obesity CAS100a In America today obesity is common place in our culture. Obesity is a problem that sprawls across the socio-economic platform affecting everyone. Today statistics representing obesity have astounding figures. In fact more than 1/3 of all American Adults are obese (around 36%). This figure does not even touch people who are just overweight which make up a larger demographic than the obese. In our culture currently we are more willing to make larger access ways, doorways…

Words 444 - Pages 2

Summary: The Epidemic Of Childhood Obesity

children to eat a healthy diet and be active. Today, many families don’t have access to affordable healthy foods or safe places for their kids to walk, bike, and play. In schools across the country, junk food and sugary drinks are widely available, while physical education has been squeezed out of the curriculum. Changes such as these have made a significant impact on our nation’s health, and contributed to the epidemic of childhood obesity. Childhood obesity has been called “one of the most serious…

Words 291 - Pages 2

Obesity: Nutrition and Obesity Essay

Obesity Has A Cure Obesity, a medical condition where excess body fat has been stored to the extent that it may have a detrimental effect on one’s health. Today in North America there has been a dramatic increase in unhealthy weight in children, little do we know that it is more so the government, parents and schools that are at fault. We need to teach children about food and making healthy choices, they are the source we need to get across to in order to fight obesity for the future generations…

Words 935 - Pages 4

Child Obesity Essay examples

Child Obesity Nearly tripling the recorded number in 1980, more than twelve million children in the United States suffer from obesity today. It is these individuals who are more likely to suffer from obesity in their adult years as well as in their childhood. Obesity, often associated with several common diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and some cancers, can be very hard to overcome. Is there a direct cause to this worldwide issue? Obesity is the result of caloric imbalance…

Words 1334 - Pages 6

Obesity In America

swept away by the obesity epidemic that has consumed the modern generation due to the development of fast food restaurants spreading worldwide. As time passes by, the obesity rate rapidly increases and as a result, everyone’s “ideal” dinner consists of Mcdonald’s medium size french fries, a McDouble, a McChicken, and a large size soda. This has become a major issue because nowadays, people have become lazy and heavily rely on fast food since it is convenient to buy and eat. Today, the latest generation…

Words 920 - Pages 4

Comparing The Role The School System Plays In The Detrimental Diets?

the changes in food options over the past three decades. The demand for school snacks has increased and the supply has become increasingly careless. Parents today rely more heavily on school to provide their child with meal options than they did 30 years ago. Some may argue that schools are not to blame but the evidence is clear; childhood obesity is on an incline that directly correlates to the rise in school-snack availability. Over the past three decades, this newly established “culture of snacking”…

Words 1063 - Pages 5

ChildObesity GLT1 Essay

Child Obesity Lisa Moreau Western Governors University Child Obesity Child obesity is a social epidemic presenting challenges to the Government, society and the American family today. It crosses a variety of ethnic, geographic, economic and social environments. Obesity is causing an increase strain on the healthcare system, contributing to the $150 billion annual cost of healthcare provided, which is a breakdown of almost 10 percent of the National medical budget. Obesity increases risks…

Words 1533 - Pages 7