Obesity in America is on the rise and it is becoming one of the major health concern. The United States of America is the most overweighted nation in the world. The main causes of obesity is too much food and too little exercise. Too many American's adolesents and adults spend too much time in front of the tv, eating fast foods, and never exercising. Fast food is a major issue because it is so easy to stop and wait for five minutes to get your food instead of going home and preparing a meal. Fast food restaurants are on every corner and they are very tempting when you're tired and don't feel like cooking. Obesity's researchers have found that there are ten other reasons for obesity and listed are; 1. Sleep debt. Getting too little sleep can increase body weight. Today's Americans get less shut-eye than ever. 2. Pollution. Hormones control body weight. And many of today’s pollutants affect our hormones. 3. Air conditioning. You have to burn calories if your environment is too hot or too cold for comfort. But more people than ever live and work in temperature-controlled homes and offices. 4. Decreased smoking. Smoking reduces weight. Americans smoke much less than they used to. 5. Medicine. Many different drugs — including contraceptives, steroid hormones, diabetes drugs, some antidepressants, and blood pressure drugs — can cause weight gain. Use of these drugs is on the upswing. 6. Population age, ethnicity. Middle-aged people and Hispanic-Americans tend to be more obese than young European-Americans. Americans are getting older and more Hispanic. 7. Older moms. There's some evidence that the older a woman is when she gives birth, the higher her child's risk of obesity. American women are giving birth at older and older ages. 8. Ancestors' environment. Some influences may go back two generations. Environmental changes that made a grandparent obese may "through a fetally driven positive feedback loop" visit obesity on the grandchildren. 9. Obesity linked to fertility. There's some evidence obese people are more fertile than lean ones. If obesity has a genetic component, the percentage of obese people in the population should increase. 10. Unions of obese spouses. Obese women tend to marry obese men. If there are fewer thin people around — and if obesity has a genetic component — there will be still more obese people in the next generation. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/27/health/webmd/main1757772.shtml
Many Americans male and female does not exercise on a daily basis. Tv, video games, and the internet have taken their attention away from exercising or being involve in any type of activities. Many schools in America have taken physical education out or they have cut it down to a couple days per week.
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I aggree with you 100%, and thank you for talking about this issue. I just want to add the addiction part of it.Just as smoking,or alchol addictions are harmful,food addiction is equally a killer as it has close links with the chemical imbalance in the brain. You may feel that food is not as much harmful as drug or smoke addiction is. However, if you eat too much of a particular variety of food, the result seems to be the same. It is a serious problem, as you cannot stop eating that particular food, even if you put in the best of your efforts.The type of food you consume can have a great impact on the functioning of the brain. Certain foods can release a wide range of chemicals in your brain. Even if you think of your favorite food and the taste of that, the chemicals are immediately released in your brain. This in turn increases the dopamine level and makes you feel contented. Some people accept that they feel satisfied, when the dopamine level increases and they stop eating. However, some others do not feel that very easily. They understand the dopamine rush as an ecstatic feeling. Such people are generally overweight, as they tend to eat that particular type of food as it makes them really happy.
ReplyDeleteIf you eat food to feel good, eventually you become addicted to that food. In order to deal with this food addiction, you need to learn how to change your brain chemistry. You cannot lose your weight by simply following a diet program or an exercise regime. For any addiction, the brain looks for the dopamine rush in the form of a reward. If you experience the problem of food addition, it really means that you have trained your brain to get its reward from the food. If you take away this reward, your brain does not have any other choice. If you want to know more, I recommand this book by Kevin Trudeau's " Weigh loss cure: what they don't want you to know abou"
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ReplyDeleteI think our sedentary and fast-food oriented lifestyles have the most to do with the obesity epidemic in the US today. In recent times (probably since the 70s and on), many children have become accustomed to spending endless hours in front of the television. For a lot of people, leisure time is synonymous with tube-viewing time.
ReplyDeleteAlso, junk food is abundant in the US. It's easy and fast. And it really works well with our fast-paced American lifestyles. But I question how much of that time is really spent pursuing anything constructive. I wish people would spend a little less time in front of the television and little more time in the kitchen. That change alone would probably do much to decrease the obesity rate in this nation.
I agree with you. There literally is a fast food place on every corner! where i live there is 3 mcdonalds near my house! Also I work at the mall so i'm there all the time so i'm always forced to eat down in the food court because i dont have time to make my luch in the morning...well maybe I do but i just dont feel like getting up that extra 15 mins early when i could be sleeping lol. Which probably proves your point on how people can be lazy lol.
ReplyDeleteyes i think that america runs on junk foods. also everyone is exposed to eatimng fatty foods. it just the society that we live in that creates an environment for everyone to eat junk. for example, if you go to the movies there is nothing but high oily foods whoch lowers the choices.
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ReplyDeleteWow, some of those things that were the cause of obesity were surprising like if your mom had you while she was older and air conditioning. All in all, this problem is a multi-faceted issue. It's one that is softly killing this nation right from underneath our noses. Just think about the guilt you get from going to your fast-food place of choice. As you sink your teeth into that greasy-whatever it is...you know its not healthy, you know that this is causing more and more people to be unhealthy everyday. So why do we continue to do this to ourselves? The other day I was driving with a friend and he was surprised to see a new Chic-Fil-A near his job. I love some of their food and I was pleased about it. But when you think about Obesity, the opening of fast-food places is the cause of this problem. What is the government really doing about this issue (now I’m starting to sound like ken). It’s sad that we need to elect people (government) to in a sense baby-sit us. When you think about it, if the government doesn't do its job to protect the people, then those people will be a detriment to themselves. And the problem with government is that they can’t make you exercise or enforce laws that mandate that you not get fat. But hopefully they can’t make it increasing hard for these fast-food places from popping all over the place. They can regulate school-lunches that are high in sugar and fats, and promote well-being programs in schools. Its hard work but if we don’t start now just think what the average American man, woman, and child will look like in 50 years.
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