Obesity And Being Overweight example essay topic

The dramatic growth in obesity and over weight among Americans can become a hot topic, receiving widespread attention in the media. In a recent article in science magazine said that the national obesity rate will be 39% by 2008. Obesity has risen dramatically in the past 10 years. It is estimated that as many as one in five Americans is obese, a condition defined as being more than 30 percent above the ideal weight based on height.

Even scarier is that obesity rates for children have doubled over the last 20 years, and overweight children are being diagnosed with obesity-related illnesses such as diabetes sleep apnea, and respiratory illness that in the past have only afflicted adults... They are eating too much-fat-rich foods such as soft drinks, and snacks foods, and have decreased there physical exercise and or activities. Our children today spend more time in from of television, computer and video screens. A 2003 CBS news / New York reported that 21% of Americans believe that eating fast foods is to blame for obesity among children while 27% of parents have the inability to prepare healthy meals for them. Obesity Obesity causes 30,000 deaths a year. Obesity occurs when more calories are consumed that he or she can burn.

The typical person will gain one pound of weight fro each 3, 5000 excess calories consumed, which are not utilized to fuel basic metabolism or physical activity. If a person eats an average 100 excess calories per day, they can be expected to gain some ten pounds in a year. The body mass index (BMI) is a persons weight in kilograms divided by the square of a persons height in meters or kilograms divided (height in meters) 2. The body mass index is the measure used to define obesity. In adults BMI between 25 and 29 is overweight and BMI of 30 and higher is obese. In children with the BMI changes with age and gender".

The center for disease control defines a child whose Body Mass Index is between the 85th and 95th percentile for age (meaning that 85-95% of his or her peers have equal or lower BMI) as being at risk for obesity" A child that has a body mass index of 95 or higher is consider obese. Obesity increases one's risk of developing conditions such as high blood pressure type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, gall Bladder disease, and breast cancer. The tendency toward obesity is fostered by our environment the lack of physical activities with high calorie, and lost cost foods. The growing prevalence of obesity and overweight is a reflection of the enormous success for there United States food system. Food that is cheap and frequently high in calorie content is widely available.

Over ten thousands years ago food was essential problem for most people. Food was considered sacred. Obtaining food by hunting and farming require a lot of physical activity. Now food is easily gotten and people no longer need to over exert themselves to obtain it.

Obesity and being overweight has usually been viewed as a personal issue. But today with enormous attention now being focused on this issue there is a transition from blaming the individual to blaming society and the fast food industry. Americans have gained so much weight in the last couple of decades that even the airline industry has to adjust to the growing trend. In November 2004, the Associated press Reported: American's growing waistlines are hurting the bottom lines of airline companies as the extra pounds on passengers are causing a drag on plans. Heavier fliers have created heftier fuel costs, according to a government study. The extra weight cause airlines to spend $275 million to burn $350 million more gallons of fuel in 2000 just to carry the additional weight of Americans.

The extra fuel burned also had an environmental impact, as an estimated 3.8 million extra tons of carbon dioxide were released in the air. With obesity on the rise the market for the industry that has supply us with extra-large and reinforced "car seats, giant chairs, super-heavy duty bathroom scales, toilets rated to 1500 pounds, beds built to hold 1,100 pounds even something called a trapeze that helps people who weight 1,000 pounds turn over in bed" the AP reports (Spurlock pg 10).