Two Diseases Like Obesity And Depression example essay topic

The Skinny on Fat 2 The Skinny on Fat: The facts and thoughts on obese human beings For humans, getting "old" is a lot harder than it used to be. With three quarters of Americans over weight, or clinically obese, living a long and healthy life is a rare occurrence because obesity is the number one killer of North Americans. Obesity is a common site to see as you look upon most of the population of North Americans. The aspects of obesity that are not obvious, are those who are larger in body mass have an increased chance of having heavier children, are more susceptible to disease, and have a harder time succeeding in life due to their outward appearances.

Parental obesity is an important risk factor of childhood obesity. Parental influence on obesity not only results from shared genes but also from a shared lifestyle including diet, food preferences, leisure activities, and other behaviors that influence body size: A number of studies have shown that poor nutritional and exercise habits established in childhood track into adulthood. Diets high in sugar, processed grains and fat and low in dairy products or dietary fiber (fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts) are a major contributor to obesity. Watching too much television and other stationary, rather lazy activities also contribute to the onset of obesity in children.

(Becque, 1988, p. 42). The Skinny on Fat 3 A healthy diet is not all the responsibility that a parent has in ensuring that his / her child will be healthy. Proper exercise is something that goes hand in hand with a proper diet. Parents who are sedentary and / or obese themselves, as well as parents who do not want to deal with their children can sit them in front of a television for hours. This is the parent's fault. They should not always take the easy way out, spend some time with their children, let them play at the park, take them for a walk, make sure they are getting the activity they need.

Being sedentary is teaching the children of the younger generation that it is okay not to play outside and that it is okay to pick up fast food because mom and dad think it is going to make things a little bit "easier". (Ruppel Shell, 2002, p. 28). Children learn things from those who they admire. If they see someone allowing them to eat and do what they want, that is what they are going to strive for it and are not going to quit until they get what they want. A stern parent strives for a healthy lifestyle for their children They want to make sure that their child has learned the proper facts about leading a healthy lifestyle, and if the parent themselves have not strived for this in their lifetime, how are the children going to learn?

If the parents can't see anything wrong with being overweight, they are not going to teach their children about a healthy lifestyle because they think that there is nothing wrong with being overweight. Some letters were sent home in the Pennsylvania school district, informing parents on the growing rate of obesity in children. Some parents were outraged, thinking that the school was trying to The Skinny on Fat 4 pick on their children, although the real point of these letters was a wake up call to a better lifestyle (Becque, 1988, p 33). Getting the parents to see that overeating can be detrimental to a child's health, is not an easy thing to put forth, but when you talk about the length of a child's life, most parents are very interested in that aspect. That obesity is a tremendous cause of premature death is simply beyond doubt. There is some room for speculation as to how it kills.

There are many different diseases that have been linked to obesity: heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol. The major risk of death from obesity is from heart disease. In obese people, the heart is forced to work much harder than it was designed to. Over time, this stress can damage the heart and the kidneys. When such damage is accompanied by high blood pressure (hypertension), heart attack, stroke or congestive heart failure can result.

(Miller, 1988, p. 55-132) Hypertension is always a factor resulting from a high calorie, high fat diet. This is caused by an accumulation of cholesterol caused by excess sugars (calories), which causes the hypertension that is applied to arteries in the body. (High blood pressure greatly increases the risk of stroke, a condition that is often fatal. High blood pressure is also a risk factor for heart attacks. According to one study done by Michael Fumento, in the Fat of the Land on Americans aged 20 to 75, overweight people were three times more likely to develop high blood pressure. (Fumento, M. 1997 p. 10).

Another disease that is closely associated with obese men and women is diabetes. About fifteen million Americans have type 2 The Skinny on Fat 5 diabetes, or what is commonly known as adult-onset or non-insulin dependent diabetes. Unlike type 1 diabetes, this is usually associated with children, whose bodies do not make insulin, type 2 diabetes, is most commonly found in obese people. This is because there is always such a high amount of sugar and food in constant motion within the body.

The insulin that is released into the body is not acknowledged and is almost immune to the body itself. This is caused from always having such a high amount of sugar in the body due to a large diet which is why type two diabetes is linked with obesity. Obesity has significant social, psychological and even economic effects. Almost everything in life is more difficult for the obese- shopping for clothes, driving a car, traveling on a plane, going to the theater, employment, job advancement, obtaining medical insurance, family relationships, and just difficulty with relationships in general. However unfair and in some cases illegal, social and economic difficulties are very real and can be devastating.

(Fumento, 1997, p. 11) Depression is something that most people fear. Many people do not want to feel helpless, alone and cry for help. They want to feel in control of their lives, happy and most of all healthy. When someone is obese, depression is something that usually comes along in their lives as well.

It is the way society views beauty, and fat is certainly not one of them. Those who are overweight are more susceptible to being called names, because they appear different from the widely accepted "norm". The Skinny on Fat 6 Both obesity and depression often have roots in adolescence, making adolescence a critical period for the development of obesity", says Dr. Glass, whose study is one of the few to examine the link between depression and obesity over a period of time, . "Understanding that depression can lead to obesity may enlighten obesity prevention strategies and lead researchers to focus more on the shared biological and social determinants of these two chronic diseases. Hopefully, this will lead to new prevention and treatment strategies for both of these chronic conditions".

(Glass, J. 1999 p. 48). Being able to see and understand that two diseases like obesity and depression are linked to one another will show the public how critical and important it is to keep care of yourself. This can be done by exercise, proper eating and an awareness of obesity in North America. If you don't know how to take care of yourself, you will feel depressive which will turn you to food, and vice versa - awareness is the partial cure to these two illnesses.

Not only does obesity take a toll on how people live and shape their lives, but it does affect how others will perceive and treat them. There have been many studies conducted that have shown if someone appears to be healthier (which could be skinner) most think of them as being beautiful, as opposed to the counterpart of someone who is overweight, or obese. It is completely unacceptable to discriminate against people on the basis of race, religion, sex, sexual persuasion, or ethnicity but it seems to be perfectly acceptable to discriminate against people who are overweight. This occurs in the The Skinny on Fat 7 media: obese people are ridiculed. It occurs in the workplace: The unemployment rate among those who are 100 pounds or more overweight approaches 50%. For those who do have jobs, discrimination occurs frequently whenever there is an opportunity for promotions or increased responsibility in the workplace (Pool, 2001, p. 342-347).

One study has shown that if you were a fairly thin woman, and you were standing on the side of the road for some help because you had a flat tire; it is more than likely that someone will stop for you. If one is appealing to them. The woman who was overweight, less people stopped for her, and it took a lot longer for someone to arrive for help (Glass, 1999, p. 86). Scenarios like this one do not help overweight women feel good about themselves.

When her fellow citizens will not lend a helping hand because of outward appearance, this would make any one depressed and ashamed of their outward appearance. Obesity is slowly killing the North American nation, one calorie and one fat gram at a time. Obesity is something that plagues more than three quarters of all North Americans, it is something that is common, but is not widely accepted (Fumento, M. 1997. p. 63-65). Ruppel Shell has calculated that there is enough food and grain in the world, so that each human, out of the 6.2 billion of us, should be able to consume at least 3 500 calories per day. An even bigger shock is to find out that more than three quarters of the world is in definite need of food and most of the world I small, nourished (Ruppel Shell, E. 2002. p 121-123).

The question remains, why then is so many Americans battling weight gain, when others are battling to survive? Obesity is a growing problem that The Skinny on Fat 8 must be stopped before it escalades into an even bigger conflict. Through different problems associated with obesity such as childhood / parental relationships on health, disease related cases of obesity and how psychological effects can put forth depression to those who are affected that are overweight. Through many novels, journal articles and television shows, the only hope for a cure for the superficial epidemic, is knowledge. The more humans know about a subject, the more comfortable they are about dealing with the problems it protrudes in their direction.