Obesity: The Beast Attacking America

Running Head: OBESITY: THE BEAST ATTACKING AMERICA



Obesity: The Beast Attacking America
Kristen Hughes
Pikes Peak Community College










Abstract
With habits and eating environments constantly evolving in the United States, increasingly more Americans are struggling with the obesity epidemic, which drastically affects the health and life of all individuals. Obesity is the result of poor dietary habits, lack of exercise, and genetics. Documentaries, magazines, and leading researchers, such as Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., have affirmed that one’s environment, heredity factors, and family lifestyle contribute to an individual’s risk of being overweight. In addition to extreme physical hazards such as diabetes and diseases, an obese individual also experiences mental and social repercussions for being overweight. Low self esteem, social discrimination, and even suicide are common issues faced by overweight individuals, especially children and adolescents. With larger proportions and higher caloric meals, a poor change in habits has induced the increased obesity statistics. To prevent increasing obesity rates, experts advise educating the American public in the importance of physical exercise and a balanced healthy diet. In addition, cognitive therapy, in which one trains the mind to think positively, is another strategy to fighting the obesity epidemic. However, it is ultimately an individual’s choice to change poor health habits, which results in reversing the obesity epidemic and changing one’s life forever.

Obesity: The Beast Attacking America
This is America, where we have a tendency to think big. Our big thinking has led to big results. America has some of the richest people, successful corporations, and extravagant lifestyles. However, bigger isn’t always better. Statistics show that approximately one-hundred million Americans are currently overweight or obese, which accounts for over sixty percent of the nation’s adults (Morley, 2001). With habits and eating environments constantly evolving in the United States, increasingly more Americans are struggling with the obesity epidemic, which drastically affects the health and life of all individuals.
What is Obesity?
Obesity is the result of poor dietary habits and a lack of exercise, which play a significant role on an individual’s health. Brain Hanlon, a paramedic, described obesity as the chronic abuse of these two factors over a gradual period of time (2008). The term ‘obese’ is a general range of weight for a given height in comparison to a healthy individual. This obese range has been found to increase the possibility of certain diseases. Obesity and overweight rates are calculated by an individual’s ratio of weight for a given height known as Body Mass Index (BMI). If an adult has a BMI greater than 30, he or she is considered obese (Ogden, 2008). The prevalence of obesity continues to be a concern worldwide, but it is especially dominate in the United States of America.
Contributing Factors to Weight Gain and Obesity
It has been scientifically proven that losing and gaining weight is affected by the ratio of calories consumed to how many calories are used by the body. Experts have discovered that “weight gain is promoted by a high intake of energy-dense foods that contain a lot of fat or sugar and few nutrients” (Wirtgen, 2008). If one eats more calories than he or she consumes, then more weight will be stored as fat. The reverse is true: if an individual exercises and burns more calories, the result is weight loss. However, recent studies have shown that biology plays a key role in body weight. An individual’s basal metabolic rate, or the rate at which one consumes calories for energy, is a biological factor. Adoption studies have shown that trends are similar to the biological family, not the adoptive parents (Cavanaugh, 2004). Robert F. Kushner, a physician and professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, says that “It’s impossible to say how much [genetics plays a role in weight distribution] for each individual person, but it’s very important” (Graves, 2008). Certain people are genetically designed to be thinner or have weight distributed in different areas. Everyone is unique and has his or her own genetic weight makeup. Louis J. Aronne, a director of the New York Comprehensive Weight control Program, also claims that “weight is regulated by a complex set of systems in [the] body, and those are difficult to change. Every person’s body is geared to be a certain weight” (Graves, 2008). He adds that “with a healthy, low-calorie diet, you can stay in the low end of your range” (Graves, 2008). Biology has an impact on a person’s ideal weight, but being obese is not in the gene pool. There are other factors that contribute to this national and world-wide epidemic.
Due to a combination of factors, statistics show that America has experienced a recent spike in overweight and obesity rates. The environment may also have an effect on eating behaviors. An increase in the obesity trends may partially be caused by our culture putting so much emphasis on consuming unhealthy food. Food advertisements convincing people to purchase food products bombard the American public. “The average American child sees ten-thousand food advertisements per year on television. Ninety-five percent of those are for sugar-cereals, soft drinks, fast foods, or candy” (Morley, 2001). If one consciously pays attention to the commercial world in everyday life, one will notice the abundance of food advertisements on television, magazines, and billboards. These messages can be found nearly everywhere one looks, which may cause one to subconsciously think about food, despite hunger levels. With increasing availability to fast food restaurants with fatty, high-calorie foods and less Americans exercising, the obesity rate is dramatically increasing.
One’s environment also includes the family home and lifestyle. Parents encourage children to participate in certain activities and usually decide what the children eat. (Cavanaugh, 2004). It has been discovered that there is a correlation between overweight adults and overweight children, partially due to parental guidance. If the parents encourage physical exercise, such as sports or outdoor activities, it is less likely the child will become obese or overweight. Similarly, children learn eating habits that resemble the eating patterns of their parents. If a child eats unhealthy foods and proportions and has overweight parents, it is likely that his or her habits will parallel that of the parents, and the child will be, or is destined to become, overweight.
Many conclusions can be drawn to explain this growing epidemic by observing current habits. Statistics show that Americans eat approximately forty percent of meals at restaurants, which is a habit that was not common thirty years ago when the obesity rate was significantly less (Morley, 2001). This American epidemic of obesity is directed at fast food companies because it gives people an explanation for this sudden trend. Fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds, are believed to be a major contributor to this national epidemic. The food sold at these fast-food restaurants are processed and high-fat foods. In addition, for just a small price, people are learning to “supersize” meals. A supersized portion of French fries is about four to six times larger than the regular serving of French fries fifty years ago; consequently, Americans are becoming more overweight (Morley, 2001). Perhaps people think that getting more food for a discounted price is advantageous. Thus, people are warping their sense of proportions into believing that bigger is better, which contributes to overeating, weight gain, and poor health and lifestyles.
Effects of Obesity
Obesity is becoming a ‘killer’ disease. In fact, it is the second-most preventable cause of death, second to lung cancer caused by smoking (Morley, 2001). Obesity affects the health care systems in the United States, and it is just the beginning of disastrous health issues. Brian Hanlon works with a variety of medical emergencies. Admitting that over half of his patients are extremely overweight or obese, he confirmed that this epidemic is directly related to three very common diseases: hypertension (increased blood pressure), cardiac arrest, and type 2 diabetes. Today, about “seventeen million Americans have type 2 diabetes, which is about one in every twenty people” (Morley, 2001). In addition, these extremely dangerous health crises are expensive to treat. “According to new research, the direct medical costs associated with diabetes have doubled in the past five years from forty-four billion dollars in 1997 to nineteen-two billion dollars in 2002” (Morley, 2001). There is a relationship between parent and child obesity rates. “In the last twenty to twenty-five years, we have seen a doubling of overweight and obesity in adolescence.” As mentioned, “this weight gain is linked to countless health problems later in life such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, gall bladder disease, asthma, sleep apnea, insulin resistance, and adult onset diabetes” (Morley, 2001).
In addition to the extreme physical difficulties, recent studies have shown that those who are obese experience extreme mental and social effects. Low self esteem, social discrimination, and even suicide are common issues faced by overweight individuals, especially children and adolescents. Social discrimination includes being judged by peers, feeling undesirable, and being treated unfairly (Pawlik-Kienlen, 2007). Cavanaugh agreed that obesity is associated with extreme mental effects and discovered that overweight children often feel unpopular and are called inappropriate names, therefore contributing to low self-esteem (2004). Overweight women are more conscious of their appearance, and social pressures for being thin are more heavily directed at females. An overweight young teenager expresses her hardships in life. “It’s very hard for overweight teenagers. It’s depressing; it makes you feel like crap. You see all the girls in [magazines] and they are all beautiful, and you think, aren’t I supposed to look like that?” (Morley, 2001). Being in the overweight range is especially difficult for children and adolescents. With a certain expectation of what to look like, they often feel discriminated against and helpless. Victoria, an eighth grader, finds that being overweight is distressing and she claims that her weight is caused by her family’s history. “I have tried so many ways, and it has hurt my body. It’s hard to look at someone when someone who says I’ve done it, so you can do it, but it’s not that easy” (Morley, 2001). It has been proven that obesity extends beyond the physical diseases and affects mental health substantially. Obesity and weight gain make people feel depressed and self-critical. It is a mental trap in which people feel unmotivated, out of control with their actions, and incapable of losing weight and becoming healthy.

Preventing Weight Gain and Obesity
With the costs of obesity being so financially, mentally, and physically expensive, why is it that losing weight is so difficult for those considered obese? Brian explained the dangerous effect that makes the obesity range extremely difficult to escape. Those who are obese have poor blood circulation due to fat deposits adding pressure on veins and arteries. Therefore, poor circulation is common for causing death to extremity tissue. Poor circulation and death of the extremities initiate extreme pain and poor stability. Often having difficulty standing and balancing, the obese individual lacks movement. Lack of movement leads to lack of exercise, which is one of the primary causes of obesity.
Another target for preventing weight gain and obesity is the educational system in which the children of America are developing habits and learning about healthy lifestyles. Research has detected that “in the past twenty-five to thirty years, the number of overweight adolescents has tripled. Today roughly one child or adolescent out of seven is overweight” (Cavanaugh, 2004). In public educational systems, only one state in the nation requires physical education programs in which children learn the importance of exercise and health (Morey, 2004). In addition, cafeterias often provide poor food choices in public schools. The typical school offers hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, tater-tots, pizzas, candy bars, soda, and foods that have extremely poor nutritional value. One must ask, how are the children in the educational systems learning to care for their health? If these poor cafeteria choices were replaced with options that contained lower calories and sugar content and greater emphasis in fresh and healthy fruits, vegetables, and grains, the children of America would have a greater awareness of the importance of healthy living. Are the American public schools emphasizing the importance of healthy meals and the benefits of physical exercise, or is the system contributing to the epidemic? If children learn how to make healthy eating and exercise decisions in school, would the American public be condemned to this epidemic? Learning proper habits in childhood would most likely continue into practicing proper habits in adulthood. After all, the children and adolescents in the schools are the future American generation, and teaching them is the most important step for changing the future.
Although some experts have discovered that there are various factors associated with the obesity epidemic such as heredity and environment, many people become overweight due to a series of poor habits. Poor habits that have contributed to the obesity statistics are caused by high fat diets, such as fast foods, and lack of exercise (Cavanaugh, 2004). A new discovery has been made about obesity in how an individual thinks. Neglecting one’s thoughts about hunger and automatically eating out of conscious control has been found to contribute to weight gain. Judith S. Beck, Ph.D. discovered a trend that contributes to these poor eating habits and developed a way to recognize and combat these sabotaging thoughts that lead to unplanned and unnecessary eating. She has applied the beneficial principles of cognitive therapy to help individuals abandon destructive habits and to replace them with constructive habits. Cognitive therapy is a psychological way of monitoring one’s thoughts to think differently about dieting and to change one’s eating behavior. Beck wrote a book called the Beck Diet Solution in which she presents several ways to change one’s view of him or herself and to ‘think like a thin person’ (Beck, 2007). Beck claims that the key to success is in one’s thinking. She said the principles of cognitive thinking will guide one to cope with cravings, stress, and self-doubting thoughts and will motivate to exercise and feel great.
The Beck Diet Solution provides a new and innovative approach to dieting. With so many hundreds of diets available and often with confusion of what works and what doesn’t work, Judith S. Beck, Ph.D. pinpoints that the use of cognitive thinking works with any healthy diet plan. However, her philosophy to dieting is not short term, but it is a way of living healthfully. She recognizes that different diets work for different people, and she does advise to choose appropriate diets with correct nutritional values. However, Beck’s ‘diet’ is concerning the mental thoughts of what people think. So, this philosophy is universal to whatever diet and is critical to losing and maintaining weight. She addresses what makes people eat (and gain weight), and, most importantly, she outlines the keys for positive thinking and success (Beck, 2007). Uncontrolled eating becomes an addiction and especially affects mental health. One can use Beck’s techniques to change the way one thinks about eating. After all, the obesity rates are not spurred solely on the fact that people are becoming hungrier and eating poorly, but on the fact that people are beginning to view life differently.
Conclusion
With hundreds of lawsuits directed at fast-food restaurants, it is evident that Americans are placing the blame of this epidemic on other factors. The problem is that the world, in which restaurants, advertisements, and culture exist, is not going to change. Some argue that being overweight is hereditary, is caused by fast food diets, or is due to a lack of proficient education. It is human nature to point the finger and place blame on other sources when, in fact, it is our own mistake. It is time to take responsibility for choices and mistakes. Each individual must change his or her habits because eating, exercise, and health are conscious decisions. We decide where to eat, what to eat, and how much to eat. Our health and eating options are under our control, and we must be held accountable for our choices. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advises that “increased physical activity and good eating habits [ward] off overweight and obesity” (Cavanaugh, 2001). With positive thoughts and an awareness of healthy decisions, the people of America can learn to combat this current epidemic and become a healthier nation for ourselves, for others, and for the future generations to come.



References
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