Obesity In America Essay

Words: 928
Pages: 4

What is obesity? The dictionary states that it is a condition of being grossly fat or overweight. So how do people become obese? Is it poor choices or a disorder? Does society play a role in the cause of obesity? Today, is the average person more likely to go spend time outdoors or stay inside and catch up on a show they missed earlier in the week? Since you have the choice, ask yourself which one are you more likely to do. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, an estimated 88 million Americans are obese. This tells us that the United States accounts for nearly one of every eight obese people in the world. But how is obesity determined? People can use what is called a BMI (Body Mass …show more content…
When you look at someone who is obese you just think, "Wow they eat a lot and obviously don't know what exercise is." Do these people not know how to portion themselves? The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that the average American ate almost twenty percent more calories in the year 2000 than they did in 1983. This is because of a boom in meat consumption. Today, each American puts away an average of 195 pounds of meat each year, compared to 138 pounds in the 1950s. It is not only how much we eat, but it is also what we eat that is causing our waistlines to expand. Fast food restaurants take up eleven percent of the average American diet. But how do we know what to eat and how much when we, as consumers are sent so many mixed messages. In today's world, we want fast, cheap, filling, and delicious. What better place to get it than a fast food restaurant. Fast foods are only fast because they are cooked with hyper saturated fats. While fast food is on our minds, fast weight loss is on our minds as well. We spend over $20 billion on weight loss schemes, from diet books and pills all the way up to last-resort surgeries. Both fast food and weight loss schemes is just another high convenience at the least amount of