Obesity: Nutrition and Obesity Essay

Submitted By rubioo07
Words: 1145
Pages: 5

“Supersized America” People have always worried about their figure and what others may think about them. Even though many don’t realize that it may be a genetic thing or a personal problem that the person might be going through. Obesity is caused by what people choose to eat, family habits, and the environment they live in have a lot to do with obesity around the world. However, obesity is not an epidemic! Having a choice in what we eat and don’t eat has been a problem to humans through out history. Our world offers us a low price on unhealthy foods. Having fast foods open all day and night has affected us in many ways. In the article, “Why Do People Become Overweight”, they state how having these fast foods has affected us, “…food is available 24/7 in most countries, an efficient metabolism that once ensured our survival now works to our disadvantage” (P1). Given this option we have the tendency for buying unhealthy food, reasoning that we are in a hurry to eat and feed our stomach. Food stamps have also been a culprit of obesity. With food stamps we are given the choice to buy any type of food we want even the unhealthy type. Yet, food stamps are a very big help to many humans that have a low income, it has also contributed too many peoples’ obesity. “Jay Zagorsky, a scientist at Ohio State University, has calculated that, controlling for socioeconomic status, women who received food stamps were more likely to be overweight than non-recipients. They gained weight faster while receiving assistance than when not” (P5). In the previous quote from the article, “Food Stamp Programs Cause Obesity”, it confronts how many women that have been helped economically have also been becoming over weight. Not having anyone tell us what we should eat has increased the number of people becoming obese. Family habits have a big role in obesity due to the fact that they are being carried from family to family through out their generations. Genetics play a big role in obesity in our generation. “Some people have a genetic tendency to gain weight more easily than others because they burn calories more slowly” (P1). With this quote from, “Why Do people Become Overweight”, they imply that obesity is genetic and it’s something we can’t change easily. People also carry health problem from other generations that we can’t avoid. In paragraph two from the article, “Health Problems of Being Overweight”, also states how health problems have a big role with obesity, “the health problems that affect overweight teens include: Asthma. Obesity is associated with breathing problems that can make it harder to keep up with friends, play sports, or just walk from call to class.” Our parents have a big role in our obese bodies. In the article, “Defining overweight” concludes that kids from a certain age are obese. “One third of all kids between the ages of 2 and 19 are overweight or obese” (P4), this quote concludes how kids from this age range are most likely to be obese, these are the ones’ that are still living with their parents. Generations “carry family habits” that have a big role to obesity. Obesity is not an epidemic in this world it’s just an idea we carry. People use charts that aren’t accurate and from these charts; someone may say that he or she is over weight and maybe even obese because they don’t fall into a certain range. In the article, “Why Do People Become Overweight”, the writer states that doctors use a measurement to determine if someone is overweight. “Doctors and other health care professionals often use a measurement called body mass index to determine if someone is overweight” (P5). This method they use is very inaccurate because they don’t eliminate other facts like muscle weight the person may have on them. There is no evidence that obesity is an epidemic. Many teens are still growing and their weight is changing during this time. As the article talks about in paragraph four “figuring out if a teen is