Obesity: A stationary killer Essay

In today’s society we often find ourselves constantly on the go and wishing for more time in the day. We are constantly striving to be the best in what we do, advancing ourselves in every aspect possible. Our work days have become longer and our hours of sleep shorter, but with all of this activity in our day we are finding ourselves substituting some of the essential needs of our body. Things that were once recognized as a vital part of our being are now being exchanged for modern day replacements or worse off; they are being skipped in general. Fast food has come to replace home meals and technology is often the alternate option to exercise. As a country that strives to be the best in all that it does, over the past decade or so we have become number one in obesity, a category that no one wants to be at the top at. When one looks back on history they are able to understand how changes came to be, and how the ideas of society have changed. Man has always struggled for survival, and throughout history food shortage and malnutrition can be seen as some of our downfalls. Many countries struggled to overcome these obstacles and thrive as a society. If one was to go back a hundred years or so, they would find that obesity was not always viewed as it is today. Instead, one would find that in the earlier nineteenth century it was seen as a sign of wealth, health, and beauty. The abundance of food was not what we know today, so having such large amounts of flesh provided the public with the knowledge that a person must have some sort of wealth in order to possess that amount of size. As technology advanced the food supply gradually increased to what we know today. Obesity is a serious issue that has recently been arising in children, adolescents, and adults in the United States today. Obesity is a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body (“Obesity”. Merriam-Webster). It is also been said that obesity can be having a body mass index greater than or equal to thirty (“Obesity and Overweight”). It has been proven that the amount of obese persons world-wide has doubled since 1980 (“Obesity and Overweight”). Some of the obvious reasons people are obese relate to unhealthy fast food chains, lack of exercise, environment and laziness, which has become all too common in American society. Although it is one’s choice whether to have a home cooked meal or a healthy alternative, it is no secret that part of America’s problem with gaining weight is the chain of restaurants seen on every corner of every street. Fast food is one of the biggest contributors to obesity, with fifty million people being served each and every day. In a recent survey, fifty-eight percent of people admitted to eating fast food one to three times per week. When looking into the breakdown of a typical fast food meal a body will obtain thirty-seven percent of its daily calories, including more than enough salt, sugar, and carbohydrates (“Fast Food Statistics”). One fast food meal can range up to two-thousand calories and two-hundred grams of fat before even being upgraded to the largest size. Each person is different when it comes to caloric intake, varying from that persons height, weight, age, and the amount of exercise that individual is obtaining. On average, a male should consume around two-thousand five-hundred calories, while a females normal intake is around two-thousand (Nordqvist). Fast food restaurants have put in the time and research over the years in order to find out ways to get the consumers attention. They not only pursue the obvious, which is television and billboards, but they create intellectual and strategic marketing campaigns in order to grab the attention of possible consumers. These creative and unique marketing strategies that are performed to create business can be credited for contributing to the country’s rapidly rising obesity. Obesity not only gives excess body fat, but it gives chronic

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