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Re: My Daily Plan
It Is No Wonder We Are All Fat
By Joy Newberry
One of the top issues modern America is facing is the outrageous percentage of the population that has become overweight. There are many questions as to why this has happened; is it due to the poor diet, lack of exercise, heredity, all of the above, or something completely different? This is the question that has to be evaluated. Although it is a combination of many factors, what may be the true underlying cause is something that perhaps no one would have suspected.
Weight is a touchy issue for Americans. This is, perhaps, mostly due to the fact that two thirds of the United States’ population is considered overweight, with at least half of them being obese; a total of nearly sixty million adults in the United States. Mathematically speaking, when an individual has a Body Mass Index greater than twenty-five, they are considered overweight, and if it is higher than thirty they are obese. For an average woman (height of 5’4), she would be approximately thirty pounds overweight to fall into the obese category. However, these thirty pounds create more than simply a way of classifying an individual. Along with obesity come innumerable health complications, ranging from joint irritability to cancer. It is estimated that the cost of treating health conditions related to being overweight is $124.7 billion dollars per year. This makes up nearly ten percent of U.S. Health expenses. It is, then, no wonder that weight has become such an important issue to the country.
With all this in consideration, it has to be asked as to why Americans are so heavy. This is, of course, not an easy question to answer. As with nearly everything else in this modern day and age, it is debatable as to what the cause is. Some claim it is a disease, which can be hereditary or not, others claim it is due to a poor metabolism, poor food, lack of exercise, or just plain American laziness. The truth of the matter is, however, that it cannot simply be just one of these factors. There is no clear cut answer for every individual as to why they are so fat.
There is, nevertheless, one unquestionable source of extra pounds. Although many organizations, including the government, are striving to create a healthier, more fit country, they are being beaten by the economy. Of all the sources of obesity in the United States, this is quite likely the most prominent one. Despite all the effort to promote healthy eating and regular physical activity, it is always foiled once the foot steps into the grocery store. Temptation is everywhere within American society. It is on the television, the radio, buildings, cars… Food. And not just any food, but the infamous, infallible, junk food. The American economy thrives greatly on the public’s dependence on it.
Sure, people need food. But, few really consider they are really eating. “When given a pure fat to eat, people refuse it. When given pure white sugar, people shun it. You can’t make people fat by giving them pure sugar or pure fat. But when you combine them and call them Twinkies or Girl Scout Cookies, people are crazy about them.”1 And every company knows it. It is no surprise, then, that “we guzzled $37 billion in carbonated beverages in 2004[.] The same year, we spent $3.9 billion on cookies — $244 million of which were Oreo cookies”. 2 Similarly, fast food restaurants make a whopping $133 billion a year; a total in its self that surpasses the medical cost of being obese. Combined, the “fat industry”, which consists of fast foods, the medical cost of being obese, and diet books total $315 billion a year for the American Economy. And this is data from 2004 – four years ago. Undoubtedly by now these numbers have increased. If America was not so love struck by unhealthy food, which inevitably makes her fat, thousands of companies would lose millions of dollars in profits. Americans depend on unhealthy food and in turn the economy depends upon unhealthy Americans.
Obesity is an issue that will not be resolved for decades, and perhaps even centuries. The government could quicken the resolution by regulation of the fast food economy. Still, this would never happen, and Americans are forced to live with one of two options; getting fatter with each year, or fighting what has now become the norm — stop supplying “fat industries”, start moving their lazy behinds, and create some change in the world.
1. Paul A. Smitt “Why Are Americans So Fat?”
2. Michael S. Rosenwald, “Why America Has to be Fat”, Washington Post.
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07-10-2008, 06:21 PM
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