We see advertising for fast food everywhere. It is as if the media chooses to neglect the problem children and adults face which is the ongoing fight with obesity. The Obesity Society led by their Corresponding Author, Youfa Wang states, “On average, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased steadily among all US population groups over the past two to three decades.” Obesity does not have a preference on gender or race. This may lead one to wonder “Will all Americans one day become overweight or obese?” We can put an end or atlas regress the spiraling upward trend of obesity in Americans.
It all starts at home with parents and what they see outside and on the television. Parents need to be held responsible for their children and their health. The World Health Organization and other leading institutions both international and domestic have provided or atlas attempted to create a body mass index or BMI. The purpose of a BMI is to determine what weight is a healthy weight depending on your height and age. According to the LA County Department of Public Health, “42% of children are obese or overweight.” That is almost half of the entire county and should alarm anyone who has kids or plans on having kids. Maybe the American people just got too lazy started a negative trend and did not know how to fix it.
Americans have become way too lazy to say the least. We see children, that would rather play a sport online then outside with his friends. Parents who allow their child to become obese should be a crime for a list of reasons starting off with they only have so much say in what they eat when they are not the ones putting the food on the table. The media is good at tempting the American viewers. It makes it seem like its okay to eat out a few days a week because it is something that everyone does here and there. They provide celebrities and other icons that kind of catch your eye and actually pay attention to what you see and sometimes convinces you on the spot especially if you are not really sure what you want to eat or how hungry you really are. It starts and stops with the media and will continue to affect Americans until we start acting like we understand the severity of this disease.
It starts off with children with bad eating habits, who turn into overweight teenagers, which leads to obese adults with health problems. This has become a trend and no one wants to be the one with the finger pointed at them. Earlier I spoke about how it starts at home. Another big impact on what children eat is at school. Eating healthy isn’t fun or for now not yet. Americans have glorified going out to eat. Going out to eat is a luxury and not everyone can, not to mention it can also be very expensive especially where you go to eat is also very important. What child does not love getting to go to McDonalds for lunch? The media targets children with toys, happy meals, and even play houses. I can attest to this claim because my family were victims to this growing up.
Works Cited
, . The obesity epidemic in the United States—gender, age, socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and geographic characteristics: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Epidemiol Rev 2007; 29: 6–28.
Klein, S., Allison, D. B., Heymsfield, S. B., Kelley, D. E., Leibel, R. L., Nonas, C. and Kahn, R. (2007), Waist Circumference and Cardiometabolic Risk: A Consensus Statement from Shaping America’s Health: Association for Weight Management and Obesity Prevention; NAASO, The Obesity Society; the American Society for Nutrition; and the American Diabetes
Early life risk factors for obesity in childhood: cohort study
Rowan Counterintuitive 