Healthy
Living: Risks of Obesity
“Only
some overweight people are obese, but all obese people are overweight.” (Wexler
pg 7). In 2010 reports showed that one third of Americans were overweight,
including 72 million that are considered obese. Obesity rates in the Unites
States have been on the rise as years pass. In 2009, Americans were reported
“Fatter than ever before.” They were the heaviest since the U.S governments
started tracking patterns of body weight of the U.S. adult population of the 20th
century (Wexler pg 5). Americans weren’t born overweight, although there are
prenatal factors that tie into potential obesity in childhood and adulthood; it
is our society that has encouraged unhealthy habits that lead to obesity. There
are many ways to prevent obesity, that is, if you’re willing. Obesity is far
more dangerous than people realize, it is said to be the second, preventable,
leading cause of death after smoking (Wexler pg 3). Another concern is the cost
of health care related to obesity has also been on the rise year to year.
Overweight
is defined as excess weight in relation to height. Not all overweight people
are obese though; some people have an increase weight due to lean muscle mass,
which often weighs more that fat itself. People with an average height that are
ten to thirty pounds overweight are at risk of premature death (Wexler pg 7).
Obesity usually effects middle to older age groups. Obesity rates were seen
differently in throughout the different races. Compared to whites, African
Americans obesity rates were 51 percent higher, while Hispanics were 21 percent
higher than whites.
Overweight
children are more likely to become overweight in adulthood. In 2006 nearly
three times as many American children were seriously overweight compared with
those children overweight in 1976. In the last 20 years the prevalence of
adolescence overweight has increased from 7.2 percent to 11 percent for ages 2
to 5 and from 11.3 percent to 15.1 percent for children aged 6 to 11. Among
teenagers aged 12 to 19 the percentage has nearly doubled, from 10.5 percent to
17.8 percent (Wexler pg 57)! Prenatal factors often tie into obesity in
childhood. It is said that low birth weight is linked to future health
problems; as well as rapid weight gain as an infant predicts childhood obesity.
Research has found that boys are at greater risk for obesity than girls (Wexler
pg 57). Parents should be teaching their children, at an early age, healthy
ways of living; including nutritional foods and regular physical activity.
Parents can almost “train” their children to eat and enjoy fruits and
vegetables, as long as they encourage those healthier foods and shy away from food
that is high in sugars and fats. Being overweight can really take a personal
toll on a child especially. Affected individuals could be at an increase risk
for emotional, psychological, and social problems. Overweight teens suffer from
depression and low self-esteem. Believe it or not, over weight individuals are
faced with weight-based discrimination in school and in the workplace and may
find themselves excluded from social opportunities. Obesity is one of the top leading causes of death. Extreme of
clinically sever obesity one hundred pounds over desirable weight (Wexler pg.3).
Diseases of the heart and stroke are the leading causes of death, because of
obesity. Overweight people are more likely to have high blood pressure, a major
risk factor for heart disease and stroke (Weight loss:..). Averages of 652,091
deaths have occurred because of various diseases of the heart. Another major
cause of illness and often death, is diabetes. Diabetes reduces you ability to
control blood sugar which can cause early death, heart disease, and stroke
(Weight Loss:..). Researchers have found that obesity is not only a result from
willful overeating and laziness, but from a combination of genetic, metabolic,
behavioral, and environmental factors (Waxer pg.25). Geneticists show that if one parent is obese,
then there is a 50 percent chance that the child will be obese, and if both
parents are obese, the child has an 80 percent chance of becoming obese (Wexler
pg. 61). Some feel that obesity should be declared a disease and enabling more
people to seek treatment for obesity by providing health insurance coverage for
treatment (Waxer pg 26). People who are ten pounds overweight are at risk of
developing arthritis in their joints, in their knees especially. When your
knees and ankles, especially, have to support and carry around all that extra
weight, it can eventually disable you to walk.
There
are ways to prevent obesity. Yes it has been proven that genetics takes some of
the blame for childhood obesity, but environmental factors are absolutely to
blame also. The question is, what environmental factors have given rise to the
increasing obesity rates among children and teens in just the last three
decades? For one we have to blame the convenience of fast foods. It’s so much
easier to order from the drive through, where food is made quickly and sold for cheap, than to make a salad or a balanced meal. It’s a
fact that the later you eat, the more of a chance you have to gain weight,
depending on what you eat. Most McDonalds are open 24/7, making it tempting and
easy to eat whenever you want, even late at night. Another environmental factor
that has prevailed obesity rates is the time spent inside, watch television and
playing video appose to being outdoors doing some kind of physical activity.
Social media sites, such as, Facebook and Twitter, have encouraged, teens
especially, to be on the internet surfing the web, updating their statuses, and
keeping up with the latest gossip. Enviromental factors are not helping with
this health issue of obesity.
Obesity
has been a major health concern on the rise for many decades now. Obesity has
many risks that people, so often, look past. Obesity is the second,
preventable, leading cause of death, next to smoking (Waxer pg 3). Health risks
including heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis (to name a few), all are major
risks linking to obesity. It can be genetic if one of your parents is obese,
but a higher chance if both of your parents are overweight. Genetics can’t be
blamed entirely though; environmental factors have a huge toll on obesity, with
the convenience of fast food and the
distraction of the Web. Parents should be more concerned with their childrens’
weight from when their born to their toddler stages; they should be teaching
them right from wrong when it comes to eating and getting an adequate amount of
physical activity.
