Obesity In America Essay

Throughout the years many people have come to the conclusion that bigger is better. Bigger houses, bigger cars, more lavish vacations, but what about us? Food has become something that is fast, easy, and a crutch to many people. However, everything has its limits, and while other countries are becoming more health conscious, Americans seem to become more set on fast food joints. Therefore, skyrocketing our obesity epidemic to damaging levels. Over 25% of American’s have come to rely on fast food on a daily basis (Palo Alto Medical Foundation). The efficient service, low prices, easy access, and casual atmosphere of fast food seems to be considered the ideal “all-American” choice. However, Fast food, contains more fat calories, sugar and sodium

Obesity in the United States has been increasingly cited as a major health issue in recent decades, and is one of the highest in the world. Obesity rates have increased for all population groups in the United States over the last several decades. Between 1986 and 2000, the prevalence of severe obesity quadrupled from one in two hundred Americans to one in fifty. Extreme obesity in adults increased by a factor of five, from one in two thousand to one in four hundred. There have been similar increases seen in children and adolescents, with the prevalence of overweight in pediatric age groups nearly tripling over the same period. Approximately nine million children over six years of age are considered obese. Several recent studies have shown that the rise in obesity in the US is slowing, possibly explained by saturation of health-oriented media, and or the health conscious regime attempts. However, obesity can also be inherited. Thus, when you have a mother who has become obese and then passes that onto her child, it is hard to stop the reproduction of obesity. The more educated we as a society become, the more it is going to allow us to progress in fixing these