Introduction
Being overweight has become the burning issue of American society. Despite a wide range of social programs concerning obesity among Americans, more and more people become fat. What are the main reasons for this problem and how to prevent it? There are a lot of factors which make people fat. Fast Food is considered to be the plague of modern American society. Nevertheless, following some basic rules concerning healthy nutrition people may avoid the problem of obesity and as the result avoid a lot of consequences.
The disease of our century
How to define overweight? Body mass index (BMI) helps to determine obesity and overweight. It demonstrates the correlation between height and weight. It should be noted that BMI is not practiced in medicine because it is not a direct measure of body fatness. When you realize that you are obese, you should find out what are the main reasons for your overweight. The Specialists of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide the following contributing factors: environmental factors including the imbalance between calories consumed and needed; genetic factors including genetic susceptibility to overweight or syndromes of other diseases (for example, Prader-Willi syndrome is followed with obesity); behavioral factors consisting of energy intake, the lack of physical activity and sedentary behavior. Most people justify their obesity to genetic factors. Although the genetic characteristics of the human population don’t have changed during the last three decades, obesity rises rapidly among the American people. Eating meals away from home and large portions of food and sweet beverages make our weight at risk of obesity.
People in modern society spend a lot of time sitting in front of their computers and displace time spent in physical activities. The era of modern technologies reduces people’s energy consumption and as the result makes obesity the plague of our century. We are accustomed to working sitting in offices, to get to work driving by car and going upstairs by the lift. We do everything possible to reduce our energy consumption but we don’t stop eating food with a lot of calories. What’s for we keep our energy? The list of consequences associated with obesity including psychosocial risks, cardiovascular disease risks, asthma, sleep apnea, hepatic steatosis and type 2 diabetes makes us be alert. If obesity isn’t prevented at the initial stage, the consequences will be irremediable.
The contributing factors of obesity among Americans
One of the main reasons for obesity among Americans is improper feeding. If you are fond of fast food, you are at risk of being overweight. Nevertheless, this unhealthy food becomes more and more popular among Americans. What are the reasons for its popularity? A popular American journalist Eric Schlosser provides the history of fast food and its popularity in America and all over the world in his book Fast Food Nation. He points out the revolutionary force of fast food in modern society. On the one hand, fast food corporations are the main reasons for many social and medical problems in society; on the other hand, they are the core of the nation’s great economic vitality. Eric Schlosser points out that “over the last three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society”. The statistics data provided by Eric Schlosser in his book Fast Food Nation are shocking: it was spent $6 billion by Americans on fast food in 1970 and $110 billion in 2000. The reasons for such popularity of fast food are the affordable price of this food, a good taste and convenience. The McDonald’s Corporation provides nearly 90% of the workplaces. It is pointed out that nearly 3.5 million workers of fast food corporations are the largest group with the lowest wages in the USA. The American fast food industry is considered to be the logical consequence of economic and political priorities. Such impressive food-industrial corporations have seized American agriculture. No wonder, that fast food has captured American society. Millions of people continue to eat fast food without considering how this food is made, where it comes from and how it influences their health and the health of their children. Eric Shlosser describes the fans of fast food in his book: “They just grab their tray off the counter, find a table, take a seat, unwrap the paper, and dig in”. Despite a lot of warnings about the harm of fast food to human health, Americans don’t stop enjoying it becoming fat. Being overweight has become the problem of the whole American society.
Fast Food – the plague of the modern society
High-calories and high-fat food are available everywhere unlike healthy food. The main trick of fast food corporations is to provide more food for less cost. Americans are surrounded by colorful and appealing advertisements making fast food more popular. McDonald’s corporation spends more money on marketing and advertising than any other brand. McDonald’s is the largest owner of retail property in the world. More than that, it is the largest purchaser of potatoes, pork and beef and chicken. It has even replaced Coca-Cola as the most famous brand in the world. Americans become fatter making this corporation richer. Even if Americas realize the consequences of eating junk food, they continue enjoying it. It is more convenient to order fast food into the office than to waste time looking for much healthier food. A generation ago, three-quarters of the money was spent in the United States for buying food and preparing it at home. Today, this money is spent at fast-food restaurants which have captured the territory of the city. What are the reasons for such changes? Americans have an intense style of life and they don’t have much time for going shopping and choosing healthy food and then cooking it. It is much easier to order it at fast-food restaurants. More than that, Americans don’t have much time to take care of their health. They don’t even worry about having excess kilograms. There are a lot of people in American society who don’t excuse for their weight. There are more and more people who don’t consider their overweight something bad. It is easier to change the bodily ideals than try to transform their bodies for many people. They go on eating what they want not making any efforts to waste their weight. Laura Kipnis, a famous cultural and media critic points out in her article America’s Waistline: the Politics of Fat: “Despite the fact that most of us now apparently face a roly-poly future, a visceral revulsion toward fat persists”.
There are a lot of ways to fight obesity, the plague of modern society. Marion Nestle, the author of the work “Eating Made Simple” provides basic dietary principles: “eat less; move more; eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains; and avoid too much junk food”. More than that, Marion Nestle presents useful pieces of advice which help people to control their weight. First of all, they should control the calories in their food. He points out that health claims on the labels of junk food distract consumers from their caloric content. Corn sweeteners and sugars are the main sources of calories. All the calories in food and drinks come from sugar. Obesity arises when people consume more calories than they spend on physical activity. Supermarkets are overloaded with a great diversity of victuals. One doesn’t know where to look first when he/she goes shopping. If you want to control your weight, you should do shopping more reasonably and be more attentive to the content of products you buy. There are a lot of special tricks which influence the customers to buy a lot of products. The main aim of supermarkets is to sell so many goods as possible.
People “who don’t apologize for their size”
People who are obsessed with healthy nutrition are ready to spend a lot of money on foods they believe are healthier and more nutritious. What food is considered to be healthy? Most consumers believe that organically produced food is healthier than conventionally produced one. The specialists point out that the only difference between organics and conventionally produced food is the way of it is grown. It should be pointed out, that the price is not always the indicator of healthy food. If the product costs more, it doesn’t mean that it is healthier. It is not necessary to spend a fortune to be healthy. Many people justify their health problems to their incomes. But money is not necessary to control the weight and to lead a healthy way of life. Everyone should realize that our health is in our hands. There are a lot of means to lose weight and improve health. Eat more fruits, vegetables and nonfat milk products. Try to avoid the use of salt and sugar. Restrict saturated fats: fats in pork, beef, sausages, margarine, lamb and fats in dairy products. Get plenty of exercises and outdoor recreation. Remember that good diets don’t depend on fancy preparations and drugs.
Healthy nutrition is simple
Remember that obesity is a serious disease with a lot of incurable consequences. Obesity has become the burning issue of the whole American society with their preference for junk food and a sedentary way of life. Despite a lot of measures made by the government, the rise of obesity doesn’t stop. Who can help us accept ourselves? Our health depends on what we eat.