The Problem Of Obesity In America
Many people have heard the slogan for Donald Trump’s candidacy, “Make America Great Again”. Many citizens of the United States have questioned him as to how he plans to follow through with his vision for our country. I believe that the health and wellbeing of Americans would be a great place to start. How many people do you know that have a disease that could be avoided with proper diet and exercise? When people hear the term disease, they think of a virus they might catch, but a disease is “a condition of the living animal or plant body or of one of its parts that impairs normal functioning and is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms” according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Some examples of these diseases linked to obesity include, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, gout, and osteoarthritis. The United States is densely populated with around 78 million adults and nearly 13 million adolescents that are confronted with the effects of obesity each day. The food industries have been quietly adding addictive additives to their products that may be contributing to obesity.
Obesity causes millions of deaths each year. Obesity is an immense problem world wide, but for now we will just discuss obesity in the United States. Obesity is a serious problem and to make America great again, we all need to work together to resolve this epidemic. Obesity leads to many health issues and can be a contributing factor in many deaths. Listed in the previous paragraph there are some diseases caused by obesity. Many health problems may be prevented by proper diet and exercise. When I refer to obesity, I am not referring to a person being five or ten pounds overweight. I mean your weight has become a defining issue in your day to day life that affects your quality of life, especially if you experience health problems that are a direct result of weight gain. Obesity may lead to low self esteem which may lead to depression. Obesity also lowers your life expectancy.
The food production industry is partially to blame for the rapid increase of obesity. They add addictive ingredients to their food so their profits will go up. They do not consider the negative affects their products are having on their consumers’ bodies. For example, high fructose corn syrup and other added sugars are found in most of today’s goods. These contribute to unwanted and unnecessary calories that lead to health problems. Your body does not process these sugars the same way. Sugar that is considered excess is stored away in fat cells. The food industry should be required to take out all unhealthy additives that are not helping to preserve the food. Filling our bodies with these unhealthy chemicals and sugars leads to a less productive body and a poor immune system. If you do not exercise to burn off the excess amount of empty calories, those fat cells will continue to sit there and proceed to build up and become larger, which will lead to obesity. In order to stay in a fit physical state, one should exercise at least three hours a week to maintain a healthy physique.
People that are overweight may not be able to perform tasks with the same efficiency of a physically fit person. Workers in different occupations may be affected in varying degrees. Statistics show that workers with an obese BMI are more likely to be associated with habitually staying out of work than workers with normal BMI. Obese individuals may have cardiometabolic risk factors. This, by definition, is the chance of developing heart disease and/or diabetes. Individuals with these risk factors have significantly greater impairments in their ability to be productive, have lower energy levels, and tend to participate less in work related activities. This has also been associated with impaired health status and lowers their ability to be productive at work. These statistics show that obese people tend to have more medical expenses, which are often covered by their establishment of employment, which can cause prices of insurance premiums to rise. If employees become risk factors for employers in terms of cost or safety, individuals could lose their jobs.
Loss of income can lead to its own set of problems such as depression, loss of medical coverage for health issues or emergencies, and sinking into poverty.These people are now without a job and are suckling on the teat of the government for their financial stability. These people are now able to sit at home and do nothing and still reap the benefits if they turn to our welfare system for relief. These people are not providing for our country and are still being given money from the government. I believe that an alternative should be in place. People should have to be actively seeking employment and show proof of some form of work, even if it is volunteer hours to gain experience, before being given assistance unless they are truly disabled. If we helped the population get into better shape, more people would be able to work. Not only would they be able to work, but they would be more capable of productivity in the workforce. This would help American industries grow, thus “Making America Great Again”. We all need to work together to make our country more productive. I feel that reducing the intake of processed foods and chemicals would help us live healthier lifestyles. It would help people reduce their weight and everyone’s bodies would be in better shape for leading happier and healthier lives. Thus leading to a more productive America. God bless the U.S.A.
