Obesity: A Modern Day Epidemic
Penny Upton
July 11, 2010
HCA 240
Axia College
Bruce Gould

In today’s society individuals have been brought up to place blame on other people, things, or situations for many of our personal issues including obesity. Instead of taking responsibility for our own actions, society finds it easier to point the finger elsewhere. This frame of mind can be partially, to blame for the epidemic of obesity in the United States. Nearly two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight and 30.5 percent are considered obese (Healthy Youth, 2008). The eating and exercise habits that contribute to this epidemic, generally, begin in childhood (Childhood Obesity, 2010). Therefore, society must change the habits taught to our children in order to change the increasing trend of obesity in our country. To put the seriousness of this epidemic in perspective one should first look at the meaning of epidemic. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary an epidemic is “an unexpectedly large number of cases of disease in a particular population for a particular period of time” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). The rate increase in the number of obese Americans has risen steadily in the past several years. The alarming truth is nearly one out of every three Americans are considered obese. This means that nearly 59 million people living in the United States alone is obese (Childhood Obesity, 2010). This staggering number is unacceptable and unnecessary. A person needs a certain amount of body fat in order to store energy, heat insulation, to absorb shock, and perform other necessary functions of the human body. The body mass index (BMI) is used to determine if a person is overweight or obese. Most healthcare professionals use the general rule of; men with more than 25 percent body fat and women with more than 30 percent body fat are obese. Obesity is