...for Disease Control and Prevention more than one third of U.S. adults—more than 72 million—people and 17 percent of U.S. children are obese. From 1980 through 2008, obesity rates for adults have doubled and rates for children have tripled, regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education level or geographic region have increased markedly. (“Obesity: Halting the Epidemic by Making Health Easier: At a Glance 2010.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web. Aug.17, 2010) Statistics like this show the vast majority of obesity cases are not caused by disease or genetic condition. Obesity is not some unpreventable illness that is all of a sudden killing people – it’s a lifestyle choice. Like smoking, drinking and illegal drug use, eating yourself to death is a decision. In fact, in 2010 a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine stated that the health conditions and diseases caused by being obese have killed more people than smoking. But, why don’t obese people get treated like smokers? Why do so many Americans feel sympathy toward the obese and disgust for the smoker? Why do we as Americans feel it is perfectly sound to discriminate against people who are killing themselves through the use of legal and illegal drug use, but protect, sympathize and support people who choose to kill themselves through food and a lethargic lifestyle? When was the last time you saw a famous heroin addict on TV talking about intravenous drug use acceptance...
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...are linked with obesity; a preventable, curable, and manageable disease that hundreds of thousands of people face all around the world. The only thing worse than having to face these health issues as an adult, is having to face them as a child. Childhood obesity is becoming an epidemic in America today. This issue is leading to an unhealthy future for individual kids, but also for society as a whole. As the population has become more obese we have seen a rise in all kinds of health issues. Childhood obesity has been on a steady rise over recent years and this could cause a health crisis in the future. There are several causes to childhood obesity that can be overcome leading to a healthy life. The major causes of childhood obesity are a limited amount of physical activity, family behaviors, and unhealthy food choices. A lack of physical activity is one of the main causes of obesity. This has been a growing problem among children in recent years. “Obesity is a disorder of energy balance. It can occur only when the number of calories being consumed exceeds the number of calories burned, and usually an excess of this kind has to last for months or years of obesity is to develop” (Reilly, 2007). A lack of physical activity has led to the consumption of more calories than are burned off in children. There are many causes for this shift. A study done in the United States validated the relationship between hours of television watched each day and childhood obesity. “The findings showed...
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...People in the United Kingdom who are overweight can be a huge burden on the NHS. Conditions caused by obesity can be difficult to treat, and many can face waiting times for surgery due to them not being deemed healthy enough for surgery. Is it the NHS’s fault that they are unable to treat them or is it the patient’s own fault that they are in this situation? Is it their fault that their lifestyle has put them in this situation? Scientists have found that people suffering from obesity may be able to blame a fault in their genes for this problem. Millions of years ago when we were still living with the dinosaurs, meals were few and far between which meant our bodies had to learn to store food wherever we got it. This gene could be the reason it’s very...
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...Swanson 1 Kevin Swanson English 101 Dr.Polliard 3 May 2015 Fast Food Doesn't Cause Obesity? Fast foods have been around for decades now. Every day in America people turn to fast food for a quick meal. As the craze of fast food spread across the country people are starting to feel the negative effects of the quick meals and are blaming fast food for their health problems. But is it really the fast food companies' fault or the customers who consume their food? In modern day society the quickest meal someone in a rush can get is either some fruit or food from a fast food restaurant. Due to the fact that they want a cheap meal that will fill them up, they will go with the fast food restaurant. In a video titled "The Dollar Menu," a family shows that going with the smart choice of fruit instead of fast food will be more expensive than a burger from the dollar menu. The family blames their busy schedule for the unhealthy choices of fast food. The dad from the family in the video has diabetes. Everyone in the family is now immensely concerned that the youngest daughter might be stricken with the debilitating disease next. Swanson 2 Fast food restaurants are the prime suspect today in the obesity epidemic. The human body needs a minimum...
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...Are food manufacturers killing us? From the facts that I have learned I think they are. They have been putting many harmful things in our foods that many people do not know about. Foods today are beginning to cause significant problems such as obesity and diseases. This is beginning to escalate past health problems and is beginning to affect certain costs. Also, it doesn’t seem like the government or anyone is doing much about this problem. Many people argue that it’s not the food industry’s fault and that it’s the people’s fault for eating the way they do, but I think I will make some valid points as to why it is the food industry’s fault. Throughout my life I always thought that eating food that was purchased at a grocery store was the safest and healthiest way to eat. From what I have learned now, eating certain foods from a grocery store or supermarket can sometimes be almost as bad as eating fast food. This is due to the food industry doing strange modifications and putting strange ingredients into our foods. According to an article titled “Is the Food Industry killing us“ . . . “Due to the rise of mass production and consumerism in the 20th century which accelerated after World War II more and more food is now manufactured using increasingly efficient processes to make it quicker to prepare, better tasting, higher in energy content and cheaper.”(Lavelle) This also makes the food much more unhealthy than it should be. The food industry only cares about its...
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...New Outlook On The Obesity Epidemic For decades, the obesity epidemic has devastated the lives of countless of people. The movie Fed Up shows how tragic and corrupt this problem is by talking about obesity, its causes, and the role the food industries play. Fed Up effectively uses appeals to get their messages across. For the appeal logos, statistics, facts, results of studies, predictions, and stories of the past were presented. The movie uses ethos by having professionals give explanations that support its purpose, like doctors and former president Bill Clinton. Pathos is also though out the entire movie. Having four kids describe how obesity has affected their lives and showing that greed is motivating food industries not to fix this...
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...Childhood Obesity Shakia Bennett ENG 122: English Composition II Marsh Bechwith-Howard April 15, 2012 Childhood Obesity: Whose Fault is it? The Ashford library, ebooks, and newspaper articles are where the sources on childhood obesity came from. When doing research on childhood obesity, nutrition and parenting were some of the main reoccurring topics of childhood obesity. This paper will focus on unhealthy and healthy eating habits of obese children, and the effects of parenting towards childhood obesity as well as ways to overcome childhood obesity. In the United States there has been a rise in childhood obesity, but whose fault is it? Some parents blame fast food restaurants such as McDonalds, saying their food is unhealthy and the portions are too big. However, on the first part the blame for childhood obesity should be on the parents. Although fast food restaurants do paly a small part in childhood obesity, it is up to the parents to determine what they allow their children to eat. Parents should stop blaming fast food restaurants for childhood obesity when healthy eating habits should be enforced at home. Childhood obesity is a rising serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents. Approximately 15 percent of U.S. children, ages 6–11, and 16 percent of U.S. adolescents, ages 12–19, are obese (Encyclopedia of Special Education, 2006). Childhood obesity occurs when a child is above the normal weight for his or her age and height. Obesity appears...
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...hard time deciding between drug trafficking in the United states and childhood obesity. I think that both of these topics are very important to everyone in many ways.I have chosen to go with childhood obesity because I think that people need to be more informed about this topic. I think that childhood obesity is often a form of child abuse. It is very sad. People need to be more informed of the current health problems and the potential future health problems that childhood obesity pose on the child. I plan to limit my topic by researching my topic on google and other such search engines. This way I can get a better understanding and more deeper look into what I want to base my paper on. There are so many angles that you could go on for childhood obesity; who's fault is it? whys does this happen? what are the statistics? is it a disease? I think that the main focus for my paper will be What causes childhood obesity, or who's fault is it. As well as the statistics, why has the number of obese children more than doubled in the last 20 years? I think that I have had a pretty easy time so far in limiting my topic. I am going to try and find more information to try and limit my topic better. So far tho I think that the web sites that I have found are giving me some good and accurate information. Some of the web sites that I found that I will use for further research are: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/child_obesity/ I am always...
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...Nick Desai 22 November 2011 Obesity: Is it a McProblem? Everyone eats fast food. It is a meal that is usually fast, cheap, and convenient. However, eating fast food also contributes to one of the biggest problems facing Americans today, obesity. It is one of the fastest growing concerns and a major contributor to this problem is the consumption of fast food. While governments and communities are trying to address the problem through legislation, nothing will change until parents take a more active role in promoting the health of their children, therefore, not all the blame for American obesity is on fast food consumption. Obesity is one of the fastest growing health concerns in the U.S. In America, only one out of the fifty states has a B.M.I under twenty-five, the number that is considered to be the benchmark for determining overweightness (BMI Index by State). The number of obese children and adults has tripled and doubled, respectively since 1980 (Obesity at a Glance). “Research from a national health survey shows that an astonishing sixty-five percent of American adults are either overweight or obese” (Loonin 14). Obesity has had a profound impact on the youth population of the world, as the percentage of overweight adolescents and children has risen over twelve percent since 1970*. If this trend is to continue, it is even projected that by the year 2030, one half of the American population will be overweight (Half of Americans to be Obese by 2030). As...
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...Children and Obesity: Who is Responsible? In the recent discussion of children and obesity, a controversial issue has been whether we should put the blame on the fast food industry or the parents. On the one hand, some argue that the fast food restaurants aren’t properly labeling their menus. From this perspective, this would look to be the fast food restaurant’s fault. On the other hand, however, others argue that it is the parents’ fault because they are not controlling what their children eat. In the words of one of these view’s main proponents, “that we need to take responsibility for our own health.” According to this view, we need to pay attention to what our children are eating. In sum, then, the issue is whether we parents should control obesity or whether fast food industries should. My view is that we parents need to embed good eating skills in our children in hopes that when they become young adults they will have the right eating habits. In addition, the government should fund school sports because it will give more children a chance to be active and stay healthy. Though I concede that I don’t have good eating habits, I still maintain that good eating habits should be taught in the home. Although some might object that we should have someone else controlling our diet, I reply that no that there should not be a third party. The issue is important because obesity is out of control especially in children. Why is the problem of obesity in children so important? According...
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...Daniel Weintraub explains that parents are in the best position to help fix childhood obesity since they are one of the reasons why it’s happening. I agree with Weintraub about how it’s the parents who need to take responsibility for their children being obese. California called the epidemic of children being obese a state emergency because it’s that important and we need to stop or try to stop what’s happening. Some people are not looking at the one of the biggest causes of childhood obesity. The parents, not anyone else, are the ones who can best fight the epidemic of obese children. No, banning fast food isn’t going to stop childhood obesity, parents need to take responsibility. They teach them their eating and exercising habits....
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...Obesity in America Obesity isn't just something to joke about, it's REAL LIFE! I will be sharing three main topics about obesity in America: How many people in America are obese, What is the percentage of obesity in America, and How many children are obese in America. If we don't shape up as a nation, our world will be full of misery and death. I hope you take some thought about the next thing you eat and take away from it. What is the percentage of obesity in America 2016? More than two-thirds (68.8 percent) of adults are considered to be overweight or obese. More than one-third (35.7 percent) of adults are considered to be obese. More than 1 in 20 (6.3 percent) have extreme obesity. Almost 3 in 4 men (74 percent) are...
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...Should people be able to blame fast food for their obesity? Is it fair for fast food corporations to be held legally responsible for health problems that people are having? Many people today are obese and don’t take full responsibility for it, they blame corporations like McDonalds because of their unhealthy and fattening foods. Forty six percent of Americans ranked obesity as the number one health issue faced by Americans. Yet whom that should be to blame for these issues is still up in the air. If you’re walking/driving down a street and you pass a McDonalds, do you see employees forcing people into their restaurant? I sure don’t. In today’s society people are upset with their weight gain but still decide to go to eat at fast food restaurants and blame it on many other things but themselves. It’s not only that they eat fast food it’s how they choice what they eat on the menu. “McDonald’s food can fit into a healthy, well-balanced diet based upon the choice and variety available on our menu.” –Lisa Howard, McDonald’s spokeswoman. People take their own decisions into consideration when they step up to order their food. They could order something that could fit in their daily healthy diet like Lisa said, but eating this so much to the point where it’s a risk to your health and weight then that’s your own responsibility. “The analysts stress the importance of personal responsibility in preventing obesity, maintaining that there is no justification for criticizing McDonalds...
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...economic power and technological advancement, we are also living in a country with the smallest amount of practical nutritional knowledge. We are living in a land plagued with obesity. Zinczenko offers a solution to a growing problem by advising the fast-food industry to revel the nutritional value of their products to the nation. Rather than keeping the cover over our eyes. There are numerous opinions linked to the cause of obesity, making it nearly impossible to place the blame on just one thing, which professionals seem to be trying to do! Some are making claims that the advertisers are to blame by trying to influence children from what seems like infancy to buy their products. Others are bringing up the point that nutritional information should be provided so we can make an intellectual decision. Another is saying that it is entirely the large corporations fault for making it easier to be lazy. With such stipulations the finger gets pointed in every direction without results, only a handful of people are actually taking charge of what will ultimately reduce the rise of this obesity epidemic. David Zinczenko’s article “Don’t Blame the Eater” shows how children are launching a lawsuit against the fast-food industry, for making them fat. His perspective puts the fault for the growing rate of obesity on the fast-food industry. This informs us that fast food companies should protect themselves by providing the nutritional information people need to make informed choices about...
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...Do you ever wonder who are the ones responsible for childhood obesity. Well in this assignment I am going to discuss Daniel Weintraub’s argument in the article “The battle against fast food begins the home”. I will also discuss whether I agree or disagree with his analysis. Daniel Weintraub states that the California Center for Public Health Advocacy was blaming the government for this issue. This is where Weintraub’s main argument comes in. Weintraub says “Parents, not the state government, are in the best position to fight the epidemic of overweight children in our schools”. Weintraub thinks that parents are to blame for the issue of overweight children. I agree with Weintraub’s argument because it isn’t up to anybody else...
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