Does Obesity's Real Cause People?

Danielle Disney
Professor Baker
English 190
May 7, 2013
Obesity’s Real Cause, People? Obesity is one of the leading health problems in America; scientists will tell you this left and right, giving statistics like, “68.8% of adults are overweight or obese; 35.7% are obese.” (Food Research) They throw the information out giving it to the public hoping to change their ways. What does the public do? Not much. After all, what can the public do; change their eating habits, exercise, or spending money they don’t have to purchase healthy foods. While these options are available, it is unlikely that the American public will take any of these approaches. The reason for this is that this generation is predisposed to becoming obese. These days
obesity has become a common occurrence in the U.S. Why? I could be the lack of money, like in many things, as one of the causes. Recently, the unemployment rate has reached an all time high. The American public can’t seem to catch a break. After all, it’s hard to put gas in the car to get to that low paying. Then there’s the cost of living such as paying rent, car payment, and electricity bill. What can an individual do? Well at least most food is cheap. Some of that is true, but what kind of foods is cheap? Bread is cheap, but it’s easy to go through it fast, since it doesn’t fill someone up. Ramens cheap too, but it does have 7g in fat, and if that’s all a person is eating, like many college students, it’s not hard to see how this will end up. Well, there’s always fast food. Now here is where many people will say is the core problem. It’s cheap and easy, and all someone has to do is drive up and purchase it. The food is already made and ready to eat. What more could someone want? Therein lies the problem. Cheap and convenient is never the best option. In the past food was more basic and less tampered with. Before, it was more common for people to have fruit as a treat. It was something to look forward to, since fruit was a natural food that could not only be grown but more often than not have a sweet taste. But as the years went by, mass production became possible and money took the reins. By this point everyone had slowly became used to easy access to food, leaving it hard for anyone to live without the conveniences. Comparing twenty years ago to today, it’s easy to see how much easier it is to live. That easy life has made Americans lazy. This is to be expected, but the level of change isn’t. Sticking to the most obvious, children don’t play the same as kids did twenty years ago. During this period of change children have slowly shifted from being outgoing, playful, exploring outside, and getting dirty and moving towards watching TV, playing video game, becoming room bound, recluses. This change happed because of entertainment. The entertainment industry has, in a way, taken over this generation. This is not the children’s fault. The way that the entertainment industry works is that it trying to make itself as engaging as possible. The media wants something to be as interesting as possible for the masses so they can make money. The thing is, it’s not just the entertainment industry’s fault. Humans are predisposed to taking the easy route. So when entertainment is provided in a simple easy form (like a television for example) most would gladly take the TV and just continue watching without doing much of anything. There is no reason to just put the focus on children. Adults are also victims, but not just from entertainment. Office jobs are affecting weight as well. Keeping to the example, twenty years ago there were much more hands on working jobs. While there were office positions, in the past, they were not as common as they are now. Comparing then to now it is clear how jobs have shifted. Computers have become necessary, so more people have taken jobs with computers. But these jobs haven’t been active ones. In some cases people will be sitting for eight hours a day with minimal breaks. To make matters worse, even if a person tried to gain a more active position, there aren’t many jobs available where someone could be more active. As things become more convenient people have become more relaxed.
During this relaxed state, it’s easy for someone to adopt this life style. Energy decreases, motivation drops, and impatience is at all time high. Because of this, people have a fallen into unhealthy habits. For example, they would go to a fast food restaurant because they don’t want to cook. Entertainment has also affected this unhealthy lifestyle. Children and adults find entertainment in simply sitting down and watching TV. The television has become a tool for parents to get away from their loud rambunctious children. The TV has often been referred to as a babysitter. Rather than allow their children to play outside, parents have made their children sedentary by watching the television. These kids become accustomed to the easy, quick entertainment and that’s what they want to do. As these kids grow, they likely won’t ever grow out of this need of instant gratification. Look at today’s youth. Such as teenagers who have been raised on instant entertainment, most can’t live without their cell phones, internet, TV, or handheld gaming devices. They feel that everything will be boring and unlivable without those devises. So you’re left with “Less than 3 in 10 high school students get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day” (CDC). This is not their fault. These children have been raised to rely on these outside tools. Even adults who are attached to their phones were raised watching TV, playing less outside, and getting satisfaction as fast as they can. Looking at previous generations, you can see the differences between them. Most would prefer to do hands on work, while this generation would much rather just sit and do less. Even if the phones, internet, and TVs were removed, it would take time for people to shift their attitudes to become more active. If offered to an average American, they would not choose to have all of those things taken away. The ease of it all would vanish, and they
would be forced to work. People do not want to change. This lack of wanting to change has rooted people to unhealthy ways; due to the fact that it is simply easier. Obesity has taken over America. Almost everyone would agree with that. Everyone can see people walking down the street tired and out of breath just from walking. The weight that they carry is pulling them down, making them weak, and making them exhausted. What can these people do? They have options, but how can they utilize these options? What if they have low income and can’t afford healthy foods? What if their job has limited their time to do the exercise needed to lose weight? What if in just their regular life they have lived in such a way that they feel that they couldn’t handle the life change? People have to live through these scenarios everyday. They have to ask themselves if it’s even possible for them. They will try anything in order to gain the appearance they want, but with how they were raised they want everything to be done at once; they can’t handle the wait. This leaves America with citizens who want to be faster than light, but can’t even clime a flight of stairs without losing their breath. America has truly become wired to become obese.

Work Cited
“Food Research and Action Center.” FRAC Food Research and Action Center. 10 May. 2013. Web. 10 May. 2013 United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Pervention “Defining Overweight and Obesity.” CDC 24/7: Saving Lives. Protecting People. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Apr. 2012. Web. 10 May 2013