In: Nursing
Need Unique Argumentative Essay
Why We are So Fat: What's Behind the Latest Obesity Rates
Why Americans are Overweight?
At the end, suggest strategies to overcome this issue as well.
Guidelines:
please make it argumentative essay and 100% unique
Word count limit 1000 to 1100 words
Need in 3 hours so don't do it hurry and take your time to complete it
Why we are So Fat: What's Behind the latest Obesity Rates
Everyone knows some people who can eat ice cream, cake and whatever else they want and still not gain weight. At the other extreme are people who seem to gain weight no matter how little they eat. Why? What are the causes of Obesity? What allows one person to remain thin no matter what they eat and another to struggle to avoid gaining weight even if they eat very little?
On a very simple level, your weight depends on the number of calories you consume, how many of those calories you store, and how many you burn up. But each of these factors is influenced by a combination of genes and environment. Both can affect your physiology (such as how fast you burn your calories) as well as your behavior (the types of foods you choose to eat).
Over recent decades, in the United States and across the world, Obesity rates have increased significantly. Because obesity is associated with a wide range of health issues— such as an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, and mental health conditions — understanding the numbers behind this trend is more important than ever.
Obesity is an epidemic, says the World Health Organisation. The prevalence of adult obesity has exceeded 30% in the United States, is over 20% in most of Europe (5-23% in men, 7-36% in women), and is 40-70% in the Gulf states and Polynesian islands. Obesity is also present in low income countries, and low socioeconomic groups are affected most. In most countries the prevalence of obesity now exceeds 15%, the figure used by WHO to define the critical threshold for intervention in nutritional epidemics.epidemics.
If a person eats fewer calories than he or she metabolizes, he or she will lose weight. Therefore, the most common causes of Obesity are “Over eating” and “Physical inactivity”. Ultimately, body weight is the result of genetics, metabolism, environment, behavior, culture and physical inactivity.
Why Americans are Overweight?
People who are overweight or obese face a lot of health complications, negative consequences and concerns. In fact, being overweight or obese increases a person’s risk for many diseases and health conditions. Unfortunately, obesity rates in the United Sates are rising. Americans are eating more calories than ever before. Today, Americans eat 23% more calories than we did in 1970. One of the leading causes of overweight and obesity is an imbalance of calories. When you eat more than you burn, your body stores the extra energy as “FAT”. Over time, the pounds can begin to pile on.
The average American weighs more than ever before because he sits more and eats more. Technological advances at work account for decreased occupational energy expenditure, but not for the rise in leisure-time TV and other physically passive pursuits. And since the average American was already over nourished in the early 1980s, hunger can’t explain why we eat more than ever before.
A 2011 Harvard study gives us an opportunity to see how individual choices affect a person's weight over the years. The volunteers included three populations of U.S. men and women; two groups were studied from 1986 to 2006, the third from 1991 to 2003. All of the 120,877 subjects were free of chronic diseases and were not obese at the start of the observation period.
Although all the volunteers were health care professionals, they were not immune to the American norm of slow, steady weight gain during midlife. The average gain was 0.8 pounds a year.
As for what is driving America’s chronic weight problem, there are no definite answers. Scientific studies often reach conflicting conclusions, meaning many theories are out there, but the preponderance of evidence points to the two causes most people already suspect: too much food and too little exercise.
How to prevent Obesity in Adults and Kids?
Small changes can prevent weight gain. The weight gain and current obesity levels in the US population have been shown to result from only a slight shift towards positive energy balance. Thus most weight gain could be prevented with small behavioural changes of this order, such as increased walking, small decreases in dietary fat or sugar intake, and smaller portion sizes. This approach is likely to be more sustainable and effective in preventing weight gain than advocating unnecessary larger changes.
Combining a low fat diet with exercise is particularly valuable for preventing diabetes and hypertension and is likely to be effective in preventing weight gain
Interventions in Children :
School based programs seem promising. They can increase physical activity, particularly in girls, and to a certain extent can modify dietary intake. The effects on weight are not apparent, possibly owing to the short duration of the interventions. Changing the school environment to reduce consumption of high energy food, such as fizzy drinks and foods high in fat and sugar, may help. For example, reducing the consumption of fizzy drinks for 12 months among 7-11 year olds can reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity by 7.5%. Serving lower fat versions of some popular school lunch items reduces fat intake without affecting attractiveness or palatability.
Here are some obesity prevention tips for Kids and Adults:
Obesity prevention for Kids:
Breastfeed infants, when possible.
Feed growing children appropriate portion sizes.
Make them drink a lot of water.
Build early relationships with healthy foods.
Eat healthy foods as a family.
Encourage eating slowly and only when hungry.
Limit unhealthy foods in the household.
Incorporate fun and exciting physical activity.
Limit your child’s screen time.
Make sure everyone is getting enough sleep.
Obesity prevention for Adults:
Consume less “bad” fat and more “good” fat.
Consume less processed and sugary foods.
Eat more servings of vegetables and fruits.
Eat plenty of dietary fiber.
Drink lots and lots of water.
Engage in regular aerobic activity.
Focus on reducing daily stress.
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