America is big. The topic of obesity in America has been raging for the past forty years. The problem became so big, that the Surgeon General actually has declared obesity an epidemic (“Preventing Obesity”). The sedentary lifestyle that most Americans live has caused obesity to skyrocket recently. Statistics from less than a decade ago show that 1/3 of children are considered obese (“Solutions: Dealing with America’s Obesity Problem”). Obesity is the direct cause of many health problems and will cause problems elsewhere. The problem is very apparent and everyone is advocating their own way to solve it. The truth is that no one way works for everyone and we need to keep this in mind. On television, there are many commercials …show more content…
BMI is calculated by multiplying a person 's 703 and dividing it by their height in inches squared (“Preventing Obesity”). The amount of people with a BMI of thirty or higher is on the rise for a lot of reasons. One of the main reasons is society 's movement towards a more sedentary lifestyle. With all of the electronic luxuries that we have these days, it is hard for people to get the amount of exercise they need to stay healthy. Many jobs that people have today are desk jobs and offer little opportunity to get any form of exercise. These jobs leave people tired and not motivated to go to the gym. The problem can also start early on in children. Schools are shortening recess and focusing less on physical education now more than ever (“Preventing Obesity”). Once a kid is obese, it is hard for him to become healthier. The graph below shows that a quarter of Americans are obese. Almost all states have an obesity rate of at least twenty …show more content…
The amount that America is eating is also a large contributor. “Over the past 30 years, the average American has doubled the amount of calories consumed each day from sugar-sweetened beverages” (“Preventing Obesity”). This awful statistic shows that the United States has an eating problem. Serving sizes may be on almost all products these days, but not many people care to read them. ”The average cheeseburger has grown, packing 590 calories — nearly double what it was two decades ago, and a typical serving of fries has nearly tripled in size.” (“Solutions: Dealing with America’s Obesity Problem”). These serving sizes are all that people know and they are perfectly fine with the way they are. Eating slower actually helps people eat less, but fast food is focused on getting food fast and eating it