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Obesity and its Effects on our Society

Peter Tran

Goldenwest College

Obesity is a trend that is gradually increasing in not only the western nations, but also

in developing countries as well. s countries !oderni"e, lifestyles and careers will grow !ore

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and !ore sedi!entary while industriali"ed diets and foods beco!e higher in !eats and fats,

leading to an eventual society which obesity could be an epide!ic and troubling proble!. This

issue !ay !ore than li#ely, increase health proble!s such as loss of !otor s#ill in old age,

diabetes, shortness of breath, psychological proble!s, a shorter lifespan. This has affected an

a!ount of our society already. $eing aware of this situation, we should be able to intervene early

and before the trend continues to increase in e%ponential rates. Si!ple interventions such as

consistent physical activity, daily e%ercise, awareness of health benefits, and effort to change

lifestyles will lead to a better future. Our society needs to change its perspective on eating.

society should eat to live, not live to eat.

The !ain origination of this issue is the lac# of awareness that people have about

food, diets, and negative&positive conse'uences of having an unhealthy or healthy diet. People

are also prone to buying foods that are 'uic# and easy, providing that they taste good, regardless

of how unhealthy it !ay be. nother big factor is the social econo!ic reasons that people go

about buying foods. low inco!e fa!ily will generally tend to buy !ore high processed foods

that are filled with calories, carbohydrates, and fats that can add up over ti!e and eventually lead

to an obesity proble! that co!es with health issues especially when it affects children since they

are so young. (igh inco!e fa!ilies usually sustain longer life spans as they are !ore educated

about nutrition and they are able to afford healthier foods.

There are !any things schools and parents can do that will turn around the trend of

obesity. Schools should i!ple!ent a re'uired nutrition class that will allow young children to be

aware of health issues ste!!ing fro! obesity at an early age. Gy! classes should be !ore

co!!on and focus on providing education on the benefits of e%ercise and doing it daily. School

lunches and cafeterias could try to provide healthy ite!s such as !ore greens and vegetables. s

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a study was shown in )ew *or#, a cafeteria that was able to convert their #itchen into a

vegetarian only #itchen, it resulted in the decrease of obesity and test scores that increased. This

is an a!a"ing idea that !ight help, as fro! anecdotal e%perience, high school lunches were

pretty unhealthy. (igh schools provided lunch that ranged fro! pi""a, chic#en sandwiches,

nachos, sloppy +oes, and soda. There is also a study that displayed that cheese is the !ost utili"ed

ingredient in our nation. Cheese are usually high in fats and calories.

Parents are also a large environ!ental factor in deter!ining the health of their children.

Parents should be !ore #nowledgeable about what they are feeding their children. Parents should

no longer convince their offspring to finish their plate, rather they should stop when they are full.

This is because !erican fa!ilies tend to follow visual cues but they do not listen to their

visceral senses such as the sto!ach indicating that it is full. Once children believe they are full,

they should try and wait about twenty !inutes as it can ta#e as long as twenty !inutes to

ac#nowledge they have a full sto!ach. lso, parents should avoid feeding their children with a

high inta#e of carbohydrates at an early as age as studies have should that children that are

predisposed to carbohydrates at a young age have a bigger chance of being obese in older age. n

addition, parents should also be aware that there are cheap foods out there that are healthy and

can replace the highly processed foods that cheap can buy. Eating a banana could be +ust as fast

and cheap as a bag of chips or anything fro! the dollar !enu at fast food places. -or about seven

dollars of fast food, one !ay be able to !a#e !uch !ore servings that can last throughout the

wee# by shopping and coo#ing s!artly and efficiently. t will +ust ta#e !ore effort and ti!e to

coo# but in e%change for not having health proble!s, it is well worth the trouble. (ealth

proble!s will only lead to !ore !edical e%penses.

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The health benefits of physical activity and e%ercise are vast and significant. People that

e%ercise will generally feel better over ti!e, build !ore !uscle, prevent disease, live longer

lives, have a better grasp of !otor s#ills, and have less psychological proble!s. Psychological

proble!s are because obesity is so!ewhat stig!ati"ed in our society and it can lead to

psychological da!age such a loneliness and depression. (owever, consistent physical activity

and e%ercise will burn calories and help !aintain cognitive perfor!ance as well, going into old

age where this is significant. People who e%ercise daily will also end up with a larger range of

!obility and less chance of not being able to do /s and will be able to !aintain their

independence.

The strive for fighting and ending obesity starts at ho!e and in the schools. Schools

should be able to help set up good health practices as they are places where they learn and they

have the opportunity to go to gy! class and learn how to do physical e%ercise. 0hile !any

schools do provide these options, they are not high 'uality that we e%pect of the!. To i!prove

the 'uality of physical education, there should be physical education custo!i"ed for each student

at each grade level, depending on the health condition and aspects of the child. -or e%a!ple, a

child who is in the fifth grade should be able to !eet the !ilestones and steps that a regular fifth

grader could, providing they are not physically inhibited. fter that, each student should be

evaluated and then have a personal physical education guide that is associated along with the

student, allowing for reasonable progression based on their health condition and ability. long

with that, the progra! should teach long lasting s#ills that can allow the! to wor# out on their

on in the future, #eeps the! active for !ost of the ti!e in the classroo!, and teach !ove!ent

s#ills for better proprioception and coordination. -or e%a!ple, for children fro! ages 123 will

finally have the tendency to focus on speed and distance so they could play soccer or baseball.

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long with this, the better !eal progra! !entioned above, it will provide a high 'uality health

progra! that will !ore than li#ely decrease the obesity trend.

Obesity continues to plague our society and unless action is ta#en, we will end up with an

epide!ic that was easily preventable in the first place. The steps we can ta#e to help this are

possible as long as the effort is there. Schools should be top priority as !ost of the childrens

ti!e spent learning and being physical is there. Parents should also be a big influence as they

have the ability to provide healthy diets and s#ills in which the children are able to carry with

the! throughout their lifespan. s we can see, the environ!ent and heredity plays a big part in

childhood ability and we have the power to influence it in positive ways.

4eferences.

$er#, /. E. 567879.Exploring lifespan development 56nd ed.9. $oston, :; llyn < $acon.

$rady, $. 58317, =anuary 89. )ew *or# school goes all2vegetarian. CNN . 4etrieved =uly 67,

678>, fro! http;&&www.cnn.co!&678?&7@&76&health&new2yor#2vegetarian2school&

Goldbau!, E. 5n.d.9. (igh2carb inta#e in infancy has lifelong effects, A$ study finds. - News

http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#http://www.bibme.org/book#

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