The Issue of Obesity in American Society

In a world today when a easily accessible high calorie 2 minute burger which only costs two dollars is down the street from almost every home in America it is not too hard to see how obesity has opened the front door to many people's lives and taken them by surprise. “Over the past several decades, obesity has grown into a major global epidemic. In the United States (US), more than two-thirds of adults are now overweight and one-third is obese" (Hammond) Not only does obesity has an immense number running with adults but 13 million children throughout the US suffer with obesity.

Yes some argue a lot has to do with genetics but the food people are eating and letting their kids eat can have a major impact on their bodies especially if the little ones aren't doing any sports. Obesity doesn't just affect people health but it has a huge impact on not only their wallets but every otherAmericans too when it comes to taxes.

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The people have to pay when Sandy has a heart issue and cannot afford to pay for her operation or medication the president needs to address the problem at hand sooner or later before the people of America‘s obesity problem takes an even worse turn then it already has.

Allowing fast food restaurants to pop up on every street block and city corner charging a family of 4 around $20 for their whole meal of unhealthy foods is unacceptable. Fast food and junk should be something had very little throughout the month obviously the people can choose not to eat at such restaurants but when the food is so easily assessable and adorable why waste your time and money to shop and cook a meal that will cost 3x more then a fast food bill.

i hear people rave about this issue all the time and always blame the consumer for his or her family being obese. “Well they can stop eating the way they eat and choose a more healthy option", but itjust isn't as simple as that. Many people don't have a choice and all they can afford is cheap soda and a few burgers at burger king. Or maybe they have to work two jobs to afford rent for their house and all they have time for is a quick stop through the gas station. The food industry has made it very easy for someone struggling or with a low income to choose a very unhealthy lifestyle and constantly made the McDonald's run during their day.

Dhruv Khullar is his essay "Why Shame Won’t Stop Obesity" tells the situation how is it, “When you can buy 2000 calories for under $10 at your neighborhood McDonalds, but have trouble getting your hands on an apple, it's difficult to justify trying to shame anyone into skinniness.” The food industry has spiked up the prices of fruit, organic products and many healthy options so high many people cannot afford the products. So in a sense we as a country are not necessarily causing the problem but we aren‘t defiantly contributing and keeping the issue going strong. If the people control of the prices could see and realizing they are altering many people's lives by the steep prices of healthy products and lowered them throughout the year not only would this help people with low income wages but they would also throw less fruit away at the end of every week since the stores would be selling more. A huge issue that affects America if obese or not is the cost of being large.

When it comes to obesity the stat that should worry anyone is people who suffer from obesity are ten times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes diabetes is a disease in which your blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels are too high. This can result into many type of problems ranging from heart diseases to blindness not only is diabetes a huge risk to anyone's health but it increases medical expenses. Obesity raised medical costs up to 315.8 billion dollars in 2010 coming out to about 3.500 thousand dollars per obese person and that is just medical expenses. When it comes to traveling it takes more gas and jet fuel to move someone obese place to place. It may not seem like much but it can easily add up. With the obesity rate being so high different states have discussed putting a tax on certain foods and drinks that are harmful and cause obesity. So if someone who has diabetes wants to keep letting their problem get the best of them at least they will have to pay for it.

The state of NY does a similar idea and bans all soda over 21 ounces so if someone were wanting to purchase a large amount of soda they would have to get a bunch of cases and pay the extra tax on bottles and cans. Companies who employ obese people also suffer when it comes to productivity. According to Trevir Nath, “In addition to direct costs reflected in healthcare, indirect costs associated with obesity include decreased work productivity, high workers' compensation claims, and lower earnings. Obesity not only costs the individual, but also the employer." Having to for the same wage for lower productivity because someone doesn't take care of their body is not only unfair to the company but unfair to other employees. They work way harder day in and day out to earn the same wage as someone obese increased sick days and medical claims come along side being obese costing a company an extra 500 dollars per worker. Yes it seems harsh but these are all viable reasons why someone needs to become involved in the massive overweight problem our country has.

People in the work environment give sympathy to those who are overweight making it seem like their problem isn't much of a problem also enforcing how they are living is okay. Agreat way to start with the young and get them to see junk food differently is to put as ban on the advertising of unhealthy easily accessible products. All kids see on TV during break is jolly ranchers, sour patch kids, doritos and pepsi these products appeal to adolescents who don't know the harm of different ingredients in those products and what can happen when you become hook with a sweet tooth. Once the kids have a vehicle and are able to eat whenever and wherever without anyone to monitor their consumption they soon develop an addiction it can all be traced back to what they saw on TV the day before that they needed to suck on or drink. Rudd- Shehan from the Uconn food and policy center explains.

“In 2014, children viewed on average approximately 13 television ads per day for foods, beverages, and restaurants, while adolescents viewed 15, and adults viewed 20, Such advertisements were mostly for foods of little or no nutritional value." So not only are kids being lured in but their parents also are and when both parties are in love with the sugary product it is hard to go back to fruits and vegetables that are never advertised. The way to stop this nonsense is to cut back on advertising or start showing off products that will improve people's health not kill them. The only way we as a country can fix this problem at hand is to work together stop letting McDonald's build empires in every city in America.

Cut the costs of healthy products to allow low income shoppers to purchase them take down advertising for unhealthy products. America needs to start speaking up about what we want in our grocery stores before the only thing being supplied is low nutritional cheap products. Lets fight these large corporations to put a large tax on fast food or limit the amount of food they order. At this point any way to get people to stop eating junk and no nutritional value food so our obesity rate doesn't get to 50 percent for the whole country. There still is a chance, especially with whole foods and sunday markets hoping around different cities and towns. But at the end of the day it really comes down to how people want to take care of themselves no one can help someone but themselves, We just need to give them the tools to fight.