What Can You Do About American Obesity?By: Allison Deck

Obesity Due to many observations, it is clear that some

people want help losing weight, whether it be an average person or an obese person. I am talking about obese people today, however, others can get help from this too.

What does being obese mean? Being obese means that you have a body mass index

of thirty or higher and the healthy range is 18.5 to 24.5 ("Overweight and Obesity " par. 2).

How many deaths does obesity cause? According to an article in Harvard Men’s Health Watch,

“obesity and lack of exercise are responsible for about 1,000 deaths in the United States every day” (1).

Eat Less Snacks and Monitor Portions We simply eat too much, a thirty year study proved

that our meals and snacks rose from 3.8 to 4.9 per day (Harvard Men’s Health Watch 5). Our meals do not have to be as we think they do, each

meal should consist of at least 4 of the food groups, but you do not need such big portions. For example, a piece of steak should only be as big as the

size of your fist. We are constantly snacking throughout the day, whether

it’s a bag of chips or a soft drink. If you are going to snack, choose something healthy, such as

an apple with natural peanut butter or piece of toast with jelly.

Eat Less Junk Food Junk food, fast food, and processed foods are all

factors that contribute to American Obesity. We like meals that can be prepared quickly and easily, in other words, ripping open a bag of frozen chicken nuggets and putting them in the oven. Junk food such as chicken nuggets or ramen

noodles are very high in fat, sodium, and sugar, which if consumed in high amounts, can lead to health problems.

Eating fast food and junk food is convenient, but you can purchase a cook book that is strictly filled with recipes that can be cooked in 15 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATYJx3x0nyo

Ignore Marketing Marketing personal are very good at their jobs

and they know what will get peoples attention, especially children's attention. Marketers know what to put visually into a commercial and what is to be said verbally in order to make you want a product. Children are being overexposed to commercials that

promote buying junk food (Chandon, Pierre, and Brian Wansink 571). Marketing strategies are extremely persistent in children’s marketing because if you draw them in when they are children, the more likely they will buy that product when they are older. Children can also whine an complain to their parents and wear them down to buy a certain product.

Ignore Marketing Cont. The best solution I have to offer for this situation

is to simply ignore it. No one in America can escape marketing, especially marketing about food. We are constantly around it through commercials, billboards, radio, and other types of advertisements. Simply turn the T.V. channel when a commercial pops up, turn the radio station, and stare at the road when you pass billboards. I make it sound easier than it will be to accomplish

this but ignoring their marketing plots will help you to not want to buy fast food or the latest and greatest sugary cereal.

Psychological Help When someone is obese, it is most likely that

they have some sort of psychological problem, whether it’s depression, low self-esteem, or loneliness. Depression is the number one problem that can

occur from obesity. There was an investigation of 9,125 samples in the U.S. and it was found that obesity significantly increases the diagnosis of lifelong major depression and other psychological disorders (Yung-Chieh Yen, et al. 1).

Low self-esteem is another major problem that can occur from obesity because the person may not like how they look or they get ridiculed for their size.

Psychological Help Cont. Loneliness can also occur from someone being obese

because the person may not be very confident in going out and around with people. They might also feel as though no one could love them for their size.

When people that are obese have such psychological issues like these, it is best to see a therapist about it. A therapist is a professional whereas a friend that may be trying to help is not.

Although some people are seeing a therapist, it still may not be enough, any obese person needs to change their thoughts and behaviors in order to accomplish anything. Loving yourself is always the first step in helping yourself out psychologically.

Financial Help Food is expensive and when an obese person

goes to buy food at the grocery or at a restaurant, it is even more expensive because they eat more. In a study done by James Tillotson in the Annual

Review of Nutrition, Americans will spend 510 billion on food for the home and 483 on food eaten away from home (2).

To help with this problem, my advice is to buy less. As discussed before, we eat to much is terms of portion sizes and we eat too much in terms of snacking. Don’t buy any snacks the next time you visit the grocery store, buy only what you need in order to prepare a meal.

Financial Help Cont. Even when anyone goes to the grocery or fast food

joint and tries to buy healthy, you pay more because healthier food is more costly. My advice to you about this problem is to do the best

you can when shopping, it is not any consumers fault that healthier food costs more. Try to buy as much whole grain, organic, low-fat food as you can financially allow.

Medical expenses are also a problem when it comes to being obese because most obese people have a health condition. There is no way to avoid medical bills when you have a

health condition, the only way to beat it is to stay healthy, which means having a healthy weight.

Exercise Almost no American exercises the way they

should these days, which is getting at least an hour of physical activity for thirty minutes to an hour depending on the type of activity you are doing. This does not mean doing your job or cleaning the

house, but exercising as in power walking, jogging, weight lifting, or any other activity that will get your heart rate up to its target heart rate.

Laura Burke stated, “physical activity by itself could lead to less than three percent of initial body weight loss; however, when combined with diet therapy it can lead to greater weight loss” (368).

Keep a Log Keep a log of everything that you have consumed

throughout the day and write down the nutritional facts of everything as well. Also keep track of all the physical activity you have done throughout the day. This will really put things into perspective for you, after

you have totaled everything up and compared it to what your total should be, it will be an eye opener.

If you do not want to write it down and total it up while comparing it to what is healthy for you, you can visit www.myfitnesspal.com. This site will keep track of everything you need, all you have to do is put in what you have eaten and what your phsical activity was for that day.

Works Cited Burke, Lora E., and Jing Wang. "Treatment Strategies For Overweight And

Obesity." Journal Of Nursing Scholarship 43.4 (2011): 368-375.Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention . Division of Nutrition . Overweight and Obesity . Georgia : Center for Disease Control and Prevention , 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2013. 

Chandon, Pierre, and Brian Wansink. "Does Food Marketing Need To Make Us Fat? A Review And Solutions." Nutrition Reviews 70.10 (2012): 571-593. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. 

"Obesity In America: Large Portions, Large Proportions. (Cover Story)." Harvard Men's Health Watch 10.6 (2006): 1-5. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.

"Obesity In America: What's Driving The Epidemic?." Harvard Men's Health Watch 16.7 (2012): 5-7. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.

Tillotson, James E. "AMERICA's OBESITY: Conflicting Public Policies, Industrial Economic Development, And Unintended Human Consequences.” Annual Review Of Nutrition 24.1 (2004): 617-643. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.

Yung-Chieh Yen, et al. "Psychiatric Disorders Of Patients Seeking Obesity Treatment." BMC Psychiatry 13.1 (2013): 1-8. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.