Obesity In America Essay

956 Words4 Pages

Obesity kills lots of people with other diseases like heart diseases, diabetes, and some cancers. Obesity is a condition where a person has accumulated so much body fat that it might hurt their health. If a person's body weight is at least 20% higher than it should be, he or she is considered obese. Junk food is one reason people get overweight and have diseases that kill them. There are things people can do to get rid of obesity in America. Three things people can do to get rid of obesity is to have better physical education in school, tax unhealthy food higher, and have classes that can teach students how to make food. Schools should give better physical education classes that are longer and have activities that everyone likes. First, Al …show more content…

First, in the article, Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables, Mark Bittman claims that “since poor people suffer disproportionately from the cost of high-quality, fresh foods, subsidizing those foods would be particularly beneficial to them.”(76) Some poor people can’t buy healthy food and are stuck with the junk food which is unhealthy because it is cheaper than food that is unhealthy. Then, Bittman explains, “Other countries are considering or have already started programs to tax foods with negative effects on health.”(77) Some countries have already found out that obesity is a problem and they are taxing lots of unhealthy food higher. Last, Bittman states that “A 20 percent increase in the price of sugary drinks nationally could result in about a 20 percent decrease in consumption, which in the next decade could prevent 1.5 million Americans from becoming obese and 400,000 cases of diabetes, saving about $30 billion.”(78) The United States spend lots of money on health, and if people can save this much money, then that money can be used on things to help the economy. Taxing food would be good for the people and on the government because fewer people would be obese and the government would save a lot of money and could get out of the massive debt that they are