ipl-logo

Obesity In America Essay

1655 Words7 Pages

The United States has been overwhelmed by obesity and obesity related diseases which has led to the acceptance of a new norm. The percentage of obese and overweight individuals has reached an all time high because of high consumption rates of unhealthy foods. Processed foods became very easily accessible and caused a large increase in consumption which began in 1980. People started to over consume these processed goods which resulted in weight gain and other unhealthy side effects. The increase in overweight individuals created a negative image that currently represents the United States as the most overweight country in the world. The 18 to 26 year olds have inherited a problem they did not create, but now must try to fix what has been building up for decades. The millennials are at the perfect age to influence the future by making changes in their generation and by passing down healthy habits to later generations. By taking personal responsibility, and promoting a healthy lifestyle, millennials have the chance to decrease the impact that …show more content…

Indisputably, America was at an all time high. Just two percent of Americans were considered to be overweight and divorce rates were low. A majority of meals were homemade, as a parent was usually present in the home to prepare meals. Stores sold whole foods that were cooked at home, with no additional ingredients. The percentage of diabetic Americans was low because most cases were genetic rather than Type 2 Diabetes. Families did not go out to eat often because the price of eating at restaurants was expensive. Eating out was usually used to celebrate special events or other significant moments. Towards the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, processed, boxed, and packaged foods were introduced into the market. This caused many people to turn to processed goods to be used as a cheap and fast alternative when they were short on time or just

Show More
Related
1506 Words | 7 Pages

Empowered by this unbridled freedom, the modern consumer was casting aside all notions of limitations and satiating their hunger whenever and to whatever degree appealed to them the most. According to Critser, “…if fast-food companies of the 1980’s seemed to see the American eater as an endlessly expanding vessel for their product, Americans of the same period rejected the entire notions of limits themselves” (Critser pg.31). This mentality, of course, expanded far beyond the realms of fast food to bigger houses, bigger cars, and larger clothes. Another erroneous idea mentioned by Critser that began to crop up in the 1980’s was the concept that in addition to eating three meals a day you should also snack continuously throughout the day. This wouldn’t have been cause for much concern if the snacks people (mostly children) regularly consumed were nutritious and didn’t contribute to an excess of one or more major food group, but ultimately consumers stuck with the unhealthy snack foods they saw advertised the most.

Read More
708 Words | 3 Pages

Plain and simple, Americans have never had a single, strong, stable culinary tradition to guide them (5). The food revolution has also altered. Back in the day, people ate by cooking on fire, hunting with tools, farming, and food preservation. Now, Americans have people cooking for them so they are not as “hands

Read More
494 Words | 2 Pages

These workers gave very helpful information. The food industry has changed so much over time. According to Eric Schlosser, “A generation ago, three-quarters of the money used to buy food in the United States was spent to prepare meals at home. Today, about half is spent at restaurants--mainly at fast food restaurants.”

Read More
200 Words | 1 Pages

People spent less for food in 1950 because there were not much food options at that time but in 2010, people

Read More
1837 Words | 8 Pages

In his article “Processed Food in American Culture: A History of War and Advertising” Siebel (2016) explains that the use of processed food in America was jump started by World War Two (para 1). He explains how processed food was less of a necessity in the American diet before the war started. Because of the war processed foods became cheaper and easier to obtain. The government needed to keep food prices down to keep the economy in check. Propaganda became a catalyst for processed food.

Read More
444 Words | 2 Pages

Corn, beans, and pork were common. Cows provided beef butter, and milk. Preserving food before refrigeration included smoking, drying, salted, and pickled. In the 1900’s bread making was a routine in the daily American life.

Read More
1024 Words | 5 Pages

During the 1800-1900s meat consumption began to increase, though, it was still not as popular as today. Nowadays, meat is readily available for

Read More
196 Words | 1 Pages

Although between 1975 and 1985 there was a slight increase and decrease consecutively but the consumption of Fish and Chips gradually declined over the 15 years later to finish at below 40. In opposition to that, the amount of Pizza and Hamburgers that teenagers ate increased

Read More
1335 Words | 6 Pages

Families turned to cheap processed foods during the Depression because they were searching for food that would keep them satisfied while not breaking the

Read More
753 Words | 4 Pages

In today's society, we have more people that are obesese than every before and this problem seems to be getting increasingly worse. With factors ranging from sedentary jobs, to food prices, to lack of exercise, and even how one was raised, there are many reasons that today's Americans are becoming increasingly overweight. This epidemic has several negative effects that include physical health problems, mental health problems, lack of quality of life, and even effects our future generation's health status as well. Many Americans today have jobs where they cannot move around much throughout the day. This causes the body not to be able to burn as many calories as it would if a person were allowed to move around more freely.

Read More
432 Words | 2 Pages

Cheaper sugar substitutes that have been added to more a wider selection of foods and lower food prices combined with bigger portions lead to increasing calorie intakes. All those aspects have contributed to the rising number of obese Americans. Obesity does not only affect the physical health, it also brings mental, social and financial problems, leading to an altogether burdensome life. The excess weight caused by unhealthy eating habits and lifestyle choices results in increasing the risk of diabetes, heart diseases, cancer, high blood pressure and sleep apnea and a lowered life expectancy to the point that children have a good chance to die at a lower age than their parents.

Read More
788 Words | 4 Pages

Has anyone ever wondered about America’s Obesity problem and whether it could be solved or not? American is a very obese country! According to the Food Research and Action Center chart located online, “In the US: 68.5% of adults are overweight or obese whereas 34.9% are obese, and lastly 31.8% of children and adolescents are overweight or obese and other children are 16.9% obese; of these children who are low income and overweight and obese 30.4% are preschoolers” (Carroll).

Read More
906 Words | 4 Pages

Over the past years, Americans have continued to double or even triple how much they have weighed in the past two decades. Nearly two-thirds of Americans have been diagnosed as obese, not counting how many have been diagnosed as overweight. Millions of Americans have suffered from obesity due to portion sizes increasing in size, not getting the sufficient amount of exercise needed daily, and electronics getting in the way of people going outside and doing exercise. As a result of obesity, Americans have also began to suffer the severe or life threatening side effects of it. All these reasons support why Americans, over the years, have become more obese.

Read More
646 Words | 3 Pages

It’s not secret that the most powerful nation is amongst one of the top if not the country with the highest percentage of overweight citizens. According to the World Health Organization (WHO,2017), 33% of the American population is considered obese. This means that of the 324k adults in the United States, 74k of them are considered obese. Obesity is classified in terms of a Body Mass Index (BMI) reading which measures. Those of a healthy weight usually have a BMI between 18.5 and <25.

Read More
883 Words | 4 Pages

Women generally enjoy buying products that don’t require cooking. There was a high need for cutting down time in the kitchen in the 1950’s which is still highly valued today. For example, “The mass media depicted convenience foods as possessing the potential to alter American women’s cooking

Read More

More about Obesity In America Essay

Related Topics

Open Document