The Epidemic Of Obesity As A Social Problem

Today, people are always on the go and live a busy lifestyle. Between work, school, children, and meetings, people do not have the time to be conscious of their health-related choices. With little time during the day, people sometimes forget they need to take care of their body. Lack of self-care and failure to realize the foods and drinks people put into their body has led to the social problem of obesity. With the number of people being affected by this epidemic, it is not just a personal problem but now a social problem. A social problem is “any condition or behavior that has negative consequences for large numbers of people and that is generally recognized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed” (Libraries, n.d, “What is

One of the more serious trends is obesity. More and more people in the United States are being diagnosed as obese. In 2001, there were an estimated 44.3 million obese American adults (McCarthy, M.D., 2010). Obesity can be considered a social problem because it affects so many people while following the same trends with every person. The issue of obesity is most certainly socially created. People have the power to turn down foods that make them gain weight, such as fast food, and to exercise more and live an overall healthier lifestyle. In society, being obese and overweight is often looked at as okay and some people will even just use the term “big boned”. People who are obese put themselves at a huge risk of health issues and even possible

Unlike type one diabetes, type two can show up at any point in a person’s life and can also be cured. People who are obese and overweight usually do not make healthy choices when it comes to their daily intake of food. Diabetes can affect people who are obese of all ages, sexes, and races. Diabetes is a direct result of being overweight. The social trend of higher energy intake and lower energy expenditure relates to this. Diabetes is known to lead to other complications such as renal failure and blindness. People fail to understand the disease of diabetes and obesity and how they relate makes it difficult to implement preventative strategies (McCarthy, M.D., 2010). In recent years, more and more people have been diagnosed as being overweight because they take in more than they put out. People tend to sit around and are less active than ever before. If someone sits in an office all day or works from home and rarely gets out of the house, they need to make sure they are burning some of the energy they have ate and drank all day long. Living an inactive lifestyle and taking in more energy than putting out leads to obesity as well as diabetes. One of the main contributors to this are fast foods chains. Fast food restaurants are convenient, costly, and taste good to people. More people eat out than cook in their own homes because of the convenience. Fast food restaurants might be