When it comes to death tolls in The United States, opinions may vary as to what the leading causes may be; no matter what you think of you have to consider the factor of obesity. According to Richard H. Cormona of U.S. department of Health and Human services, three out of every eight deaths in America are obesity related. Knowing this, many of those who are overweight try to take the “easy” way out. Using surgery and pills to rid individuals of their weight has been popular for some time now, but those can be considered short term solutions, so it is time for the people of America to realize that a diet and exercise are the permanent solution to a more healthy life. Merriam-Webster defines obesity as a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body. Melissa Healy of the Los Angeles Times states that, “In the last 15 years, Adult obesity rates have doubled or nearly doubled in 17 states. Two decades ago, not a single state had an obesity rate above 15%. Now all states do” (7). That statement alone shows how today’s world has been flooded by the effects of obesity and the rate is steadily growing. Marc Ambinder of Atlantic Monthly says, “By 2015, four out of ten Americans may be obese” (72). The signs of obesity are out there but there are those who choose to ignore this issue, but if we continue to do so who knows what our world will be like in the next decade. No one knows what the future holds, but with obesity being a factor, it is proven to knock at least ten years off the short life you already have. As said in an article “in 2001, the U.S. surgeon general announced that obesity had reached ‘epidemic’ proportions” (EXPAND ON THIS TOPIC HERE). Let’s not let obesity be the reason our population is wiped from the earth.
For the epidemic we need examples. Examples of what is right when trying to live a more fulfilling and healthy life. Author Marc Ambinder suffered from obesity in his early 20s all the way to his early 30s. He knew it was difficult to have the willpower to lose weight like that. He said “The people most vulnerable to obesity, however, do not have access to healthy food, to role models, to solid health-care and community infrastructures, to accurate information, to effective treatments, and even to the time necessary to change their relationship with food”. (72) He suggested that for us to even take a step in solving the problem of obesity, we must first address what causes it and what we can do to make an impact on it. Things like restricting food advertisement to supporting new treatments. Whether those treatments are surgery or even dietary pills, there is something we can do to save millions from the burdens they carry.
One of the main issues of why obesity is as bad of a problem that it is today is due to the many fast food restaurants there are. McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s may be one of the main reasons why there are so many cases of obesity in the United States especially within kids under the age of 18. When you are young you don’t think about what you are eating and if it is healthy for you. At such a young age you think that it doesn’t matter what you eat and it will not affect you until you are older. This is not true, once you start eating unhealthy food than you will continue this habit for the rest of your life. For parents, it is easier to just grab something for our children when you are on the way home so that you will not have to cook, this can be bad because the food you are getting from either McDonalds or maybe even Burger King can be very fatting versus you cooking a nice well balanced meal. A home cooked meal will always be better than just stopping and grabbing something from a fast food restaurant any day.
The United States is usually considered as a lazy country, there are many people throughout the country are not really active when it comes to exercising and doing what is needed to be done to stay healthy. Exercising is a way