An Epidemic in America

The United States of America is one of the most overweight countries. There are many factors that may lead an individual to become obese. While some causes of obesity can be linked to serious medical conditions and medicines, a vast majority of individuals simply have a lack of education on physical fitness, a sedentary lifestyle, and extremely nutrient deficient diets. This is a very serious issue in the United Sates and it causes more problems than most people are even aware of.
Our extreme lack of education on physical fitness is largely to blame for childhood obesity cases as well as adult obesity cases. This also includes the lack of education on nutrition as well. In school there are physical education classes and nutrition classes. But after someone has completed these classes, do they truly understand how the body works and how to eat right? Most of the time, the answer to this question is “no”. Schools do not always promote healthy eating habits. A typical lunch in a school cafeteria consists of fried food, chips, sodas, and other extremely non healthy foods. Not only should schools promote a healthier diet by providing healthy lunch selections, they should also put more emphasis on teaching the children about nutrition and what causes obesity. It is revealed that the National School Lunch Program contributes to the overall school nutrition environment, including the presence of fast food and vending machines on campus (NBH). One of the most important things an individual can do in life is create a healthy body to live in. this person will live longer, live happier with less medical conditions, and will just feel better overall. So why is nutrition and physical education not one of the main and important classes and schools? It is almost absurd how many American children and adults lack proper education on fitness and nutrition.
Another prominent reason for the obesity epidemic is the average U.S. citizen’s sedentary lifestyles. Many people will get up in the morning, drive to work, and sit at their computer desk all day long, then drive home, and either sit and watch television, or do some other activity that includes being sedentary. Many people get into this habit and do it every single day. When this is taken into account, it is no surprise that more than seventy eight million adults and twelve million children are obese (NPR.ORG). This is a massive number and it comes out the around a third of Americans that are obese and another third are overweight. Around twenty six million Americans have Type 2 diabetes and an additional seventy nine million people are pre-diabetic (NPR.ORG). So not only do these lifestyles cause major damage to one’s health, it also causes major damage to one’s wallet. Another reason why people live these sedentary lifestyles is because society has made it ok to do so. Being overweight and obese is very accepted in the United States and many people feel there is no need to change the way they are.
There are many medical consequences for people that are obese. Some of these problems include heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and many more problems. But being obese doesn’t just cause medical problems; it causes some severe psychological, social, and financial problems as well. Many extremely overweight people are insecure of themselves. They think that people are looking at them differently than they really are. They are afraid to be outgoing in fear that people will judge them. This is not true for all individuals that are obese but it is true for many of them. This is a problem because those being obese will put limits on them and what they want to do in life. So being obese can cause psychological problems in this aspect and it also causes social problems. Childhood obesity causes many medical problems later on in life but it also causes social problems while the child is still in grade school. Kids can be very cruel and many times, overweight