Obesity: an Environmental Epidemic/Disease
Nadia Bosah
English 281

Obesity: an Environmental Epidemic/Disease

Lack of control and others are the many factors that have led to obesity in America. Swine flu, small pox and yellow fever were a couple of epidemics that struck America. Obesity has now been associated with that category. Diseases that wiped out mass populations, a condition related to grossly being fat or plumpness is now a new terror for the United States. The freedom to eat freely has minified. State and federal governments have taken away that right of making personal health concerns our own. Instead, they prefer to let all Americans know that what we may have been eating is wrong. Reminding everyone, it can lead to potential problems such as congestive heart failure; a condition causing the blood to the heart and body to pump at a slower rate, causing pressure buildup and eventually accumulating fluid in the heart and throughout the body. Heart disease is another common problem among Americans, a class of heart conditions such as heart attack and coronary artery disease. Junk food was probably eaten in moderation. That ability has been taken away from government by banning it in schools, as well taxing these and sweet beverages too. According to Linda Bacon, author of Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth about Your Weight she stated, “there is a widespread belief that fat is controllable; now you can blame the individual and attribute all kinds of mean qualities to them." (Dailey, 2010) People want what they want. As a factor, obesity has been obtained by lack of discipline. The truth is you cannot stop the average American from what they are consuming inside of their bodies. Just like there is a Bill of Rights, there's a freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, most believe there should be a freedom for any American to choose what they wish to eat. Obesity has become a marketing strategy to target children traditionally making them victims, more vulnerable. Yale News has indicated that children are the key audiences used for fast food commercials (Orciari, 2013). Just as there is a variable in every experiment, similar to hunting, the children are wanted. The moment children are watching cartoons, in between shows, their eyes come across three to five advertisements pertaining to fast food or junk food. Most one to two parent households in modern-day America work. A parent would find McDonalds or Burger King kids meals helpful, not hearty healthy, but considerate because it does not interfere with parents’ busy schedules.
The belief of the answer to obesity is lack of personal responsibility. Other famous possible reasons leading to obesity include gluttony, lack of diet, laziness and lack of discipline. It has been considered the epitome of greed and sloth (Dailey, 2010). In Max Weber's Protestant work ethic: it consists of hard work, determination and self-discipline and that failure is a personal weakness. An average consumer stated, “I choose to eat healthy, in order for me to do that, I have to drive about fifteen miles or more to find a Trader Joes, a popular organic food store, in another neighborhood other than my own.” Some Americans do not have the necessary means of transportation to some of these healthy food stores for proper nutrition. They should not be held accountable. The issue of a farmers market is not even evident in poor communities. Most people deal with what is available in their community. Other countries believe America is the place where they have access to food or beverage they can be devoured excessively without permission. Americans do not know how to eat small portions. The saying, "more is better, bigger is better" is highly emphasized everywhere in the Unites States.
As a nation, we can do better than to allow someone else to tell us what we are doing wrongly. State legislatures can intervene such as banning all saturated fat products