obesity | Obesity In America | | | CEDRIC HATHAWAY | 4/15/2014 |

Obesity is the excess proportion of total body fat. A person is considered obese when his or her body weight is 20% or more above the normal body weight. The CDC says that childhood obesity has more than tripled in the last thirty years. Some people think that they are not obese or just that they are unaware of the fact that they are obese. I also chose to write about obesity because once upon a time obesity was a factor in my life. When I was in grade school I was well over the average weight for a six year old. My mother didn’t know if I was ever going to thin out. I played baseball so I was a little bit active but there was little thought that I was going to become average weight. I would go to family outings and get talked about by relatives, it really didn’t phase me because I was ill aware of what an insult was. Eventually all that passed when I started playing more sports like football and baseball. This made my metabolism act three times as fast so by the time I got to high school I was the right size. I was still eating the same and all. Most causes of obesity starts inside of the child’s household. By the time most children are able to eat solid foods they begin to eat fast foods. Fast foods are not as healthy as these companies make them out to be. They have tons of grease in it because of the way they chose to prepare their foods. The new XXL Steak Nachos from Taco Bell has over 1100 calories in each serving, not including the size drink you might have order has a bus load of sugar added to it. McDonalds has even had rumors around the world that they are investing in steroid chicken. A steroid is a drug that is suppose to boost the hormone distribution throughout the body to get you bigger in size. Here is a picture of the nutrient list for Taco Bell. Age also takes effect as one of the leading causes such as gender and maybe even genetics. As you get older, your body’s metabolism tends to slow down and you might not need to consume the mass amounts of calories u once needed to keep going. Women seem to be more overweight than most men. Men burn more energy than women, so we require more calories so we don’t pass out. When women become postmenopausal their metabolism decreases. This is why they gain weight during or after menopause. Obesity can also be a genetic thing. Being obese can have long-term and short-term health effects on your body. It causes joint stress. A lot of weight damages joints, particularly the joints of knees and hips and sometimes backs. Having to be this big makes someone extreamlly lazy therfore its makes it harder to exercise. When you are overweight you also have more body fat higher levels of substance the blood that causes inflammation. Overweight people have a higherincidence of osteoarthritis, that causes pain and swelling in joints. You can also develop high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease. Obese people are at higher risk to catch cancer easier. In some cases it causes cancers in the esophagus, colon, endometiral, and kidney cancer. The WCIN have theories that fat cells releases hormones that aid the growth of cancer cells. The number one long-term issue of being obese is “death”. Simply being overweight can shorten your lifespan. Some ways to prevent becoming obese is to be active most of the time out of your everyday life. Activities such as climbing stairs, instead of using elevators or escalators. Morning walks or even swimming would do the trick. These activities could bring tremendous changes to your life. While being active you should also take time to keep tract of your weight. Try weighing yourself once a week or two times a month. This will help you figure out how much fat you have lost during the period which you have exercised. If you are not being healthy or being active enough daily you will know. You must drink plenty of water to detoxify all the impurities that