It is not a surprise that the number of Americans that are overweight or obese has been increasing rapidly over the years. It is like an epidemic that the country is struggling to control. If we could go back in time and think about it, obesity was not a problem and it started to be an important issue in the past 20 years or so. Therefore, the problem lies in today's society, and the question is: What has changed? And what could be done?
The first reason is that we live in a world of scientific and technological innovations and those improvements are integrated in our lives. Internet, video games, smartphones, computers, TV's, I Pads, and so forth, are the reasons why children spend more time at home than ever before. The easy access of internet and some networking websites, such as Facebook and Twitter have dramatic impacts on children's and teenagers' lifestyle habits. Instead of exercising and socializing with friends, people are playing online games and socializing through the Internet. It is the online generation. However, the longer children and teenagers stay at home, the more likely they will eat snacks, drink sodas, and so on, which increase their calories consumption.
The second reason is that we also live in a world that is known to go by the sentence: "time is money" making adults feel stressed, which adds more pressure to their daily activities. Adults are getting busier and busier, working extra hours, or even getting two different jobs. That phenomenon causes people to decrease their leisure time, which makes them not exercise and eat unhealthy food because they end up looking for the fastest and easiest things they can possibly find - fast foods. In order to save time and money, fast-food restaurants became the solution. However, this specific type of restaurant is now serving larger portions of food as well, causing people to consume extra calories.
Consequently, the decreasing free time and technology improvements have influenced society to change people's habits, and the changes in these lifestyles have negatively impacted the obesity rate to be unacceptably high. The first step to take is to help people becoming more active in order to be healthier. Exercising and eating healthy are a matter of choice; we can always choose to eat healthier and better, and to exercise daily. Just keep in mind that, obesity is a serious health problem that can cause people to increase the chances of having diabetes, heart diseases and stroke, liver problems, hypertension and arthritis, and even cancer. This is why America is facing a serious health challenge when it comes to fight obesity.
Society is aware that obesity is the result of poor diet and a lack of physical activity. However, not much is being done by the people that are obese or overweight because they feel acceptable and comfortable in the US society. It is obvious that these people need more information about what to do, what to eat, and the risks they incur by being overweight and obese. It is well-known that healthy food is very expensive and in order to save money, people end up buying unhealthy food. However, obesity leads to more health care expenses and more health problems later in life.
The obesity epidemic can be controlled if everyone decides to change the way they eat and live because a difference can be made if everyone decides to change their lifestyle habits. It will take time because weight loss is a slow process, but it is a matter of choice. Healthy food is available and people can choose to be healthy by not over consuming. People consume what is convenient but not what is good for them. It is clear that being overweight or obese is not healthy. Solutions are available to all. It is time to improve America's health situation. Think about the future and make a change.