How Big Is Too Big
Our nation has more people who are obese than those who are just overweight. This is not just a guess, this has been studied. Is this something that should worry us? The different terms are a result of how much a person weighs and what is the cause of any extra weight that a person is carrying. Overweight is having extra body weight from muscle, bone, fat, and/or water. Obesity is having a high amount of extra body fat.
The most common way to measure overweight and obesity is he body mass indicator. This ratio gives a much clearer indication of whether a person is at a healthy weight or if they are at risk of being morbidly obese. Our country is growing at an alarming rate and while the number of people who are not at the correct weight has remained the same, the number of those who are dangerously overweight has gone up more than one hundred percent. Being overweight or obese raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, arthritis and other conditions. These health complications are more prevalent among those who have the highest BMI rather than those whose BMI is not as high.
Clearly, this problem must be addressed, but saying that and doing that are two different things. It is not a simple matter of getting a large group of people together to do a bunch of six pack ab exercises, before they go to work in the morning, it is a much deeper problem that needs to be attacked on many levels with people of all ages. Kids are growing up in an environment in which they are learning that it is normal to be obese. Over thirty percent of our countries kids are not at a healthy weight. The effect of this will be a generation of people that have many more healthy problems.
Television and technology are a major culprit in the problem of obesity. Kids are not as active as they used to be because they are entranced by the boob tube. If they are not watching a television show they are sitting down playing video games for hours on end. The television advertises foods that look great but add to the weight problem that is being faced. Our nation often seems to survive on the processed foods that are shown on commercials. There are also numerous advertisements for products that promise to show a person how to lose weight fast, thus giving us the false sense of security that we can get our weight under control any time that we want to without having to do any real work, all we have to do is take a pill and watch the fat melt away. In addition to following one if these quick plans, a person still needs to do more to lose the weight. The weight loss plans need to be combined with a proper diet and exercise. It is the combination of eating right and exercising regularly that will lead a person to proper weight.
There is a place on television that seems to glorify obesity. On the reality show The Biggest Loser the contestants have gotten bigger and bigger, and now there are posts on the biggest loser forum that question whether the show is sending the right message by choosing people who are morbidly obese instead of choosing overweight people that more of the fans of the show can relate too. The people who are on the show are not always as reflective of the people who are watching it because the people at home are not as overweight as those on the show.
Our country must face the issue of obesity that is occurring today. If the older generation can not do something for themselves, than the younger generation will follow in their footsteps. We need to show our kids how to eat a proper diet and stress to them the importance of a fitness regimen. It is not acceptable that there are so many people who are dangerously overweight and we must do something about it. If the children don’t change it they face a much shorter future that will be filled with illness and sadness.
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