Obese And Fast Food In America

Diane Mitchell

Here in America there are a lot of people that are obese. The situation are getting so bad that now young children are overweight and they are being diagnosed with diabetes. Since we live in a very fast pace and busy lifestyle most Americans are not able to cook all of the time. We tend to buy fast food almost everyday and drink lots of sugary drinks. We spend most of our money on fast food which is a problem in American society.

We as Americans have to know that eating healthy is not a hard thing to do, as long as we can just find time to make a quick healthy dinner at home or not just dinner, beakfast and lunch as well, there would be less obese people in our society. We can eat fruit for beakfast and it don't have to be scrambled eggs with pork becon and french toast or waffles with syrup and butter. We have to find healthier ways of eating. Lunch can be much healthier too. We don't have to buy Mc Donalds or Taco Bell etc. We can make a sandwich from home or sometimes pack leftovers from last nights dinner, that would be a great way to same money and eat healthier. Dinner could be baked chicken with vegetables and rice. Chicken don't have to be fried and that's another problem in our society, we have to learn to stay away from fried food. 

I know that in other countries their eating habits are much healthier. People from other countries don't eat fast foods as much and that's because most of the time they don't have the money to waste or can't easily get to a fast food place. So most people that live in other countries or people that are from other countries love to cook and are eating healthier. Since we live in a very fast pace lifestyle we need to find time were we can cook a healthy dinner and try our best to stay away from fast food.

Here in American we need to realize that we are spending to much of our money on fast food. If we can try and go a week without fast food we all will see how much money we have saved and we would feel much healthier with just taking fast food away for a week and that also goes for the sugary drinks.

Obesity in the United States

By: Lan Lam

Obesity has been an epidemic in the United States for many decades already and continues to be an alarming concern not only as individuals but also to our society. Obesity can play a tremendous role in a person social class along with health risk. According to medical records, obesity is a medical condition when there is an excess amount of fat in one's body which may be linked to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, lack of breathing, and cancer etc. The easiest way to determine if you’re obese is by calculating your body mass index (BMI), which is the ratio of your weight to your height. Adults with a BMI of 25 or higher are considered overweight and anything higher than 30 is consider obese.

Percent of Obese (BMI > 30) in U.S. Adults

2009 State Obesity Rates
State	%	State	%	State	%	State	%
Alabama	31.0	Illinois	26.5	Montana	23.2	Rhode Island	24.6
Alaska	24.8	Indiana	29.5	Nebraska	27.2	South Carolina	29.4
Arizona	25.5	Iowa	27.9	Nevada	25.8	South Dakota	29.6
Arkansas	30.5	Kansas	28.1	New Hampshire	25.7	Tennessee	32.3
California	24.8	Kentucky	31.5	New Jersey	23.3	Texas	28.7
Colorado	18.6	Louisiana	33.0	New Mexico	25.1	Utah	23.5
Connecticut	20.6	Maine	25.8	New York	24.2	Vermont	22.8
Delaware	27.0	Maryland	26.2	North Carolina	29.3	Virginia	25.0
Washington DC	19.7	Massachusetts	21.4	North Dakota	27.9	Washington	26.4
Florida	25.2	Michigan	29.6	Ohio	28.8	West Virginia	31.1
Georgia	27.2	Minnesota	24.6	Oklahoma	31.4	Wisconsin	28.7
Hawaii	22.3	Mississippi	34.4	Oregon	23.0	Wyoming	24.6
Idaho	24.5	Missouri	30.0	Pennsylvania	27.4

The data shown in these maps were collected through the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor which is a percentage of obesity rates in the United States. According to statistics, high levels of poverty and low levels of education are linked with obesity across the U.S. For example, Mississippi is also the poorest state in America and ranks in the bottom ten in educational spending as well. When unemployment rises, obesity can soon follow because cutting back on expenses often means cutting the healthier, more expensive foods and people also turn to junk food to relieve stress.

As the increase of obesity in the United States arouses the new generation may seek shorter life expectancy due to health issues which contribute from overweight or obese. The government gives billions of dollars every year for medical cost contributing obesity while millions of people spends money on surgery and diet pills to help lose weight, but is it really working?. In some cases I think surgery and diet pills do work but reality you may gain all your weight back. Like any doctor would say to any patient healthy eating and regular exercise would help keep a healthy diet to society. Walking in the park with the family is a great way to keep fit like the picture below.