Most everyone is aware that obesity is a widespread problem, but most seem at a loss how to deal with it. Not everyone who is overweight is obese. While the Center of Disease control reported sixty one percent of Americans as overweight, about half of those (thirty one percent) were obese at the end of 2008. This is still a concern, because people who are overweight can progress easily to obesity if they don't get a handle on their weight.
Americans, who are known to be competitive, unfortunately hold the top spot for countries with the highest obesity rate. However, obesity has become a global issue and even areas that were not prone to this problem, such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East, are seeing an increase in obesity statistics.
Obesity seems to be a sign of modern lifestyles. While people in the 21st century do tend to work longer hours than they did in the 1960s, they are less physically active. We have grown more dependent on cars to get us everywhere, which cuts out walking and biking to work.
Even for people who would like alternative transportation to work, there simply isn't any available in many areas. The USA is especially known for having roads laid out where you can't walk or ride a bicycle. In many areas those activities are actually seen as hazardous and are therefore discouraged. Also, the infrastructure in most areas of the USA is built in a way that makes it impossible to get to work without a car.
In addition, the actual type of work performed by many has become less physically active due to the increased use in technology. The answer would be to exercise during some of the hours we are not working, but that same technology provides us with more interesting activities such as computer games and TV.
These are not the only causes of obesity. While in some ancient Asian cultures obesity was desired as a sign of wealth and many used to see Americans as overweight because of the general lifestyle of excess, now there is a new type of obesity related to the current global economic circumstances. It is called recession obesity. One might think that in a recession with less money to spend people would eat less.
However, that is not the case. People now eat not only when they are hungry, but because of stress and other emotional factors as well. While they increase their amount of food consumed, they try to reduce the amount of money spent on food. This makes many people increase their intake of fast foods on the popular dollar menus. Since cheap food lacks nutrition, bodies aren't being fueled properly to combat the very factors that make people eat.
That same stress causes fatigue, which eliminates the energy for wanting to prepare meals at home. Before you know it, you are caught in a cycle that can lead to weight gain and to obesity down the road.
Also, American food production, while regulated by the FDA and pronounced safe, keeps moving away from being nutritious and is aimed at convenience. Refined sugars, refined grains, and simply carbohydrates make up a large percentage of our diet. According to Dr. Oz, as often mentioned on his TV show, these contribute to weight gain.
How do you break this cycle? As an individual, the simple answer is to burn off more calories in a day than you consume. Find a fun way to increase the level of physical activity and make more disciplined choices about the foods consumed. This will be a gradual journey.
As a society, we need to stress the importance of this combined solution. We don't need to eliminate technology, but simply make room for other options. These can include more space for people on the roads who don't want to drive a car, and more affordable foods with nutritious value made easily accessible.