Obesity A Growing Epidemic
...but unfortunately the US has also gained the unenviable position of having the greatest percentage of obese adults. Has all the wealth and prosperity our nation has gained throughout the years now showing by the lack of people caring about themselves? Obesity has become such an alarming problem as quoted from the Washington Post stated by Ali Mokdad, chief of the CDC's behavioral surveillance branch, "That's why we call it epidemic." It is said, by the American Obesity Association that 15.5% of adolescents and 15.3% of children are obese, which between the last two decades is a dramatic increase. It is questioned, is obesity a disease or is the lack moral standards an individual has? As recognized by the AOA, obesity will soon surpass smoking as the number one preventable cause of death. If it is preventable people should prevent themselves to getting to the point of being considered obese.
Obesity is associated with consumption of more food than the body can use, excess alcohol intake, and sedentary lifestyle. The urbanization and modernization of the US did not put its best approach towards this growing epidemic. Effects of modernization brought the popularity of cars; therefore, individuals no longer rely on walking as a means of transportation; which in result affects the weight an individual gains quicker. Modernization has caused:
Approximately 1.7 billion people worldwide now to belong to the "consumer class" the group of people characterized by diets of highly processed food, desire for bigger houses, more and bigger cars, higher levels of debt, and lifestyles devoted to the accumulation of non-essential goods, as noted by Hillary Mayell.
Urbanization has brought the extreme development of fast food restaurants, with convenient "drive thru" windows...
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