Cause and Effect of ObesityThe cause and effect of obesity is a serious question about a health condition that has become an epidemic in this country. First we must recognize just how prevalent a problem obesity is here. According to the Health and Medical Research Foundation, the U.S. is the fattest country in the world with Russia a close second! In 1960 less than 1/3 (30.5%) of Americans were overweight. That percentage has doubled in the last 50 years. How did this happen? Can we say with any certainty what the cause and effect of obesity is? Let's look at some facts about obesity.
Does Fast Food Cause Obesity?It's a provocative question we need to ask if we are serious about the cause and effect of obesity. What has changed in the past 50 years to cause obesity to rise so dramatically as a percentage of the population? In the 1960s in the small town I grew up in, there were 2 fast food restaurants that were mom and pop hamburger stands. Both served high quality hamburgers with thick meat and real French buns, nothing like the assembly line burgers you get at McDonald's today. As a teenager I spent a fair amount of time at these places but they hardly took the place of eating at home with my family. You would not have seen a headline asking does fast food cause obesity in the 1960s! Today in my small town there are at least 6 fast food restaurants and they are all franchises.Since the 1970s we have increasingly become families with both adults working, leaving no one to manage the family meals, the cooking, planning and preparation. Because there's not much time to cook, fast food restaurants have sprung up to cook for us and the commercial food industry stepped in. Processed foods may be easier and faster to prepare but they are usually high glycemic foods. We eat on the run and we eat foods that aren't that good for us. Marketers have targeted school children and schools to sell high glycemic sodas and snacks. Some schools let students eat at fast food restaurants off campus. Why aren't schools asking themselves does fast food cause obesity? The result of these changes in how we live is that Americans consume more high glycemic foods than any other country in the world and we are the fattest people in the world! The most popular carbohydrates consumed by Americans, potatoes, French fries, potato chips, white bread, cold breakfast cereal, white rice, pizza, sodas, muffins, pancakes, sugar and jam are all high glycemic. Fast food restaurants serve foods that are high in transfats which are the worst saturated fats. They serve lots of French fries and white bread. So does fast food cause obesity? It's definitely a factor contributing to the extremely high rates of obesity made easy by lack of time to cook and the American tendency to eat too much red meat which is high in saturated fats. In fact, Americans eat more meat than any other country and the meat we eat is grown with cheap corn, hormones and antibiotics. There is a real cost to the environment and our health in growing meat cheaply because the truth is quality meat is expensive. If we ate less of it we would be healthier and less fat and we could support the small farmers who nourish the soils and animals properly. Diets that are high in red meat are associated with many known health problems including heart disease and even cancer. Fast food restaurants are in the business of selling cheap meat. Does fast food cause obesity? When considering the cause and effect of obesity we have to look at the huge numbers of people who take advantage of convenience foods. It is probably fair to say that fast food can lead to obesity in some people if they eat it on a regular basis.
Dangers of Childhood ObesityWhen we think about the cause and effect of obesity it's impossible to ignore the numbers of obese children these days. What are the dangers of childhood obesity? The health risks for obese children are immense. So many very serious health problems result from obesity including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer to name a few. As seen from childhood obesity statistics we are raising a society of overweight children who will turn into overweight adults without serious intervention. We know poor diets and inactivity are causes of obesity in children. In our schools physical education is not always a requirement. I am old enough to remember President Kennedy's physical fitness program which required all school age children to meet endurance and stamina goals. These national standards drove fitness goals in schools across America.Today we have many more children doing more sedentary activities than ever before. Children watch television, play video and computer games for hours at a time instead of playing physically active games outside. When I was young we walked to school and after school we played neighborhood baseball, tetherball or imaginary games that required running all over the neighborhood. Today our children are far more sedentary than any other generation and they are bombarded with television advertisements for unhealthy foods. The dangers of childhood obesity are extreme - illness and even death. As a society we must take more responsibility for the cause and effect of obesity. We all need to take positive action. Does your child's school teach classes in nutrition or give children opportunities to grow food in gardens? Nothing will change unless we begin with education. School lunches were not great in the 1960s either but at least we did not have soda machines in our cafeterias. I teach in schools now where the pandemonium of the cafeteria seems directly related to the cans of Coca Cola and other soft drinks I see on every table. Sugar is a stimulant! As I read in a recent newspaper article "schools must lead the fight for real food." As parents and teachers we must talk to schools about the need for educating children about good food and nutrition. So what about the dangers of childhood obesity? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have stated that of children born in 2000, 1 out of 3 Caucasians and 2 out of 3 African Americans and Hispanics will contract diabetes in their lifetimes. As a result, this generation will be the first in our country's history to die at a younger age than our parents. This is shocking. It is a tragedy that we have an obligation to do something about.
Facts About ObesityAn article about the cause and effect of obesity has to include the horrendous expense. There is a high cost for the change in our lifestyles over the past 50 years. According to a recent issue of Time magazine we spend an astounding $147 billion a year on diet related illness. Cheap food and poor dietary choices extract an extremely high price in terms of being sick and more susceptible to disease. If the cause and effect of obesity is leading to a weakening of our economy is that reason enough to get involved in finding solutions?The cause and effect of obesity is high cost and more sickness. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has linked excess fat to 20 different health issues. Experts believe that excess body fat accounts for more than 80% of the cases of type 2 diabetes. Excess fat also increases the risk of gallstones, arthritis, heart disease and some cancers, especially breast cancer. Obesity is clearly associated with high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, hypertension coronary artery disease, liver disease and sarcopenia. These are frightening facts about obesity. Obesity may soon overtake tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death. Moderate obesity lowers life expectancy by 2 - 5 years and severe obesity by 5 - 20 years. Excess weight is responsible for 40 different medical problems with profound effects on 9 different organ systems according to the Health and Medical Research Foundation. The current cost of treating obesity is 10% of our nation's entire health care budget. The cause and effect of obesity cannot be ignored by citizens and politicians any longer. Obesity is a major problem in this country - what can we do about it? As a nation we must go back to the basics. We need to educate children in schools and at home about good nutrition, how to prepare healthy food and how to grow it in a sustainable way. We need to eat locally in season from farmers who grow without harmful pesticides. We can grow food ourselves if possible. We can ask our communities to create community gardens that are available to everyone. It's not that organically grown food necessarily has more nutrients than conventionally grown food. It's that we want food grown without chemical toxins that harm our health and the health of the soils, the water supplies and animals. Non-organic food is not cheaper when the expenses to our health are calculated. If we are killing fish with the run off from industrialized pig farms, that is too high a price for cheap pork. If in asking ourselves about the cause and effect of obesity we draw our attention to the need to dramatically change our system of producing and eating food that is a good thing. It is only right that all children be able to eat food that is delicious and nutritious. We can lobby our schools for healthier lunches and better nutrition education policies. For ideas on how to do this go to www.foodfamilyfarming.org or www.thelunchbox.org. We can talk to our representatives in Congress about the cause and effect of obesity and adopting sustainable farming methods nationwide. We can learn to cook simply and nutritiously for ourselves and our families and lose fat at the same time. If you want to do something about the cause and effect of obesity, be as healthy as you can be and raise a healthy family click below.
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