Diet Exercise And Culture Essay

938 Words2 Pages

How Diet, Exercise, and Culture Effects Obesity Obesity rates have skyrocketed within the last 10-20 years. This is in direct correlation with the diet and exercise habits of cultures. As cultures begin to incorporate different culture’s cuisines into their own cultures, the obesity rate starts to increase. This is most likely caused by their heritage history being accustomed to their culture’s cuisine history. Then diet and exercise come into play as well. We live in a time where technology has almost taken over our lives. In modern day, we can drive wherever we need to go, we do not have to walk everywhere anymore; we do not have to even go to the grocery store anymore because Amazon.com has now made their website into a grocery store in select parts of the country where we pick what we need online and it is delivered to our house. This program is set to go nationwide soon, and eventually globally. This is the epitome of laziness and why different cultures are becoming obese; especially America. Diet and exercise have almost become a thing of the past in America. Yes, there is still a large amount of humans that still exercise daily, but not the average American. The most active age group, worldwide, is 22-34 year olds with an average salary of $20,000 or less (Thompson 2013). Cultures such as the Native Americans, Mexicans, Chileans, and the culture that tops the list; Americans, are among the world’s most obese cultures (Downey 2011). Obesity Trends in America In 1990, obese adults made up less than 15 percent of the population in most U.S. states. By 2010, 36 states had obesity rates of 25 percent or higher, and 12 of those had obesity rates of 30 percent or higher. (CDC) Today, nationwide, roughly two out of three U.S. ... ... middle of paper ... ...behavior of being lazy. These are most likely the main reasons why obesity rates in pre-school and schoolchildren more than doubled over the past decade. The terms overweight and obesity are used interchangeably quite often, despite the fact that they are not identical. Overweight is defined as an increased weight (not necessarily excess fat) for a certain height, while obesity indicates an excess in fat mass. Even though the long-term effect of overweight and obesity on morbidity and mortality in children has not yet been as well documented as in adults, multiple studies have shown that adiposity in childhood is correlated with the rising incidence of diabetes, hypertension and atherosclerosis observed in this age group. The consequences of overweight and obesity imply that the definition of who is overweight, and especially who is obese, is of utmost importance.

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