Obesity In America

Throughout the United States of America obesity is becoming a massive epidemic. Developing over the last thirty years, obesity had increased in call areas of the United States. Being overweight and obesity is a relatively simple concept, some extra pounds, but the factors behind the widespread obesity America is facing are anything but. With rising health food costs, which make it harder for many of America to have access to nutritious and beneficial foods, and a variety of other factors, America’s obesity problem is just that: a problem. We foster a culture of obesity, which has many underlying themes, that is a driving force behind America’s widening waist sizes. This culture is prevalent throughout the country and we see it promote unhealthy

food choices for children, feeding them unhealthy food and habits that places them on the dangerous road of obesity before they even know what it means. The overarching culture of obesity we have in America and the influence of other minor factors like fast food, portion size, poor decision-making, advertising and more, influence and increase the growing population of obese and overweight people around America.
The fast food industry has a massive effect on American culture often provides unhealthy food choices to Americans everywhere.

With the world moving faster and faster everyday many people find themselves too busy to cook a healthy meal at home every night and find themselves leaning on fast food for convenience. This convenience leads many to consume fast food from a variety of rather unhealthy restaurant choices multiple days a week. The unhealthy food we see being sold in these restaurants contributes to the unhealthy food Americans are putting in their mouths everyday, leading to poor nutrition, weight gain, and eventually obesity. These fast food restaurants are the “kings of convenience,” and with the busy lives many Americans live today they draw a lot of customers. This essence of convenience is a dangerous temptation that many Americans give in to every day and the unhealthy fast food they consume contributes greatly to their

obesity.
Fast food may be convenient but for people who have the time to make home-cooked meals and eat dinner they produce have to deal with another problem: portion control. Portion control is something almost everyone deals with; eating more than you should have, or overeating. Even with home-cooked meals people struggle with portion control and often overeat. When they do overeat it causes them to gain weight and without proper knowledge of portion control this weight it can become a never-ending cycle. Poor decision-making is a factor in portion control and many Americans deal with it when it comes to food. Many choose to “go back for seconds,” and could choose more vegetables but often they go back to the cheesy, greasy, extremely unhealthy food, a poor choice. Obesity can cause a lot of disease and sicknesses and this poor decision-making when it comes to portion control is a huge proponent of it.
The advertising world makes up a huge part of our society; we hear things on the radio, television, see things while walking down the street, on our phones, and other sources of media that is incorporated into our world.

Corporations rule the sound waves and screens we find ourselves stuck in with new technological advancements and it correlates with the increase in obesity as well. Over the last thirty years obesity has been on the rise and along with it, technology. We’ve seen the computer, widespread television use, and other increasing technological advancements develop over time, adding to the plausible locations of advertisements for unhealthy food. McDonald’s has an app; one of the most consumed of fast food restaurants uses the app to provide coupons for a variety of offers that often encourages the consumption of more food. Advertising plays a huge role in what people eat, with strategies targeted at American people that constantly change based on the current times. This part of our culture contributes to obesity by glorifying unhealthy food and drinks directly to the public eye through all possible media from radio ads to newspaper

articles.
The unhealthy fast food industry, poor decision-making and portion control along with the devious strategies of advertising agencies around the country have contributed to and strengthened the culture of obesity and reality of obesity America is facing today. The maps show that over the past thirty years obesity has been on the rise, a rapid increase year after year to become one of the most obese countries in the industrialized world. This culture of obesity involves underlying themes that all work to make people more obese. From the unhealthy choices we see in fast food to the advertising we see daily, America’s culture, whether purposefully or not, stimulates obesity instead of working to reverse its effects. The America we live in today is different than that of the one thirty years ago, before the epidemic of obesity began to spread to all corners of the country like the bubonic plague. The widespread obesity we see today is decreasing the life expectancy of millions of Americans due to the variety of problems that can arise from being overweight. America needs to work to stop obesity, focusing on healthy food choices, correct portion control and good decision-making, instead of continuing to support the spread of it.