Who do you think is at fault for the obesity epidemic? Is it the individual, the family, the fast food industry or society? Actually, a little of everyone involved and a lot of genetics. Yes genetics, as certain people have a makeup for becoming obese. Today most people point the finger at the individual without understanding the complexities of the problem.
There are a multitude of reasons for obesity from families and their eating habits to society and companies that have food in vending machines that are not healthy. These include snacks that are full of sugar and empty calories.
People need to understand that an obese person has many factors that they have no control over. If this person has parents that are overweight the food choices most likely have not been chosen for their nutritional value. It is more expensive to eat healthy. Poor eating habits when they are young will stay with these people until they learn how to change these habits.
When an obese person tries to go on a diet a couple of things are going against them. The first is that there is food at almost every corner. Gas stations and convenient stores have the least nutritious foods available. Go to a gas station or most convenient stores and try to buy fruit or vegetables. Just recently vending machines at work have started to put healthier food but they usually have soda and snack foods.
The body is not innocent in this either. With the extra fat on the body putting toxins in the blood and extra sugar from the poor eating habits and the fat insulin is produced in large amounts. This insulin is critical in converting sugar to energy but it also converts sugar to stored fat and increase your appetite. All of these factors plus inactivity and a sedate lifestyle make it very hard to lose weight.
The real problem is not blaming someone but to rectify the situation. As obesity becomes more common we learn how deadly this disease is. Most obese people have a variety of structural problems with their joints and cartilage. They also have problems with their kidneys, nervous system and heart. They have a harder time recovering from illness as their body cannot fight diseases as efficiently as most people.
The other problem is the expense of the disease as people who are obese are almost guaranteed to cost more for their illness and are at higher risks for cancer, heart disease and kidney disease. Insurance companies are looking at increasing premiums to obese people to help cover the added expenses incurred with people who are overweight. This is a disease that affects everyone as we all will pay for it and the overweight individual will pay the ultimate price.
The different thoughts on how to cure this disease all need to start from the teaching and educating both parents and children. Good eating habits need to be taught and reinforced all through the informative years at school and this is starting to happen. Most schools are replacing snacks with fruits and nutritious foods. Companies are starting to have wellness nurses counsel obese people and have various programs to help these people lose weight and keep it off. It benefits the company in lower premiums and less missed time from employees. We need to really emphasize education and good eating habits along with exercise. Until this is done we will have this problem that can be cured.
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