ObesityThe numbers do not lie, according to the National Institute of Diabetes 68% of America is either overweight or obese. By definition, a person is obese when their body has enormous proportions of fat, concentrated mainly around the abdomen. Obesity has continued to plaque the United States year after year. Obesity increases a person’s risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and cardiovascular diseases. Obesity has no preference when it comes to color or gender. Age is not a factor either, because of technology and other outside factors, child obesity has increased at alarming rates. Although the United States has the largest obese population in the world, the daily convenience of the American lifestyle causes this condition because of the affect that fast food has on the body, the lack of physical activity and the lack of knowledge concerning a healthy way of life. When it comes to food, convenience is not always a benefit but a hindrance to your body.
As children, we were taught the four basic food groups: fruit, Legumes, whole grains, and vegetables. The United States Department of Agriculture as implemented a food pyramid. The new food groups are grains, vegetables, fruits, oils, milk and meat ; beans. It is recommended to consume these foods in certain portions but with the fast pace life that most of America leads eating according the food pyramid is easier said than done. With the high pace lives that Americans lead, cooking duties have been relinquish to line cooks at restaurants like McDonalds, Hardees, and Carl’s Jr. All of which offer a large variety of foods, from cheeseburgers to salads. The daily recommend caloric intake for an adult is about 1940 calories for a women and 2550 calories for a man (plus or minus 200 depending on activity level) depending on your resource. The process of burning these calories is very complicated. To sum the process up, the body only needs the recommend about of calories, the excess is stored as fat, which can lead to obesity. If a person were to have a cheeseburger meal at Hardees for lunch, which includes a cheeseburger, large fries and a large Coke-a-cola the amount of calories consumed would total 1350 calories. For women, that is more than
