My brother and I were driving to school on Friday last week and on the radio they were talking about Obesity. Obesity is a huge problem in the United States of America. More than one-third (35.7 percent) of adults are considered to be obese. More than 1 in 20 (6.3 percent) have extreme obesity. Almost 3 in 4 men (74 percent) are considered to be overweight or obese. These are just numbers and there is more to it than that. But we cannot ignore the amount of health problems that comes with obesity.
So apparently right now some companies are trying things out to reduce the level of obesity in America. I heard them talk on the radio about how companies are considering taxing and also reducing the sugar quantity in all these soft drinks or beverages, in order to get people not to buy it as much and also drop a couple of pounds.
In my opinion, while these sound like interesting methods to cut down the obesity level in America, I just don’t think they would really be effective. Like how much tax are you really going to be allowed to put on something like soda to get people who really want it not to buy it? Maybe reducing the sugar quantity might help, but I feel as though a lot of people might be angered by this.
Unruly Bodies 
The obesity rate is obviously an issue affecting majority of Americans. When Michelle Obama was in office she ran a campaign to help reduce childhood which I thought was a great initiative. We’ve been putting trillion of dollars in health care cost in order to find solutions to fix the problem, and yet still the numbers continue to increase. Besides just being highly overweight obesity is causing many other type of health problems such as diabetes, and cancer. We try advertising our food products with less fat or no sugar added, but yet our kids keep getting bigger and sicker, it makes no sense. But I think this whole approach has been wrong. We’ve been blaming kids, for not doing enough exercise, eating too much fast food, or drinking too much soda, meanwhile it is the food industry that is at heart of this problem. I think if we fix our food industry first, then we can come up with better plans to help reduce the obesity rate.
I appreciate the fact that companies care about the well-being of the people in America, but I do not think that raising taxes and prices of unhealthy food/drinks is the correct way to encourage eating/drinking healthier and losing weight. The fact is, if people want soda or junk food, they will buy soda and junk food regardless of if taxes get raised a little bit.
I think that lifestyle can be a huge part of being healthy. A little soda and some McDonalds here and there is not the worst thing in the world – another important thing is control. I know I am not one to talk because I love a good Root Beer and some chicken nuggets, but if I eat that as my meal every single day, it’s not a question that I would gain weight and that my body would suffer from that decision.
Reducing the sugar quantity is not such a bad idea though. I think even finding healthier alternatives to soda and other junk foods is something that is getting to be very popular in the United States. Instead of soda, we can drink sparkling water or make a smoothie. Instead of chips, we can make apple crisps or baked vegetables that have the consistency and flavoring of chips. Instead of candy, we can eat dried fruit. Although it is not a perfect replacement, it gives people more options, and that can be a small step in a big change.
I have to say that I think taxing soda and other such foods would be effective. Overtime, the same strategy worked well with cigarettes. It costs about $12 for a pack of cigs in NYC, and while people continue to smoke, it is not as common as it used to be.
Also, I think that to some degree, those obesity statistics are off. The idealized weight of people in this country is created by people with close to ideal/physically fit bodies, and they claim that everyone should strive for this perfect body in order to better their health. There are plenty of people, myself included, that are considered to be overweight, which is unhealthy, but we are fairly healthy individuals. Obesity is a health concern, but I do think some people will always be bigger than others and that isn’t a detriment to their health. Weight classes to a certain extent are just social constructions, and I think that is something that should be kept in mind when we discuss obesity in this country.
We try so hard to try to cure diseases but not wanting to prevent them. Obesity has became the number killer in the united states. We’re wondering what’s making americans bigger and bigger. since the industrial revolution and when we started to create food products in faster rates we’ve gotten rid of the nutrient and wanted to focus on how quick can we get out food. All food companies are driven by the meat and dairy industry which is what killing people. The consumption of animal products have been programed into out lives since the day we’ve been born. We can’t walk into any food place where animal products aren’t being served. Even though sugar is really bad for the health, consuming animals is far worse. Earring red meat has the same amount of carcinogens which causes caner. Eating dairy cause high amounts of inflammation and mucus. I don’t blame people for not thinking that their diet is what’s killing them, especially when medical companies are all about sharing this pill that will make all their problems go away, it’s hard. You don’t need to fix the food industry to the change your habits, though it will make eating a plant-based diet not as hard. It’s crazy how humans suffer from so many disease just by eating other animals, does it make you think that we’re not supposed to eat them at all?
There’s actually a lot of controversy about the idea that obesity is a “problem.” Alberti4 makes an excellent point about the diversity of size in our populations. We’ll talk more about this in class.