Obesity in America has reached its epidemic state, and the increasing of it seems to be going higher day by day without any signs of declining. This has extended even to children who are below 11 years of age. Screening the trends of increase in obesity has therefore become a current trend in the United States. This is conducted by medical sources, media periodicals as well as the commercial industries.
According to the scientific heath information, there is complete evidence that quality life is associated with non-overweight people .This is because they are well able to carry their day-to-day routines properly. This can include climbing several stairs, performance of physical work or activities. Over weight people who are known to having body pains, have less working hours due to low emotional problems, clumsy body movement, resting while walking for shorter distances, refraining formwork. More so, they have fewer responsibilities while working with groups as they isolate themselves. They also seclude themselves from communal work, act impatiently with one self, and have shortness of breath, prone to diabetes, cardiac arrest, heart attacks and overweight related diseases, among others.
There are health activist who are known of reflecting the concept that you can be fat and healthy at the same time. They claim that diseases such as heart attack are not caused by weight problems but lack of exercising. Due to a high curiosity of health workers in the United States concerning the causes of heart problem, the Chicago Tribune Newspaper, LA Times Newspaper, New York Newspaper, Washing Post Newspaper, and Chicago Sun times Newspaper, have decided to address on this on this issue in an article on the overweight and obesity issues.
In the Chicago Tribune newspaper, health part we find an article written by Julie Deardorff. She wrote this article in order to evaluate the causes and the prevention of heart diseases. In this article, Doctor Marc Wallack passed his cardiac exercise test. After a short period of time, which is six months, he was found having an infection of heart diseases, and an artery was blocked by 95 percent. The stress test that was done to him was not a successful test for finding the evidence of blockage in the arteries of the heart.
Deardorff also points out that the stress test is only 60 percent effective and leaves a room of 40 percent. She continues to state that stress test is even less accurate for women than for men since once a woman is infected with the heart diseases, no part is affected except the smaller vessel of the of the blood. She also points out that the other factors known to contribute to the heart diseases include the sex or the stress hormones or estrogen as they affect the cells of the heart.
She concludes that a perfect test for heart diseases is not yet found and any test could lead to unnecessary medication, a false sense of security, as well as delay in medication. The only thing stress can do is to show whether the heart arteries are either 70% narrowed or more than that but since heart attack are known to rise from heart attacks that are 50% or blocked. She point out that it is in vain to test since this does not give an assurance of living a longer life.
Julie Deardorff states that heart attacks arise from fat deposit and a vulnerable plague, which resembles a pimple, and can eventually erupt in the arteries causing a blood clot that eventually leads to a heart attack. Deardorff suggests that the only way of preventing these pimples or large fat deposits is by the use of invasion procedure called an angiogram. However, this is not a 100 percent successful since it is not provided to a runner who does not have the symptoms.
She therefore concludes that prevention is the key to preventing heart diseases by reducing the key factors that contributes to the heart diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes as well as high cholesterol. She also points out the ways of identifying the symptoms of heart disease, which include unusual chest pain, high blood pressure, difficulties in breathing, if the symptoms appear when you do some exercise and vanish when you stop. She also points out that women symptoms of chest pains never appear but instead they are affected with indigestion or upper abdominal pain.
This information differs with a number of health activist information on the statement that increases in weight or rather obesity is known to be a precursor for other diseases such as causes hypertension and diabetes. Many diseases are associated with underweight, while medium weight people live for a shorter period than the overweight. She dismisses the argument that weight is an indicator of good health (Wann 78). Roan in the Los Angeles Times states that one in every three children in U.S. is overweight, and states that it is much easier to prevent obesity than to treat it. This is why intervention should begin early. She points out that the risk of becoming overweight or obese is increasing since it begins before birth and establishes its roots during the infancy stage. It is entrenched by the time a kid starts kindergarten. Obesity in children leads to higher risk of heart diseases in adulthood stage.
She points out that many of the mothers’ habits done during the time of pregnancy are passed from them to their children after their birth. These habits result to a child’s overweight when during the adulthood stage. She also states out clearly that children are fed with solid food when they are at an age of 4 months and overfed with a high level of cholesterol food. It is assumed that when a baby is fed more than it needs, its brain development is affected so that it signals the need of excessive amount of food. Likewise too much food might program an infant pancreas as well as the body response to insulin which in turn leads to obesity. Therefore, the early year influences the future weight. She however point out that most health worker do not emphasize on dieting as this could also lead to underweight but rather keeping the child in the right weight. However, she fails to acknowledge that Women with an average body who are not overweight are likely to be associated with risks of heart diseases than women who are claimed to be overweight, and have a concentration of fat at the hips and legs (National task force on prevention and treatment of Obesity, 81).
Kolata (New York Times, 2010) states that weight control and obesity are difficult cases to most of the US citizens. are becoming unmanageable. Kolata states that this is not a matter of willing since many people have an effort of reducing weight, but all is in vain. This is because dieting is unsuccessful since Americans have been getting fatter and fatter as years go by. He points out that many people have the knowledge of how they can fight this epidemic since they have tried doing exercises. He also states that the body weight is also influenced by DNA and monitored by the brain. Nevertheless, this has not been achieved despite the fact that restaurants are called to disclose in their menu the level of calories the food contains. He points out that the average meal of has many calories.
He also states that weight is also affected by psychology. This is because when person becomes hungrier, this condition makes him over eat which in turn results to becoming overweight. He also state that their body metabolism slows down as the body tries to conserve energy and thus they gain weight. He also states that the mother’s eating habits during the pregnancy period affects the child weight in adulthood.
However, the issue of DNA does not count to the health activists as the average weight gained by America women can be explained by just an increase of 10 calories in a day, which is caused by fast food, and can be eliminated by an exercise equivalent to a few minutes walk everyday (Forevt 103).
Huget (Washing Post, 2010) points out how she has managed to plan her diet by losing weight by three simple ways which include chewing gum which will make her avoid intake of snacks after taking a meal, doing some jumping exercises, replacing junk food such as the cheese with other flavored varieties.
The health activists point out that being overweight is not an epidemic that needs controls since these controls would even lead to higher heath risks. This is because the weight reduction pills contain chemicals such as phenylpropanalolamine, which puts the person at risk higher than obesity and related overweight diseases. The health experts should concentrate on the risks associated with the weight reduction pills and emphasizes on exercises and nutrition which can reduce blood pressure without even loss of body weight or fat weight (Healthy Parks, 2010)
Guarino (Chicago Times, 2010) states that the best way of preventing overweight and obesity is keeping the weight down for a person who is infected with diabetes through changes in diet and lifestyle of keeping the weight down which slows down diabetes. She also mentions on the long-term effects of diabetes, which are urination, excessive fatigue, blurry vision, among others.
Wann contrasts with the scientific health information by stating that fat is also beneficial in the women’s bodies since the accumulation of it within the waist and hips is associated with higher HDL cholesterol levels. Women with an average body who are not overweight are likely to be associated with risks of heart diseases than women who are claimed to be overweight, and have a concentration of fat at the hips and legs (National task force on prevention and treatment of Obesity, 86)
Health activists point out that being overweight is not an epidemic that needs controls since these controls would even lead to higher heath risks. This is because the weight reduction pills contain chemicals such as phenylpropanalolamine, which puts the person at risk higher than obesity and related overweight diseases. The health experts should concentrate on the risks associated with the weight reduction pills and emphasizes on exercises and nutrition which can reduce blood pressure without even loss of body weight or fat weight (Healthy Parks, 2010)
