Health

Health has become an increasingly popular issue for the past 20 years and is becoming more important as obesity hits an all-time high. “If health is wealth America is going bankrupt.”(Rose, Caitlyn) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of adults and one sixth of children are obese. In the past twenty years, obesity rates doubled for adults, and tripled for children. If these trends continue, by the time today’s children reach adulthood, obesity will be the norm and a healthy weight exception. The past 20 years, data has shown a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States and remains increasingly high. Recent polls have shown not one state has an obesity rate at no less than 20%. Thirty-six states had an obesity level of 25% or more; 12 of these states (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia) had a prevalence of 30% or more.”(CDC)
Our problem has turned into a culture of America. We have been ignorant towards the effects of bad nutrition with fast, cheap, instant satisfaction foods. Our nutritional ignorance has us clueless of the ingredients in these obesity causing foods. Our results of obesity and poor health caused a domino effect with a lack of daily exercise and fitness. America’s health has to change or we will be evolving obesity to be the norm in the United States.
Americans want their foods tasty, cheap, and immediate, but that all comes with the tradeoff of food full of sugars, salt, hydronated oils, saturated fats, preservatives, dyes, artificial flavors, and a lot of unknown chemically processed ingredients. It seems like America needs to be educated more in nutrition and how your body reacts to the food it consumes. These additives and preservatives take away almost all the nutrients and fiber from the original state. So when we as humans try to process these processed foods into energy to function, the... [continues]

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