Obesity essay

OBESITY

Introduction

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Obesity is a killer disease, but most people continue to underestimate its adversity. Probably due to insufficient knowledge. Although it can be caused by genetic conditions or pharmaceutical drugs that add individual’s weight, many people consider it a lifestyle disease and therefore, it is a consequence of the victims’ choices (Morgan, 2017), Morgan Spurlock affirms this in the movie The Supersize Me. Cases of obesity continue to rise around the globe. The deaths arising from it will increase. It is in good faith to address these concerns through this Obesity essay paper

 

Shocking Surprise about Fast Foods

It is quite shocking how quick the junky food tampers with the normal body system. In the movie, Spurlock gained so much weight in just one month, almost immediately, he started paying the price in the form of chest pains and nausea. It got my mind spinning with thoughts about obesity life. How do such people continue to live with that? For some addiction, craving or whatever makes them stick to this diet religiously, it does not justify their habit. They must be going through what Spurlock experienced, probably worse. It is a slow poison, and many vegans know this but stick to it anyway (Pawara, Pardeshib & Rajputc, 2014). Even more fascinating, is how people love and stick to the so-called fast foods, alluding to their convenience but in the end, cannot run or move around ‘just as fast.’ I do not see any reason to hold on to their habits, besides there are so many cafes with healthy and delicious foods. In fact, it inconveniences them big time. Obesity essay

 

Big Mac Contents

Big Mac is a trademark for fast food restaurant McDonald. It has just about 563 calories. The levels are well within the range considered healthy. Sticking to a Big Mac alone is not that bad health wise if one is to take calories into account (Corleone, 2017). However, topping up tries to it scales up the figures, a coke further shakes the calories and renders the entire meal unhealthy. To break it down, fries’ calories range between 240 to 500 depending on the variety and sizes, up to 6 grams of proteins, about 21 grams of fat, 30 to 65 grams of carb and approximately 250 grams of sodium. All this add up to 1120 calories. Morgan falls short of the 2350 mark recommended by Health Canada by more than half.

To scale up and cover the remaining gap, McDonald’s offers various drink choices, including an assortment of soft drinks, sweet tea, and milkshakes. Calories in pop beverages depend on the size and flavor, extending from as low as 140 calories for a little cola to as much as 280 calories in a huge sweet tea. Milkshake calories run from 510 to 540.

He could, for instance, order his much preferred Bug Mac and accompany it with medium coke and fries. The order will have about a total of 1080 calories. Replacing his cola drink with a milkshake will boost the calories and other nutrients to about 1420. That is about 60 percent of the recommended. He would also add a McClure and a Shamrock Shake to this to add 620 and 820 for each respectively. His total calories will be well above 2350 and an increase in macronutrients. Obesity essay

Health Risks Related to Obesity and Sedentary Lifestyle

It is quite debatable what leads to another between obesity and sedentary lifestyle. One thing is clear though. Aznar et al.,. 2013 believes that obese people lead a sedentary lifestyle – not by choice as in the opposite case. Obesity is a chronic disease. It can negatively impact some systems in a human. The obese people are at a high risk of other chronic diseases among other health complications. The increases fat s in the body fills up the blood vessels making it hard for smooth blood flow, the heart must, therefore, pump blood with much pressure to ensure blood reaches other body parts, the increased force exerts too much pressure on the wall of the blood vessel. If the condition prolongs, the heart gets overwhelmed due to excessive activity; this is what often leads to heart problem among the obese. Cases of bone and joint problems are much likely to occur among the obese because of too much weight that they have to support. It can also slow down the sexual activity of the obese couples. Obesity makes it so difficult for people to be productive due to sedentary lifestyle. It often causes many breathing problems to the victim and takes them too much effort to carry their heavyweight around. Even worse, the high fat contenting their body presents a high risk of cancer. Research has shown that too much fat in the body can encourage the growth of malignant tissues (cancer) in the breast, colon, gallbladder or the uterus (Scherer et al., 2014). The accumulation of fats is to a large extent encouraged by the sedentary lifestyle.

Mitigating Obesity and Associated Risks

To avert the obesity-related risks, it is important to understand how to prevent it. The best way is to understand what causes it and work towards mitigating the causes. So how does obesity come about? There are two major ways in which people become obese: Sedentary lifestyle, this is one in which a person has minimal or zero body activity. As such, they are not able to burn the fats in there body. As a result of the accumulation over time, it leads to overweight. The second cause it is the eating habits and diet. Obesity essay

Obesity is gauged by the body mass index (BMI), a ration of the body mass in kilograms against the square of one’s height. If it between 18 to 24.9, it is normal. Anything beyond this is obesity (Weiderpass, 2014). To reduce the index, one can only reduce the body mass. Minimizing the fats in the body is the simple solution. Physical exercises can be very instrumental in achieving this. Cena, (2014) argues that If it is not a gym aerobics, jogging and other physical activities can help burn out fats causing the overweight. Federico, (2017) however says this must be done on a regular basis to be effective.

Eating habits are the second main cause of obesity (Batra, Strecher & Keller, 2015). Eating too much and regularly makes the body system absorb too many calories and fats than it can burn. Such is the case with the regular eating of hyper-palatable foods. Such foods are engineered to be tastier so that people can buy more, but the truth is, they are junk. Remember it is business, producers care little of what it does to one’s body. That is why fighting obesity is to a great extent a matter of one’s choice or willpower as obesity specialists call it. Regular consumption of natural foods (unprocessed) and in the right amounts avert the risk of becoming obese.

We can fight obesity by creating awareness through public education. Non-governmental organizations championing healthy living can also legally challenge the misleading adverts on burgers and other junk foods targeting the minors v

Conclusion

Obesity is a serious chronic condition that can lead to even worse health complications. So far, it has caused many deaths around the globe. Fighting it will take each person’s effort because being healthy is their responsibility in the first place. Ideally, we should all adopt healthy diets that minimize accumulation of too much fats in our bodies and taking regular physical activity exercises to burn the excess fats that manage to accumulate.

References

 

Batra, R., Strecher, V. J., & Keller, P. A. (2015). Leveraging consumer psychology for effective health communications: The obesity challenge. Routledge.

Cena, H. (2014). Does physical activity and sport practice lead to a healthier lifestyle and eating habits in male adolescents. J Nutr Health, 1, 103.

Federico, R. A. (2017). Get Up, Stand Up: A Brief History of Sedentarism and Why Movement is Good Medicine. Journal of Evolution and Health, 2(1), 12.

Jill Corleone,: Oct 03, 2017 How Many Calories Are in a Big Mac Meal. Retrieved on: 10/26/2017.  https://www.livestrong.com/article/312522-how-many-calories-are-in-a-big-mac-meal/

Kitahara, C. M., Flint, A. J., de Gonzalez, A. B., Bernstein, L., Brotzman, M., MacInnis, R. J., … & Weiderpass, E. (2014). Association between class III obesity (BMI of 40–59 kg/m2) and mortality: a pooled analysis of 20 prospective studies. PLoS medicine, 11(7), e1001673.

Morgan, J. (2017). Obesity stories.

Park, J., Morley, T. S., Kim, M., Clegg, D. J., & Scherer, P. E. (2014). Obesity and cancer [mdash] mechanisms underlying tumour progression and recurrence. Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 10(8), 455-465.

Pawara, S. G., Pardeshib, I. L., & Rajputc, S. G. (2014). Convenience Foods and Its Packaging Effects on Human Health: A Review. Journal of Ready to Eat Food| October-December, 1(4), 127-132.

Santaliestra-Pasías, A. M., Rey-López, J. P., & Moreno Aznar, L. A. (2013). Obesity and sedentarism in children and adolescents: what should be bone?. Nutricion hospitalaria, 28(5). Obesity essay