Not to Late Essays - Obesity, Bariatrics, Human Weight, Body Shape

Not to Late Essays - Obesity, Bariatrics, Human Weight, Body Shape Not to Late America is faced with an epidemic that seems to have not changed in years. Nearly two-thirds of the United States population is overweight. Three out of every four children are either overweight or obese. Obesity is a term used to describe body weight that is much greater than what is considered healthy. The extra weight puts added stress on all parts of the body. Obesity-related diseases are a $147 billion dollar medical burden every year. Consequently, obesity is wide spread among American teenagers; the causes are complex and include behavioral, biological, and cultural reasons. The behavioral habit of American teenagers is the convenience of high-calorie, high-fat snacks and sugary drinks; still, without exercise to balance out the high calorie carbohydrate intake they gain weight. Teenagers take pleasure in fast food restaurants, moreover, for an expeditious meal. They will sit in the car at a drive through window at Burger King and order a combo meal, super sized, with a soda. The act of eating pizza for dinner is also a ritual with teenagers in the United States. These choices made by American teenagers even for a snack can be high in fat. The frequent habit of teenagers is to grab a bag of chips instead of an apple because chips taste better. Thus late night snacking of high in fat foods puts on excess weight when they go to bed shortly after eating them. Equally important, medications for health problems or genetic history in the family can be responsible for obesity with United State teenagers. In addition, family history of obesity can cause teenagers to become over weight. American teenagers with obese parents end up overweight themselves. Passing down bad habits and continuing the cycle with teenagers having obese children themselves. Also, one side affect of some medications is it puts weight on a teenager causing him/her to become obese. Teenagers that take stair erode medications for treatment of an illness will cause them to gain weight. Teenage females that take any form of birth control, for reasons of their own gain weight from it as a side effect. Some cultural heritages come together with lots of food and drink; consequently, staying up for hours eating. Family and friends congregate around a table with food and drinks, for some cultures this is a ritual. It is customary to bring one of their favorite dishes to a home of family members. Teenagers sit around the table consuming different dishes for hours. Furthermore, the food dishes that are brought to the ?get together? are loaded with fat that is unhealthy for teenagers. Relatives bring food with lots of carbohydrates in the dishes for everyone try. Some of the dishes are even flowing with grease, and it?s unhealthy for teenagers. In conclusion, American teenagers are obese; but with proper lifestyle changes and adherence to behavioral, biological, and cultural reasons can lower risk of obesity. Teenage obesity dramatically shortens life expectancy. It leads to all types of medical problems such as depression, diabetes, and long term health problems, and early death. Society must make sure teens understand the benefits of losing the weight without focusing on the social aspects of body weight. Society puts too much pressure on kids to be perfect creatures of stellar appearance. Encouraging them to lose the weight in order to gain a much healthier lifestyle and live a longer and healthier life is the best message.