The theory I feel is most impacting while dealing with obesity is lack of exercise and sedentary life. Also, I will add in lack of will. Lack of will power can compliment all of the theories, therefore, I do not feel that it can be classified by itself, but that it works better in accordance with all the other theories.
If you are not physically active, even in the slightest amount, there is no way that you can keep your body healthy. Physical exercise is key for a healthy body because you are using energy and allowing your body to use the nutrients, rather than storing them up. Right now, only 30% of all students in high school participate in everyday physical activity. The quality of the gym classes that these students participate in varies. In some schools, the teachers and students take the activities seriously, while some loaf around and do not participate.
Schools are taking some measures to help increase the amount of physical activity in a school day. They are attempting to add time to the school day to allow more time for students to move around, stretch, and exercise throughout the day. Twenty-two schools in Massachusetts have been accepted to using ELT in their school systems. ELT stands for expanded learning time, which is pretty self-explanatory. Schools are adding or expanding physical education classes, the amount of time for recess, and the number of health and physical education classes available.
If schools allowed students to have a slightly longer recess break during the day, we could reduce the amount of young kids who are obese. This is a chain reaction based on a few factors. First, the more time students are outside, moving around, the longer they are working their body. Next, these children will be using more energy, causing them to be more hungry. If they are hungry for food, they will eat more at lunch, replacing all of the nutrients they just spent running around. The school can incorporate healthier, but still delicious foods, to the students when they come in from recess.
Not only does a longer recess help students become active physically, but also it increases their social, decision making processes, and motor skill development. If they make more friends out on the playground, they will be motivated to participate more in activities such as football, basketball, tag, or even soccer because they will feel comfortable with the students playing these games.
In addition to these factors that help decrease obesity, by giving the students more time to relax their mind from the tedious classwork, they can increase attentiveness in class, concentration, and time-on-task in their work (pg. 72).
Now that we have seen how to help decrease obesity with physical activity, here are a few reasons that you should not consider to be major factors in affecting obesity.
The first theory that is not in accordance to obesity is that misinformed consumer labels are the causes of obesity. This says that people do not get the correct information about the foods they are about to consume, therefore, they are gaining weight. Food labels do in-fact put the food that is in their product on the label. A food producer can not put what each food does to the body and the science of each component. If they did this, food labels would be too big to even put on the actual box/can.
Relate lack of will power to this theory. People who say that it is the responsibility of the producer to inform them of their food have a lack of will power. If they were so interested in knowing what exactly they are eating, they can do their own research on all the chemicals or ingredients in food.
According to Kurt Dammier on The Seattle Times, people who can read the labels on food make healthier food choices. He goes on to say that there are few people who actually stop and take a glance in the store at what is on each label. This would tell us that the purpose of putting more information on the labels would be wasteful.
An argument about each label is that the serving size and amount of chemicals in each product are incorrect. On CNN Health, they state a staggering statistic. There have been a reported 61.5% of people who actually read the food labels when choosing what foods they should purchase. This means that people are considering the amount of sugar, carbohydrates, and trans fat before they spend money on the items. This article goes on to talk about the other factors of labels that people examine. 51.6% of people take a look at the ingredients listed, 47.2% look at the serving size, and 43.8% of people look at the health claims. (Statistics from Columbia University)
These statistics are staggering because of the logic that is presented behind them. If almost half of the people shopping at grocery stores are examining the food labels, why are they still buying these foods with bad ingredients. If everyone noticed that the ingredients in the foods are bad, they could stop buying them which would have an effect on the companies producing them. This theory can be related to will power as well. If you know that the foods you are consuming are not healthy because of what it is made with, you should be responsible and take the initiative to find a healthier choice.
Not only are "improper" food labels a theory that does not support the main cause of obesity, but so is the working mother theory. The working mother reason would say that obesity is caused because no one is at home cooking a meal everyday, rather, they are stopping and getting fast food everyday before school, at lunch, and on the way home from school.
On the BLT, Bureau of Labor Statistics, working mother theory is proven to be a cop-out for a lot of people. In 2012, 30.8% of married families with children reported to have an employed father and an unemployed mother. This means that 69.2% of families, in fact, have a mother at home who could cook a healthy meal.
Women typically are the spouse that are going to be in the home most of the day in a married relationship with children. Only 6.5% of the data shows that the male is unemployed and the woman is the one with a job, in this instance. These statistics so far show that there are more than a few families who have the capabilities of making food at home each night, as opposed to grabbing a quick fast food snack. This in no way is meant to be a bash on fast food restaurants, but rather show that people are not using, here it is again, their will power to choose what they will eat each night.
If those numbers were not enough for you, take a look at these. In 1900, 2% of meals were eaten outside of the home. That is a minuscule number compared to the 50% of meals in 2012 that were eaten away from the dinner table in your house. Also, 20% of breakfasts are from a local McDonalds! Dr. Mark Hyman did a report on this topic for The Huffington Post, to display just how much people do not eat properly everyday. Some people would say that these numbers are so large because of how much they work. After seeing the statistics above showing how many families have at least one parent at home, it is hard to not lean towards thinking that these families are just lazy.
Not only do sit-down, homemade dinners help influence a child's diet, it also has an affect on their personal life. It has been proven that families who have a traditional meal each night are more likely to have children who do not drink, smoke, or do drugs. Also, the children will get better grades in school, have stronger relationships, and stay out of trouble. This could have a massive impact on our world today if we take the initiative.
Some people argue that they do not have enough money to feed themselves properly everyday. This is the reason they stop at a fast food restaurant to get the value meals. The third theory that does not make sense as the cause of obesity is socioeconomic status.
Gallop Consumption hosted a poll that found 51% of Americans earning more than $75,000 a year will be more likely to eat fast food every week than the 39% of Americans who make less than $20,000. This shows that people who are at the bottom our society do not have enough money to go out each night and spend money on fast food.
You can actually go to the grocery store and spend the same amount of money on food, but get better quality food. On Web MD there is a list of foods that you can walk in and buy for around $2. At most fast food restaurants you can hardly buy a cheeseburger for that much money.
By now you have to assume will power will be showing up again. Well, here it is. After viewing this list and seeing all of the foods that you can get for so cheap, it would be hard to make a case that there is not healthy food available for cheap. It is just as easy to go to the grocery store as it is to stop at the local fast food joint.
To go beyond the average city, here is a visual of countries. These countries are developed and undeveloped nations. The list shows the percentage of the population that is obese. A country that is not noted on this list is Kenya; one of the poorest countries in the world. This list disproves that obesity is caused because of a lack of income.
Obesity can be classified as crime news. Even though people are not committing crimes, they are harming people. When people allow themselves to become obese they harm others around them, but also themselves.
Obesity is a case of collective integrity. It is a family affair because of all the time they spend together. Majority of the time, they eat the same food. Also, in many instances, the parents allow the kids to be lazy and stay in the house all day.
Parents are also responsible as well because they tend to not be as active as they should be. As adults they are role models for their children. If a child sees their parent working out, being active, and eating healthy, chances are higher that they will strive to do the same.
Genetic predisposition is also a highly debated issue when dealing with obesity. There has been research that proves that there are hundreds of genes that contain obese traits. Genes can be a factor in what our body does with the food and nutrients we take in.
Genes do not affect our will power. People personally have to make the decision to get up and go to the gym and properly exercise. There is no gene that is for working out. When people end up being lazy and sitting around all day is when problems occur with obesity.
Scientists argue that a person can be resistant to insulin, therefore, they are destined to be obese. In an instance where a person is resistant to insulin, they would have to take the steps early on to prevent themselves from becoming too heavy. I would reject theories in movies and books with claims that say a person who is insulin resistant means they will be obese. There are always steps you can take to preventing serious problems.
So, what are the real causes of obesity? Is obesity caused because of lack of exercise, misinforming food labels, or working mother theory? Could some people just be destined to a life of obesity because of their genes? Now that you have seen the facts, make your own opinion about the real causes of obesity.
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