1. What Can You
Do About
American
Obesity?
By: Allison Deck

2. Obesity
 Due to many observations, it is clear that some
people want help losing weight, whether it be an
average person or an obese person. I am talking
about obese people today, however, others can
get help from this too.
 What does being obese mean?
 Being obese means that you have a body mass index
of thirty or higher and the healthy range is 18.5 to 24.5
("Overweight and Obesity " par. 2).
 How many deaths does obesity cause?
 According to an article in Harvard Men’s Health
Watch, “obesity and lack of exercise are responsible
for about 1,000 deaths in the United States every day”
(1).

3. Eat Less Snacks and Monitor Portions
 We simply eat too much, a thirty year study proved that
our meals and snacks rose from 3.8 to 4.9 per day
(Harvard Men’s Health Watch 5).
 Our meals do not have to be as we think they do, each
meal should consist of at least 4 of the food groups, but you
do not need such big portions.
 For example, a piece of steak should only be as big as the size
of your fist.
 We are constantly snacking throughout the day, whether
it’s a bag of chips or a soft drink.
 If you are going to snack, choose something healthy, such as an
apple with natural peanut butter or piece of toast with jelly.

5. Eat Less Junk Food
 Junk food, fast food, and processed foods are all
factors that contribute to American Obesity. We
like meals that can be prepared quickly and easily,
in other words, ripping open a bag of frozen
chicken nuggets and putting them in the oven.
 Junk food such as chicken nuggets or ramen noodles
are very high in fat, sodium, and sugar, which if
consumed in high amounts, can lead to health
problems.
 Eating fast food and junk food is convenient, but you
can purchase a cook book that is strictly filled with
recipes that can be cooked in 15 minutes.

6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT
YJx3x0nyo

7. Ignore Marketing
 Marketing personal are very good at their jobs and
they know what will get peoples attention,
especially children's attention. Marketers know
what to put visually into a commercial and what is
to be said verbally in order to make you want a
product.
 Children are being overexposed to commercials that
promote buying junk food (Chandon, Pierre, and Brian
Wansink 571). Marketing strategies are extremely
persistent in children’s marketing because if you draw
them in when they are children, the more likely they
will buy that product when they are older. Children
can also whine an complain to their parents and wear
them down to buy a certain product.

8. Ignore Marketing Cont.
 The best solution I have to offer for this situation is to
simply ignore it. No one in America can escape
marketing, especially marketing about food. We
are constantly around it through commercials,
billboards, radio, and other types of
advertisements. Simply turn the T.V. channel when
a commercial pops up, turn the radio station, and
stare at the road when you pass billboards.
 I make it sound easier than it will be to accomplish this
but ignoring their marketing plots will help you to not
want to buy fast food or the latest and greatest
sugary cereal.

10. Psychological Help
 When someone is obese, it is most likely that they
have some sort of psychological problem, whether
it’s depression, low self-esteem, or loneliness.
 Depression is the number one problem that can occur
from obesity. There was an investigation of 9,125
samples in the U.S. and it was found that obesity
significantly increases the diagnosis of lifelong major
depression and other psychological disorders (Yung-
Chieh Yen, et al. 1).
 Low self-esteem is another major problem that can
occur from obesity because the person may not like
how they look or they get ridiculed for their size.

11. Psychological Help Cont.
 Loneliness can also occur from someone being
obese because the person may not be very
confident in going out and around with people.
They might also feel as though no one could love
them for their size.
 When people that are obese have such
psychological issues like these, it is best to see a
therapist about it. A therapist is a professional
whereas a friend that may be trying to help is not.
 Although some people are seeing a therapist, it still
may not be enough, any obese person needs to
change their thoughts and behaviors in order to
accomplish anything. Loving yourself is always the
first step in helping yourself out psychologically.

13. Financial Help
 Foodis expensive and when an obese person goes
to buy food at the grocery or at a restaurant, it is
even more expensive because they eat more.
 In a study done by James Tillotson in the Annual
Review of Nutrition, Americans will spend 510 billion
on food for the home and 483 on food eaten away
from home (2).
 To help with this problem, my advice is to buy less. As
discussed before, we eat to much is terms of portion
sizes and we eat too much in terms of snacking. Don’t
buy any snacks the next time you visit the grocery
store, buy only what you need in order to prepare a
meal.

14. Financial Help Cont.
 Even when anyone goes to the grocery or fast food
joint and tries to buy healthy, you pay more
because healthier food is more costly.
 My advice to you about this problem is to do the best
you can when shopping, it is not any consumers fault
that healthier food costs more. Try to buy as much
whole grain, organic, low-fat food as you can
financially allow.
 Medicalexpenses are also a problem when it
comes to being obese because most obese
people have a health condition.
 There is no way to avoid medical bills when you have
a health condition, the only way to beat it is to stay
healthy, which means having a healthy weight.

16. Exercise
 Almostno American exercises the way they should
these days, which is getting at least an hour of
physical activity for thirty minutes to an hour
depending on the type of activity you are doing.
 This does not mean doing your job or cleaning the
house, but exercising as in power walking, jogging,
weight lifting, or any other activity that will get your
heart rate up to its target heart rate.
 Laura Burke stated, “physical activity by itself could
lead to less than three percent of initial body weight
loss; however, when combined with diet therapy it
can lead to greater weight loss” (368).

18. Keep a Log
 Keep a log of everything that you have consumed
throughout the day and write down the nutritional
facts of everything as well. Also keep track of all the
physical activity you have done throughout the
day.
 This will really put things into perspective for you, after
you have totaled everything up and compared it to
what your total should be, it will be an eye opener.
 If you do not want to write it down and total it up
while comparing it to what is healthy for you, you can
visit www.myfitnesspal.com. This site will keep track of
everything you need, all you have to do is put in what
you have eaten and what your phsical activity was
for that day.

20. Works Cited
 Burke, Lora E., and Jing Wang. "Treatment Strategies For Overweight And
Obesity." Journal Of Nursing Scholarship 43.4 (2011): 368-375.Academic
Search Premier. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.
 Center for Disease Control and Prevention . Division of Nutrition
. Overweight and Obesity . Georgia : Center for Disease Control and
Prevention , 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
 Chandon, Pierre, and Brian Wansink. "Does Food Marketing Need To
Make Us Fat? A Review And Solutions." Nutrition Reviews 70.10 (2012):
571-593. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.
 "Obesity In America: Large Portions, Large Proportions. (Cover
Story)." Harvard Men's Health Watch 10.6 (2006): 1-5. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.
 "Obesity In America: What's Driving The Epidemic?." Harvard Men's
Health Watch 16.7 (2012): 5-7. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Feb.
2013.
 Tillotson, James E. "AMERICA's OBESITY: Conflicting Public Policies,
Industrial Economic Development, And Unintended Human
Consequences.” Annual Review Of Nutrition 24.1 (2004): 617-
643. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.
 Yung-Chieh Yen, et al. "Psychiatric Disorders Of Patients Seeking Obesity
Treatment." BMC Psychiatry 13.1 (2013): 1-8. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 19 Feb. 2013.