American Obesity: A Consequence of Exploitation
The obesity epidemic in America is constantly on the rise. There have always been and continues to be plenty of opinions and ideas for a healthier society. Weight loss pills, gym memberships, surgeries, expensive equipment, and personal trainers are encouraged now more than ever. People are constantly exposed to the algorithms and expectations of having a healthy lifestyle. Social media does a great job of displaying the enticing lifestyles of thin, active, and healthy celebrities. However, we certainly have come farther away from the harsh expectations, to have certain images and looks. Where in today’s society there are more diverse representations of all kinds of people. However, there is still a big problem in American health. The lack of knowledge about diet contributes more significantly to the obesity epidemic in America than the lack of exercise. While physical activity is an important factor in maintaining a healthy weight, the overwhelming commonness of misinformation on nutrition pushed on us by exploiters who want our money plays a crucial role in the rising rates of obesity.
According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, “1 in 3 adults are overweight” and “more than 2 in 5 adults have obesity.” Obesity described by the World Health Organization is “a chronic complex disease defined by excessive fat deposits that can impair health.” Obesity is said to likely lead to higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancers, and bone health and reproduction issues. The diagnosis for obesity is done by dividing a person’s weight by their height to get their BMI, body mass index. Body mass index is a surrogate marker of fatness and additional measurements that help indicate whether or not a person has obesity. The number one cause of this obesity epidemic is said to be the consumption of processed foods. Processed foods are a significant contributor to the obesity epidemic and it doesn’t help that these options are addictive, easily accessible, and cheaper in price. While this issue exists, it’s essential to consider the broader context, including lifestyle, socioeconomic status, and education about nutrition.
A person’s food choices are often influenced by cultural, behavioral, environmental, and socioeconomic influences. Today, there is less concern of what Americans necessarily put into their mouths, but instead if you go to the gym, or participate in a physical activity or not. We are programmed to this lifestyle by societal costumes, influenced heavily by the media. It is normal to see people online participating in mukbangs, or food reviews. The common pattern in these videos however, is that the food being consumed is almost always fast food, or processed foods and excessive amounts of it.
Processed foods today are all around Americans, everywhere we go. It is portrayed as something not necessarily healthy, but not completely bad for you either. Everyday we are met with ads, videos, images that promote processed foods, which subtly promotes obesity and unhealthy consumption. Based on the WebMD article, What Are Processed Foods, “Processed foods refer to any food that’s changed from its natural state. This can include food that was simply cut, washed, heated, pasteurized, canned, cooked, frozen, dried, dehydrated, mixed, or packaged. It also can include food that has added preservatives, nutrients, flavors, salts, sugars, or fats.”
The cause of obesity goes back to a person’s insulin resistance and how well their body is able to control it. Insulin is a peptide hormone that is released in the body every time a person consumes food, according the Cleveland Clinic article, Insulin Resistance, “Insulin resistance is a complex condition in which your body does not respond as it should to insulin, a hormone your pancreas makes that’s essential for regulating blood sugar levels.” The American diet however, has no respect for insulin control and has neglected their bodies. The truth is society and world rulers want us in a cycle to exploit and control humans. The cycle of consuming unhealthy foods, gaining weight, wanting to lose it or become healthy, and then going to the gym and paying more money when the temporary results don’t last.
The popular, new culture, created by humans is to look good, and feel good. How is this attained? They tell you to get surgeries, go to the gym, take certain medications, or get on weight loss plans. America is very quick to look at the outer appearance to want to start making changes when they don’t meet the stereotypical expectation of a healthy lifestyle. Exercise is often the first recommendation for those looking to lose weight. Many are advised that the most effective strategy for rapid weight loss is the “calories in, calories out” approach. While experts typically advocate for incorporating some form of physical activity, the question remains: how should one go about it? According to the Weight Loss Resources article, What is Exercise?, exercise is “any movement that works your body at a greater intensity than your usual level of daily activity. Exercise raises your heart rate and works your muscles and is most commonly undertaken to achieve the aim of physical fitness.”
These easy and simple approaches to fitness often provide only temporary solutions, addressing the symptoms rather than the underlying issues. A more effective way to tackle the obesity epidemic is to change the food industry and how we consume food. Embracing a diet that prioritizes whole, unprocessed foods, where what we eat is as close to its natural state as possible and offers a healthier, more sustainable solution. To do this we have to better understand what a whole foods diet entails. According to the Mayo Clinic article, Choose a whole-foods diet for a healthier you, “A whole-foods diet simply means choosing foods that are minimally processed. Think fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, oils, and whole grains. Meat and dairy are perfectly acceptable, but the idea is to choose those foods in moderation (a few times a week as opposed to every meal) and focus instead on fueling up with unprocessed plant foods for most of your meals.”
In conclusion, we should start to think more and have a mind of our own. It is very easy to get drawn in and submit to the controls of the world. Addressing the obesity epidemic requires a comprehensive approach centered around improved dietary plans. We must limit our exposure to processed foods and prioritize whole, natural options that nourish our bodies. The human body thrives on natural nutrients, and it’s essential that we return to these foundational choices. Additionally, we should reduce the advertising of processed foods and raise awareness about their negative impacts on health. By making these changes, we can foster a healthier future for everyone.
References
- https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight World Health Organization
- https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity#:~:text=Adults,-Age%2Dadjusted%20percentage&text=the%20above%20table-,Nearly%201%20in%203%20adults%20(30.7%25)%20are%20overweight.,obesity%20(including%20severe%20obesity). National Institute of Diabetes and digestive and Kidney Diseases
- https://www.webmd.com/diet/what-are-processed-foods WebMD What Are Processed Foods?
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22206-insulin-resistance Cleveland Clinic Insulin Resistance
- https://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/exercise/questions-answers/what-is-exercise.htm Weight Loss Resources, What is Exercise?
- https://communityhealth.mayoclinic.org/featured-stories/whole-foods-diet-030421 Mayo Clinic, Choose a whole-foods diet for a healthier you
Counterintuitive Fall 2024 
There’s a lot of information and material here, Yardie, that you haven’t yet started to present as FOCUSED arguments. Let me illustrate with one paragraph.
THE INTRODUCTION:
You identify a general problem. Americans are obese.
You immediately distract readers from the point, suggesting there are lots of solutions to a problem you HAVEN’T named: ill health.
You double down on the solutions by naming some of them.
Now you suggest there are various ways to measure health.
Now you say we’re being “sold” health by examples.
Now you backtrack and suggest you might have overemphasized your complaint.
Now you suggest we’re more “tolerant” of unhealthy, obese people, I guess.
Now you double back again and insist that, even though it’s not as bad as “all that,” it’s still pretty bad.
NOW you get to the point: we need to EAT SMART.
Then you abandon your MAIN IDEA in favor of blaming corporations for lying to us about nutrition.
THE SOLUTION: Write a One Sentence version of your MAIN IDEA. Make SURE you know what’s important. Then expand your one sentence to develop the individual components of your argument as needed.
We’re a fat country. But we spend billions every year on “weight reduction.” Gyms, Fast Foods, Processed Foods, and Weight-loss Programs all conspire to addict us to an endless cycle of gaining and losing the same weight over and over again. The simple solution is to Eat Right.
If you can’t Purposefully Summarize your idea into a sentence or a few, your writing will continue to wander around looking for that MAIN IDEA to anchor all your sentences.
Next, the purpose of a Definition/Categorical argument is for YOU to be in charge of what your essential terms mean. There’s no point quoting someone else’s definition of, for example, PROCESSED FOODS, unless the definition suits your position. Here’s the WebMD definition you provided:
Most of the categories of “processed” don’t serve your argument at all and YOU’RE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO INCLUDE THEM if they distract from your needs.
Do Cut, or Washed, or Packaged qualify as the kinds of processing that would disqualify foods from your approved types? Maybe as a special case you want to warn against buying sliced apples in a bag, but why? And when?
Your focus in the second paragraph should remain on the “processes” that contribute to obesity. You don’t need WebMD for that, but if you DO decide to quote them as part of an overhaul of your second paragraph, quote the part that matters:
Clearly, the biggest contributor to obesity is not lack of exercise but the overconsumption of cheap, convenient overly processed foods, which, as WebMD warns us, often include “food that has added preservatives, nutrients, flavors, salts, sugars, or fats,” all of which contribute to ill-health.