The 4 Reasons We Are a Fat Country

Americans don’t want to give up their Burger King’s Triple Whopper with Cheese, the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream at 2 am, and the bottomless all-you-can-eat fries, wings, and sodas at their favorite restaurants. Their lack of self-control undeniably contributes to the rising rates of obesity in America. The fat country problem can be understood through four stages: awareness, understanding, belief, and action.

The first stage is awareness, where scientists have researched and gathered data on the unhealthy habits that contribute to obesity where they can come up with alternatives and helpful strategies for a healthy lifestyle by providing the causes and risks of obesity.

The second stage is understanding, where society processes and absorbs the information. At this point, the responsibility shifts to us as individuals to decide how to use this knowledge.

The third stage is belief, which is often the most challenging. Regardless of the overwhelming evidence, many people struggle to trust or embrace the facts about obesity, sometimes feeling defensive or resistant to ideas that challenge their lifestyles and comforts.

Finally, the fourth stage is action, deciding to turn understanding into meaningful change. While information about healthy living is readily available, widely distributed, and understood, many individuals need help to break free from secure habits. This resistance to change keeps unhealthy behaviors, contributing to the growing obesity statistics in America.

Awareness: to successfully solve any problem like obesity in America, we first have to find information about the disease. Why does it happen? How do we stop it? And how do we still enjoy our favorite foods and maintain health? Scientists, realizing the problem and wanting to better the American population, have uncovered significant insights into the obesity epidemic. They have devised valuable strategies to reduce unhealthy habits and promote a healthy lifestyle. Through research, science has found that several biological, environmental, and behavioral factors control obesitỵ Studies from Harvard Health, genes in a person can affect their appetite, sense of fullness, metabolic rate, and food cravings. Furthermore, the CDC reported that Americans now are consuming 300 more calories a day than the average person 60 years ago. This increase in food intake has significantly contributed to the problem. Americans have become too comfortable with eating excessively. 

Environmental factors such as tempting foods being super prominent at shopping centers, sports stadiums, amusements, workplaces, and on common roadways or areas only make healthier living 10 times harder. Will people have self-control, or let their desires get the best of them?  At a physiological level, the balance between caloric intake and energy expenditure is fundamental. When individuals consistently consume more calories than their bodies burn, the excess is stored as fat, leading to weight gain. The solution to combat obesity, while challenging, is rooted in dietary choices. It is scientifically approved that the whole foods diet is the most effective in fueling a healthy human body. Whole foods are closer to their natural state of process. They are typically low in calories but still keep a person full and energized. What exactly are whole foods? The American Journal explains that whole foods are rich in fiber, proteins, whole grains, essential nutrients like fruits and vegetables, proteins like eggs, beans, nuts, chicken breast, and fish, and carbohydrates for energy.

Understanding: could the problem be that Americans are too oblivious and misinformed to understand obesity? The solutions are blatantly simple and widespread through countless sources such as social media platforms, television or radio channels, schools, workplaces, and gyms. Even though the causes of obesity, and solutions to it are simple and out there Americans fail to fully understand or act on it. We are a fat country that contrastingly sabotages ourselves into believing skewed concepts of healthy eating. Resorting to unhealthy habits like “calories in, calories out,”  fast magical weight loss meds, or myths that overcomplicate what should be straightforward. These flawed concepts will never work long-term and they just hurt and set us back even more. In reality, it is simply, don’t overeat, consume mostly whole food meals, and treat yourself to those cravings occasionally and in moderation.

Belief: If you are not oblivious to obesity and understand it, maybe you just refuse to believe it and don’t take it seriously. Americans are great at turning a blind eye to pressing issues, sweeping our problems under the rug, or being senseless about certain topics that challenge us. The information on obesity is heard by the public but not cared for. Some of us aren’t affected by the issue so we end up promoting contributing factors that support the disease. An example of this is unhealthy drug and alcohol use and eating habits. We often see what looks to be healthy people around us that consume unhealthy amounts of drugs or foods, social media is a prime spreader of this kind of content. This results in some people becoming victims of the unrealistic connotations of living certain lifestyles. They get confused and decide to not take the situation seriously. This is now everyone’s problem and not only an obese person’s duty to solve it. This collective apathy not only worsens the problem but also reflects a larger cultural pattern of avoiding accountability when it matters most.

Action: Will we ever reach a breaking point where we’re fed up with looking sluggish, soft, or stuck in a constant state of discomfort? The reality is many of us are living with a sense of dissatisfaction about our bodies, knowing deep down that the way we feel is linked to our choices. “You are what you eat,” is an expression often tossed around as a joke, however, it has become more real than we realize. We now have all the answers and solutions to tackling obesity, but will we take action on it? Solving this issue has never been easy and won’t get any easier. It requires time, energy, and effort to turn away from the comfort of quick, unhealthy fixes, but the payoff is more than worth it. Choosing healthier options may feel difficult at first, and can be stressful when we’re surrounded by tempting alternatives. But the truth is, the benefits of making those choices are invaluable. We can live more effectively, more energized, and yes, for longer. We as humans always strive to look better, by acting a certain way, dressing a certain way, putting on makeup, and even trying to obtain social status or items that may us more attractive. We need to do the same for our health and know that this is a long-term investment in ourselves for a better life.

References

• ” https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(23)66356-7/fulltext” The American Journal, Clinical Nutrition. March 2024. 
• ” https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/why-people-become-overweight” ‘Why Are People Becoming Overweight?’ June 24, 2019 Havard Medical School
• ” https://www.webmd.com/obesity/news/20231215/what-causes-obesity-more-science-points-brain” ‘What Causes Obesity? More Science Points to the Brain’ Marshall Lisa