Causes of Poor Health

The first step in my journey down finding as much as I could about Nutrition was its causes, the root of the problem. Although there wasn't one clear reason behind it, there were a couple that I found especially interesting.

The first reason I found was the link between obesity and wealth, and how it affects one's health. It's common knowledge that people are wanting everything to become faster, to get information faster. Food is no different than any other item that most people want as fast and as cheap as possible. Fast food, though infinitely worse for one's health than food bought from a grocery store, is cheaper and often comes for less than a dollar. Studies were found in a time article that Women who were better educated and wealthier were less likely to become obese than their less counterparts. The study also showed that men of color, African American and Mexican males, were also more likely to become obese than their counterparts. It's absolutely shocking that these statistics stand as they are. There have been possible laws put into place to prevent obesity, but none have truly had the desired effect. Although the fast food is cheap now, the effects will become costly down the road. Medical bills, surgeries, pills, it will all add up and it won't be just the person herself or himself paying for it, but tax payers. We all have an investment in this problem, and we need to make sure the stock doesn't plummet any more than it already has.

The second cause that has come up in multiple articles is the idea of who's responsibility it is for the obesity problem: Schools, Government or the Parents? This problem has been circulated a number of times, and I will post later on previous actions in the government that have been taken to help curb the problem that seems to only becoming worse and worse. No matter which view you see it through, each point of view has its own justifications. Parents don't want the government, which includes schools, telling them how to raise their kids and how to feed them. Schools want what's best for their kids so they can learn properly and be better prepared for the future. Government believes that it has everything going smoothly because it has suppliers check the food that is being regulated into schools. Generally the problem falls into the lap of all three departments. Parents only have their kids for the second half of the day, while schools have them the first half. It's important to know that 1/3 of the children in the United States are considered overweight or obese. This is unacceptable, and the number is only going to grow from there.

Another interesting fact that was brought up in one article was about the diversity of the people in the United States and how it affects the numbers. Also, the proposed the idea of region, and how the South is the most notorious offender of the obesity level. I know when I think of the South, I think of New Orleans with their beignets, or Texas and their chicken-fried steak, or even eggs benedict. Pretty much starch, starch and more starch. The South is known for deep-frying anything and everything. I also believe that the South will be the hardest to crack when it comes to changing up eating habits, because many of these recipes have been in the family for decades, sometimes centuries. Tradition is important in the South, but is it worth giving up living? A fun fact learned in the article was that West Virginia was the only state to have higher than 30% obesity rate among whites. On the other hand, Colorado was the trimmest state that had one in five residents being obese, making only 19.1% in the entire state obese.

The final cause that I found that, although it applied more specifically to boys, I believe can be applied to both sexes. The article discussed discussed briefly how the lack of sleep can make boys' chances of becoming obese more of a reality than if they were able to receive 8 hours of sleep each night. As I said previously, the article specifies that tests proved men to be more susceptible to obesity this way than women, which I believe to be true to a certain extent. However, I also believe that this should worry women just as badly as it should men. I know every morning after I have had a late night I tend to eat more because I want to compensate and make sure I have the sugar from the food to keep me going. The food shouldn't be the replacement for extra sleep, but unfortunately that is what it is becoming. There have been tests that proved positive that boys with less than 8.5-9 hours of sleep each night were more likely to have the disease. There must be a solution to this problem that allows kids to have more sleep. All of these causes are completely, 100% preventable, we just need to act on them when they are simply in their beginning stage. We are currently in a hole, and if we don't dig out now, we will be buried in it.