A Concerning Problem Worldwide

Introduction

When it comes to obesity, the issue is becoming more of a concerning problem worldwide. Both adults and children are struggling to stay healthy due to the easy access to unhealthy food such as fast food and the lack of physical activities. In the United States, more children are battling obesity more than ever, because children most likely eat what is given or offering to them. There are many health-related problems associated with obesity, such as diabetes and cardiac related problems. Some people don't think that obesity is related to poor health and some think that it is.

Position 1

Some people think that obesity is not tied to poor health, they perceive that there are other factors contributing to it and being overweight doesn't necessarily mean unhealthy and unhappy. Some people just can't lose through just dieting and exercising (Hobbes, 2018). Statically in America, 60% of American adult are overweight and about 25% of them are obese. Also, about 32% children are at risk of becoming obese if no change is made to avoid this to continue further (National Center for Health Statistics, 2015). Most schools in the country are trying hard to offer guidance to help eliminate this growing problem among children. According to these categories of people, everyone is different, everyone's body is different and react to certain things differently. Diet and exercise might work for certain people and it might not work for others. The best case of action is to do what works for you personally to stay healthy. These people also argued that body acceptance is the key to their happiness and they are happy and healthy in the body that they are in (Hobbes, 2018).

Position 2

Some other people argue that being overweight or obese indeed means that you are unhealthy. Those people believe that healthy eating habits and exercise should be a lifestyle, that alone should be enough for someone to lose weight and stay healthy. They believe that if someone wants to live a great life, they must be willing to keep trying to get better. For children, it can be much harder to get them to eat healthy, because most children will refuse to eat the healthier foods. The best way to help them is to encourage them to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle (Hobbes, 2018). There are a lot that a parent can control when it comes to improve their children's health, energy, well-being and self-esteem.

Personal Position

My personal point of view is that, obesity is caused by poor nutrition patterns, lack of exercise and bad eating habit. My six-year-old daughter was over the average weight of kids her age, she was basically overweight. I didn't see anything wrong with that, she was a healthy baby. When her pediatrician told my husband and I that at the pace she was gaining weight, if we don't do something about it now it might be too late later. We went back home, we looked at everything that Doctor told us and try to figure out everything that we were doing wrong. We made the choice to change what she was eating and completely cut out juice in our household. Before we know it, she was back to where she was supposed to be, now she is six years old and never look back.

I understand the argument of both sides, when my daughter was overweight for her age, there was no indication that she was unhealthy. She was the healthiest baby, healthier than her brother who was very thin. The thing was, she was healthy than, but we don't know what could've happened three or five years later. The other side of the argument is also, some people might be able to easily lose weight just by changing their diets and exercising, while it might require others to have surgery to be able to lose weight. Some people might easily lose the weight and keep it off, while some others might keep getting it back no matter what they do. The bottom line is, everybody is indeed different.

Conclusion

Even with all the continuous effort being made, especially with the program that Michelle Obama started to promote healthier lifestyle among people in America and all over the world, obesity continues to be a leading public health concern in the country. Obesity prevalence has doubled in adult aged 20 years or older and overweight prevalence has growing in children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years old as well. In this position paper on obesity in America, we have developed the understanding of some issues surrounding the problem of obesity. I provided some data on obesity in both children and adults and underlying some step that can be taken to minimize its impact. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't realize how concerning, damaging and impactful that obesity can be for our health and body. Something needs to be done, starting by informing people especially children about the issue, we can encourage a healthy lifestyle. We need to start by changing the trend of this disease by living healthy.

References

Michael Hobbes. Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong. Huffington Post. (2018).
National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control, and Prevention. (2015).Health, United States, with special feature on Prescription Drugs. US Government Printing Office.

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