Obesity Epidemic Persuasive Essay

The incentive to lose weight, has it stages in society today. Some want to lose it, but do not have the motivation to. While others are trying, and are pretty successful. Then there is a large part of the United States who are very much over weight. This idea was presented in the book about the prices of food decreasing and increasing.

Each year, there are about 112,000 deaths from obesity that are preventable. In the past few decades, the number of cases of obesity has been on the rise in the United States. It has tripled among children and doubled among adults. In 1990, Connecticut’s obesity rate was at 10.4 percent. Then, in 2000, it was at 16.0 percent and currently it’s at 26.0 percent.

PICO 1. P: Obese Adults I: Diet Pills C: Exercise O: Weight Loss Question: Do diet pills provide better weight loss in obese adults than exercise?

As stated in National Medical Spending Attributable to Overweight and Obesity: How Much, and Who’s Paying?, spending is greatest for Medicare recipients, presumably because the elderly obese are more likely to undergo costly obesity- related services than the nonelderly obese are. Following Medicare, Medicaid has the next highest per capita spending estimate attributable to obesity. Medicaid recipients may be more likely than the privately insured are to engage in behavior that complicates obesity treatment, including smoking cigarettes and over- consuming alcohol. Medicare and Medicaid also have generous insurance cover- age, encouraging people to seek more treatment for all services, including those associated with obesity (Finkelstein, Fiebelkorn, Wang,

Take Off of The Obesity Crisis Being overweight has been a concern of the US government and citizens for a while now. Many people have been debating about how the obesity crisis has been affecting people and businesses. Who's fault is it and how can we solve the problem are questions often asked by concerned citizens, the government and most importantly overweight people.

In “What You Eat Is Your Business,” Radley Balko tackles the issue of who is responsible for fighting obesity. Balko argues that the controversy of obesity should make the individual consumers culpable for their own health and not the government (467). As health insurers refrain from increasing premiums for obese and overweight patients, there is a decrease in motivation to keep a healthy lifestyle (Balko 467). As a result, Balko claims these manipulations make the public accountable for everyone else 's health rather than their own (467). Balko continues to discuss the ways to fix the issue such as insurance companies penalizing consumers who make unhealthy food choices and rewarding good ones (468).

Cost of obesity. Rising health issues related to poor diets such as high rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are public health concerns. The direct and indirect cost of obesity is as high as $147 billion annually in the United Sates (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006). In 2006, obese patients spent on an average $1,429 more for their medical care than did people within a normal weight range, that is a 42 percent higher cost for people who are obese. Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers increased spending due to obesity from 6.5 percent in 1998 to 9.1 percent in 2006 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006).

Obesity has gained a lot of attention in the recent years especially in the 21st century. Right now in America, there is an ongoing epidemic. The cause is not by viruses or bacteria, but by human nature. There is no one way to solve this serious problem. With growing body sizes and serious medical problems associated with obesity, it is a problem that needs to be addressed and changed.

As the frequency of obesity decreases, the medical bills will also dwindle. In 2008, the Center for Disease Control stated that an average of $147 billion dollars was spent on overweight individuals. Instead of feeding money to the obese, funds can assist an actual epidemic, not just a self-inflicted issue. Doctors claim eating healthy, automatically results in healthier habits such as an increase in exercise. Instead of counting pizza slices, consumers will begin counting miles, releasing endorphins that make them tolerable.

A risk factor for many other diseases, obesity can affect health and longevity. Weight loss is achievable, and it provides plenty of health benefits. Studies have shown that many people who attempt weight loss regain the weight they lost. The major challenge in managing patients is, therefore, to improve their ability to sustain whatever weight loss can be accomplished. Diet, exercise, and behavioral management are the main sources of treatment, But medication and surgery can be considered in certain individuals.

The probable cause of this obesity epidemic is a combination of an excessive amount of advertisements, a lack of self-control in consumers, and food producers and companies not being completely truthful about what chemicals and ingredients are used in the products. For the sake of Americans and the future generations, the public must admit the faults in their actions and take the responsibility and dedication to fight back against the obesity epidemic; fast food companies and food producers must cut back on the ridiculous number of time and money spent trying to convince as many people as possible to buy the

Obesity is a major problem in the United States, and with all the special privileges given to its people, America has become very lazy. With portion sizes rising and physical activity decreasing, it is easy to see how the rates on obesity has risen over the years in America. Obesity is a major problem that needs to be resolved because it affects all people of every gender, age, and race are at risk of being obese. Obesity rates in America have nearly doubled rather tripled within the last twenty years due to the many privileges that the American people have before us. Something must be done to overcome decrease the

The trend of obesity is growing fast in the United States. A graph shown on the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases shows the prevalence of obesity among Americans has significantly increased particularly in the 1980’s. Most people ask themselves “What’s the difference between being overweight and being obese? Isn’t the same thing?”

Within this population, there is an elevated prevalence of significant chronic health conditions like heart disease, stroke, type II diabetes, and certain types of cancers (Ogden, Lamb, Carroll, Flegal, 2010, p. 1). Economists and Health Care Administrators opined that in general medical costs for obese individuals were significantly higher than those for those individuals having weights within medically recommended guidelines. In 2009, Finkelstein, Trogdon, Cohen, and Dietz documented the per person cost stating that “across all payers, per capita medical spending for obese people is $1,429 higher per year, or roughly 42 percent higher, that for someone of normal weight” (p. 7).

My reasoning is that if companies already help with health care problems with their employees why not add obesity to health care so instead of waiting for heart disease to happen. My second evidence to this is that heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic conditions account for 75 percent of health care spending. In 2000 obesity cost us 117 billion. Turning this around would benefit companies and employees. This could save companies money by getting their employees a fitness trainer or a dietitian since they would only need those for a while then they will be fine on their own as long as they kept up what they were doing.