Obesity is defined as the condition of having excessive body fat. A bodymass index (BMI) of 30% or more can be an indicator of obesity (CDC, 2016). Obesity can cause many other medical conditions, some of them very serious, such as cardiovascular disease, two different types of diabetes, and variouskinds of cancers (Haslam, 2015; WHO, 2015). Itis considered that obesity is a social issue because obesity can lead to feelings of inferiority or inadequacy anddepression (Luppino et al.
, 2010). Obese people require constant medicalattention. In the US, obesity has become a serious problem as thecountry has one of the most elevated levels of overweight individuals in theworld: 34% of the population is obese (Reuteres Editorial, 2010). Obesity iscaused by, among other things, junk food and unhealthy lifestyle. It is adifficult issue that is about something more than just calories. On the levelof an individual, obesity can be prevented by healthy eating and exercise. However, the issue of obesity in the US cannot be solved without governmenthelp. Illnesses such asbeing overweight and, an extreme, obese have turned out to be a standoutamongst the most basic general well-being dangers for Americans.
The long wayto solving the problem of obesity in the US begins with the first step ofunderstanding its underlying causes. The predominant causes are poor dietarychoices, lack of physical exercise and sedimentary lifestyle, all three ofwhich can be further exacerbated by genetic factors (National Institutes ofHealth, 2012). The poor dietary choices are an important one among the fourcauses. The obvious solution to this would be to lead a nutrition diet to avoidjunk foods, which are poor in nutrients, in spite of the fact that they mayseem time-saving, convenient and financially manageable. Obesity at an earlyage often leads to staying obese as an adult. To prevent obesity among youngpeople, scientists propose a way to help all individuals over 2 years of age toconsume healthy foods through a controlled nutrition diet (Blumenthal et al., 2017). According to authors, such a diet can help the body to stay in goodshape.
In general, with the help of diets, people could change their eatinghabits in the long term. The second way to combat with obesity is an activelifestyle. Daily physical exercise is the foundation for a well-being life andthe prosperity of people of any age. At the present time, people’s lifestylehas greatly changed in recent years. Many people have some specific kinds ofjobs that include sitting at a desk the greater part of the day and theyadditionally depend on their autos instead of walking or individuals tend tosit in front of the television, which invites obesity. Five or ten minutes’strolls before or after the dinner can positively effect on body.
Leading anactive lifestyle does not necessarily require going to fitness centers (AHA, 2015). Under those circumstances, basic adjustment for such kind of routineenable to control weight of body, improve adaptability, enhancing emotionalwell-being and help to feel better. In contrast, there are some limitationspromoting a nutrition diet and leading an active lifestyle. It is alsochallenging for individuals to lose weight due to the fact there are can be agreat deal of food temptations. A healthy eating routine and daily exercisescould help the excessive body fat to be low (Sukovaty, 2017). A solution that could help those individualswho are too obese to engage in physical exercise without causing severe damageto their bodies is bariatric surgery. Bariatric, or weight-reduction, surgeryis the way to go if the individual is too obese and has no success in utilizingdifferent techniques to lose weight. In other words, bariatric surgical systemscause weight reduction by confining the measure of nourishment the stomach canhold (ASMBS, no date).
Bariatric surgery is recommended for obese individualswith a weight no less than 40 % of BMI (Robinson, 2009). However, after everysurgery there could be some side effects and bariatric surgery is no different, as it can cause new symptoms directly after surgery or later on. Individuals wouldnot be able to help themselves to approach this resolvable situationeffectively without the involvement of the government. However, if thegovernment joins with its people in the fight against the obesity, byincreasing the awareness of the issue and by contributing more resources toovercoming the problem, individuals would be far more successful than they arenow. As an illustration, 42% of people think that the government should assumea noteworthy part in solving the obesity issue, while 54% think that a person’sbeing overweight problem is not something the government should be heldaccountable for (PRC, 2013). The responsibility must fall to the government, which can and must mandate healthful business choices with the goal of makinghealthy options more available to people.
Clearly, the government cannotabruptly compel everybody who is overweight to lead a diet or an activelifestyle. In any case, the government can impact individuals by performing targetedactions. A healthy way of life could lead to a long-term reduction in thenumber of instances of many diseases. If the government takes some actions toencourage a healthy way of life and sees the actions through consistently andeffectively, US citizens could have fewer opportunities to make unhealthychoices and therefore will become less obese as a whole. For a large number ofpeople, their work environment is a place where they spend a lot of time. Inparticular, the government can encourage companiesto hire cooks so that their employees can to eat healthy foods at work.
Without proper way of eating workers may feellazy or have lack of concentration. On the other hand, eating healthy at workcan have a major effect on the employees’ health and energy levels, which candirectly translate into increased productivity. Therefore, the governmentmust make healthy food choices more accessible and affordable. The government can legislate healthy choicesto ensure that everyone has ready access to affordable healthy food (PHLC, nodate).
On the one hand, if healthy food is accessible and prices are reasonablein markets, it will make individuals to settle more their attention onhealthier nourishment decisions. On the other hand, when healthy food is not affordable, people may have only one option to choose a food that that high in calories, lowin nutrients and cheap. Combating obesity will notbe easy for the government alone. However, there are some health organizations, and other players such as invested wealthy individuals who can take part inwell-being advancement also as malady aversion. Thereby, solving theobesity problem would not face such unsurmountable difficulties. To sum up, thereare several measures which could be taken to combat obesity issue.
The threeapproaches to diminishing the obesity issue in the USA are complementary toeach other and must be used together. It is also challenging for individuals tolose weight due to the fact there are can be a great deal of food temptations. Furthermore, asking for help from the government should not be delayed, because it couldtake years to implement any plans. The cooperation of all solutions would helpresolve the problem of obesity faster. If the efforts are implemented at aright time and the situation would be eased appreciably.
