Obesity in America

America’s “Huge” Problem

If there is one ideal that unites all Americans, it is the belief that every single one

of us, regardless of ethnic background is a “fatty’. Americans are so worried about their

image that we have the Jenny Craig, NutriSystem, South Beach Diet, Aitkins, High Protein, Low Carb, or is that no protein All Carb, Grapefruit juice, Cranberry Juice, Fasting who knows, whatever else kind of a diet. Then you have all the talk show programs on Oprah, Kirstie Alley and all the ex-fatties of Hollywood looking “all that.” Sure, If I had all the money they have, I would have a personal trainer, a chef, massages and all the other fat reducing flairs that they are so accustomed too. Lets face it, we have become a society of complainers. We want, we want, we want, but we cannot have it all. So, it is the all or nothing principle. I want the cake, and I want to eat it too. Then we have Nicole Ritchie, Kate Moss, Mary-Kate, or was it Ashley Olson all of whom are so anorexic they look like they would be a poster child for Cambodia . Looking at that in a magazine really is going to motivate me to exercise excessively, binge and purge, and starve myself. Maybe, the “fatties” could take a page from the Olsons and only eat a slice of ham a month instead of slaughtering the entire cast of Old McDonald’s farm in one sitting. Yes, these

are the obese, and according to “Obesity Experts to Docs: Start ‘prescribing’ exercise” they are part of the one in four Americans that do not exercise( Ritter 8). What would happen if people suffering from obesity had a different attitude on exercise?

Overfield 2

On the other hand, obese population’s desire to exercise is pretty non-existent. You would think that after thirty percent of your body being made up of lard would be the all-American motivator to get off your ass and do something. If we could get a little more desire to exercise, at least do some arm curls with that two-liter bottle of soda, we would be OK, right?

Americans continue with each passing day, to be a lazy nation. We have escalators that carry us up floors because we are just to damn lazy to do it any other way. We have road rage in parking lots because someone took our parking space, but is it really worth losing a limb in a fight to just have to walk a couple extra feet? We use credit cards and a “go-pass” at the gas pumps, and drive through

fast food restaurants, because people are just to lazy to walk into the gas station or fast food place to pay. Does walking twenty yards and back cause you to hyperventilate? Actually, according to researchers, Americans will not walk more than a quarter mile away (Lacayo 92). Why walk to your mailbox when you can drive your big SUV that is such a gas-conserver? According to treadmillsnow.info, America spends 2.82 billion dollars on machines that are stationary. “ We pedal furiously on exercise bicycles that do not go anywhere . We take elevators every chance we get, but we buy expensive machines that enable us to pretend we are climbing stairs” (Barry 31). Why? Americans spend thirty times as much on exercise equipment that takes you nowhere then they do on running shoes that actually physically can take you to some destination (assics.com). Buying a pair of running shoes to actually run in would be a good change of scenery for the obese. I mean I think running along the beach during the sunset is a lot nicer than seeing that dumbass, happy-go-lucky clown every day at McDonald’s.

You would think the purpose of going to the gym would be to exercise, but to most

Overfield 3

Americans it has turned into a social event. The Wilmington Athletic Club hosted a movie night

where they served beer and pizza. Last time I heard a gym’s purpose was to promote healthy habits. Lounging around like a bunch of college students is not a way to help with America’s obesity problem. Freshman college students do not gain the freshman fifteen by exercising and eating yogurt and tofu now, do they? Soon enough they are going to be bringing in bunk beds and turning the gym into a university dorm. Also, men go to the gym to bond with “the guys”, and most of the time they are just talking