what can be done about national obesity in US?

Question

Diabetes, heart attacks, cancer, strokes, back injuries etc etc. Our nation is ver stressed, over weight and under nourished and it's killing us. Not to mention, driving health care costs through the roof.

What is really wrong with us, what are we looking for in food that we don't get elsewhere?

Joe C, where do you get such nonesense about liberals. I swear, you cons come up with the weirdest nonsense. No liberal has ever made that statement. You pitifal prejudiced person you.

Katy, thanx for the ans. I am an American (from the fattest state, btw)

Answer 1

This article will give an inside alarming view:
Excuse the pun, but obesity is a weighty issue not only in Oakland County but throughout the state.


It is particularly troubling among our children and the statistics are alarming.

According to the National Institute of Medicine, the rate of obesity in our children ages 6-11 has tripled.

George Miller, manager of the Oakland County Health Division, does not have specific figures for the county but, generally, the national averages also apply in the state and locally.

Basically, he says youngsters are too sedentary, they don't get a lot of exercise and, what's worse, a lot of the food they eat does not have much nutritional value. For one thing, they're not getting fruits and vegetables five times a day, as recommended by health experts. However, there is some very positive action being taken in Oakland County.

The Count Your Steps program instituted and promoted by County Executive L. Brooks Patterson is doing a good job of getting kids to think about exercising more.

About 22,000 third- and fourth-graders walked more than 1.3 billion steps earlier this year in the annual month-long contest to promote exercise.

About 180 schools participated in this year's contest, launched four years ago after health officials announced that childhood obesity nationwide was an epidemic. Participants received free pedometers and log books to record their walking.

Miller also notes that many local schools are starting to lock down their candy and pop machines, making it more difficult for kids to eat unhealthy foods. Some schools are substituting healthier vending machine offerings and it appears when given the choice, many children will make healthier choices.

In addition to the very worthwhile Count Your Steps program, local schools may want to take a look at what is happening in Arkansas. For three years, Arkansas schools have monitored the obesity of students and reported individual numbers to parents through private letters containing the body mass index number of their children. The BMI, a weight-to-height ratio used to measure obesity, has replaced the old height-weight charts traditionally used by insurance companies to tell us how much we should weigh. In Arkansas, the confidential information is shared only with a child's parents, so there is no stigma in only measuring "fat kids."

The most recent numbers for Arkansas school children show that 20.6 percent of kids tested last school year were overweight. Another 17.2 percent were at risk for being overweight. The previous year's numbers showed 20.5 percent of children were overweight and 17.1 percent were at risk.

While the numbers largely remained unchanged, officials note that during the first year of the program, 38 percent of school children were overweight. That is progress, and even holding the line from year to year is a success.

We agree with Miller, who has said the bottom line is the schools can be a great help and stimulus for getting our kids in better shape but the final responsibility rests on communities.

People need to think community wide about healthier eating. Local communities can't sit back and think someone else will do it or it just leave it up to the schools.

Communities, as a whole, need to set nutrition as a top priority, and not just for kids but adults, too.

Answer 2

I am not too worried about the future recruitment issues that the US military is concerned with, because our country is so innovative and adapts well to change. Maybe, we'll be able to created a robot army to accommodate the problem of having an obese society that's unable to physically fight. The possibilities are numerous when linked to old Yankee ingenuity. Imagine it, "couch potatoes" that are employed by the Military could just hit a button on their TV remote and control battles from the comfort of their own sofa. This would save on weapons costs, and the cost of man power. I know, MY BAD! ;P Seriously though, junk food in vending machines at schools have replaced a majority of the healthy foods offered because no one was buying the good stuff. It was rioting away and wasting money. The kids can still make healthy choices, although, the number of healthier food choices available has decreased in number. Edit: erm, Jen, maybe, the Yanks that are busting on ya, are secretly foreigner trolls imitating Americans. *silly me* Hey, but they try to dump on us a lot. We're innocent, I tell ya.

Answer 3

I think our worst enemy is food preservatives. No other country uses them as much as the US does!! There's also undiagnosed thyroid problems and doctors seem to know little about it. Even if the patient has been diagnosed, not many doctors understand the follow up treatments should include nutritional information. Most think that once you are on medication then the weight just falls right off. Not so! We also have the highest rate of arthritis, MS, MD, CP, to name but a few more! I personally would love to find out the true answer to your question because it absolutely is not the case of people sitting around on thier butts and overeating!! That's a fallacy.

Answer 4

we need to walk more-exercise in general
everybody has a car and nobody walks
when i started walking with my kid to school, he asked if the car was broken.
portion size-they are huge other countries could have a meal for 2-3 people with what we eat here
it's cheaper to eat bad food-that fake stuff is also addictive-you retrain your taste buds

i did read a study where they said that people actually take worse care of themselves in an economic boom -they delay medical visits and dental visits and because they are busy eat worse food-maybe bush and the bad economy are good for something

Answer 5

"Fancy that" Are you sure you aren't UK? Who says "fancy" in the US? Obesity in the US is a complicated mess of lifestyle, lack of exercise, stress. It is up to the individual, their significant others, and their doctor to work out a plan.

Answer 6

the reason why there are so many obese in US is, fastfoods are everywhere. junkfoods are cheap. chocolates are cheap. sodas are cheap. and in fastfoods, they offer a super size meals. why are you still wondering?

Answer 7

Bring back recess and phys ed in schools. Also, the liberals have to stop denying that obesity today is a bigger problem than "poverty."