Obesity in America

Obesity in America has become a major problem and there are several factors as to why. According to the article “Obesity in America: What's Driving the Epidemic?” the obesity rate has increased 50 percent in the past 40 years, which means that two in every three American adults are now overweight or obese. As a health professional, I think this is something that should be taken seriously and we should take a stand. A major contribution to obesity is that more people are eating fast foods and not working out. Another factor affecting the rising rate of obesity is the school systems in America cutting out physical education, which I think is a problem because physical education is just as important as other subjects being taught to our youth. By cutting P.E. out of schools, children are starting to get taught that P.E. and working out is not important. These children then become grown-ups who have that mindset. Also, I think there should be more defined areas on what P.E. teachers should be teaching. School system need to weed out the old “roll out the ball” teachers, because this is not teaching our youth how to live a healthy life and to me this shows me that the teachers with the “roll out the ball” method really not taking their jobs serious.

Nightline did a background study to try to find out why obesity has risen even though the efforts to fix this growing problem have doubled. His video takes you into that study.