What Can Be Done About America's Weight Problem?
By: Darren Willoughby
America is getting fatter. There is no question in anyone's mind about that. The average person to day is more than doubly likely to be obese than just 25 years ago. Waistlines are expanding and Americans, as well as the whole world in general, are in the middle of one of the worst epidemics of all time. American Obesity is as big a disease as AIDS is in Africa.
You may wonder what the health risks are that are associated with heart disease. These risks include but are not limited to increased chance for diabetes, heart attacks, and strokes. Obesity kills.
What are some current operations or programs for weight loss? Fairly recently the US government classified obesity as a disease. What does this do for you? It makes your insurer more likely to pay for operations related to obesity. One such operation is called gastric bypass. Gastric bypass can only be done on morbidly obese patients (100 pounds or more overweight). It involves stapling your stomach so that it's the size of a little larger than a quarter and reattaching it to the small intestine.
Some other less drastic measures include stomach looping (similar to gastric bypass but not permanent therefore less likely to be paid for by insurance), Weight Watchers, and the Atkins Diet.
What can I do to prevent obesity in my young child? Well some experts would argue that nothing could be done. These people, called ethologists, believe that everything is born innate in a human being. However recent studies seem to be leaning more to the opposite side and saying that increased body mass along with a host of other things are related to the environment.
One way that environmental stimuli could affect a child is simply caring parents. Some parents reward their children with food. In other words, you got a 100 on a test! Let's have your favorite dinner. Or another seemingly innocent example. You played so well in your concert tonight. Let's go for Ice Cream. While this may seem innocent and doing it once or twice will in no way harm a child, continual positive reinforcement with food may create a psychological bond between food and pleasrue or success.
This author suggests that increased funding into athletic programs, educational programs, and research programs that deal with obesity would be a good start to fighting the epidemic. You can log on to the American Obesity Association's Website by going to www.obesity.org for more information.
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