U.S. Domestic issues Review paper #1

Domestic Issue Paper #1
Soc 3380 cross-cultural relations
Nile Finney

Obesity in America
In America there are plenty of illnesses and epidemics that ruin the lives of people especially young ones. Although there are cures for a lot of sicknesses; one illness seems to be rising in victims. Obesity in America is rising and rising fast. Michelle Obama just made the problem with obesity in America into a campaign and a national issue because of its severity. In a recent survey, polls show that America is ranked number one in the top 50 countries that suffer from obesity.
So with these facts being made public to people all over the world, it makes me wonder. Why are people in America still obese and who is to blame? The answer to the question is that parents are not doing a good job by regulating what their children eat. I mean conditioning in a sense that once you become obese by eating unhealthy foods it is very hard for the victim to stop eating the source. American citizens are looking for people to put the blame on someone for this epidemic. Some people say it is the government’s fault for not regulating what foods people eats which I think is ridiculous. America is the land of the free and I think the government does a good job on food regulation. Anyone that goes to school from grade school to college has had at least 10 health classes. I can remember in 1st grade there being food pyramid charts posted in all the classrooms. So I think it is unfair to blame the government. Other citizens try and put that blame on kids and say that it it’s their fault they are so big. A small part of me agrees with these accusations, but not fully. Yeah, these kids are the ones putting the food in their mouths but who gave them the food. Which brings me to who I think should get all the blame and that is the parents.
In my eyes parents deserve all the blame for America’s serious problem with obesity. Parents are lacking in giving their children proper discipline with food. I have seen parents on shows and in real life just give their children whatever they want because they don’t feel like hearing them whine. That to me is just wrong because that’s what kids do best is whine and if parents aren’t ready to hear that then they shouldn’t have had kids. Parents for the most part have most of the control in what their kids eat. I was watching the TV show Oprah and it was on this kid that was very obese (over 1000lbs). He was sixteen years old and was projected not to live to see his twenty first birthday. If being sick was a good thing he would be a MVP. This kid had high blood pressure, diabetes, and a truck load of heart problems. To save his life he had to get a procedure called a gastric bypass but had to receive a couple surgeries before the bypass because doctors thought his body wouldn’t allow him to survive through the main surgery. This kid was not obese his whole life. His parents who were feeding him all the time made him this way. Every weekend they would have a party for him for no reason filled with high cholesterol foods. On average for lunch he would eat 3 double cheese burgers and fries which his mother would cook for him every day. To me this is a form of neglect. The parents might have had good intentions but little did they know they were killing their child.
So as you can see I feel that parents should get a huge part of the blame. Food can become a drug just like cocaine. People can easily get addicted to the source not taking consideration for their own well being. I feel there needs to be a drastic change in either parental guidance in health or food products not being so high in cholesterol. If a change doesn’t come fast then in the next twenty years all we will see are obese people. And with obesity comes health problems and list of other terrible ailments. If this is to happen I really think then that America’s national security would start to be at risk also.








Reference page
Mokdad AH, Serdula M, Dietz W, et al. The spread of the obesity epidemic in the United States, 1991-1998. JAMA 1999;282:1519-1522
Mokdad AH, Serdula M, Dietz W, et al. The continuing obesity epidemic in the United States. JAMA 200;284:1650-1651
Mokdad AH, Bowman BA, Ford ES, et al. Prevalence of obesity, Diabetes, and obesity related health risk factors, 2001. JAMA 2003:289;76-79