Obesity is one of the biggest problems in America. It is one of the problems everyone sees everyday but doesn’t know how to help, or why these people are the way they are. It may seem like they are stuck being fat but there is so much more to obesity than just eating a lot of food.

To begin, there are many different causes of obesity. The most common is eating a lot of unhealthy foods. But why do people eat so many unhealthy foods? The convenience of preparing an unhealthy food is one reason why people eat them. A lot of kids play multiple sports, get done late, and still have to do homework. None of these kids want to wait a long time just for a healthy food. Children have no patience for food. If they want food they will go get some. In addition, the bad food is inexpensive. The convenient prices make it a lot easier to buy meals. Some of the healthy food costs a little more in price, which is a big deal especially for low income families. Unhealthy food is a lot easier on a family’s budget because kids play sports that cost way more than food. Why should we spend more money if we don’t have to? Another reason people eat unhealthy food is because it’s tempting. They look more filling and appetizing to the eye. The food is fattier, bigger, juicier, and exceptional. With this in mind, healthy food is just not as satisfying as unhealthy food. Although unhealthy food is a major factor, it is not the only cause of obesity. For instance, family and friends play a role in obesity. A family’s situation is one of the factors. A family’s income plays a part in the obesity problem. A low income family has a harder time buying healthy foods. Another key point about families and friends is that people tend to gain food habits of other people. If a friend or family member eats a lot, someone might start to eat that much food too. The more time people spend together, the more at risk people are of becoming overweight. Parents who are uninvolved in what their children eat do not help the situation of obesity. When children eat alone, they eat more than they normally would. Finally, many self-related factors can help with causing obesity. One of these causes is stress. It may not seem like stress is a big deal but it is. Some are worried over their relationships. They want to make sure they are doing everything right. People eat to settle their worries. Teenagers don’t want to deal with relationship troubles or problems with friends, so they eat to forget about the pain and stress.

Another aspect of obesity is its effects. Some of them have to do with your heart. The heart is one of the major muscles in the body and no one wants to mess with it. Heart damage is terrible and can only lead to worse problems. High blood pressure is related to obesity. High blood pressure can eventually lead to other heart diseases and conditions that are more severe/deadly. High blood pressure is also another name for hypertension. Hypertension is having abnormally high blood pressure, a serious heart risk. There is also the risk of heart failure which could cause breathing problems or completely shut down your heart. It can hurt you the most while you sleep because you don’t know if you will wake up in the morning. Obesity brings on too many risks that could kill you. Obesity can lead to certain diseases that can lead to death such as diabetes. In fact, “. . . 90% of type 2 diabetes cases are caused by extra weight.” Some other diseases include diseases of the heart, arteries, or kidney which are all important muscles in the body. Obesity can also kill you earlier than you think. People suffer more severely from diseases with obesity and have a shorter life expectancy.

On the positive side, there are many ways to treat obesity. One of them is dieting. One diet is a fad diet. This diet eliminates one food “group” such as carbohydrates. This diet will give short term effects in keeping the weight off. Another diet is the VLCD, or very low calorie diet. This is great if you want to get rid of fat quickly while reducing the loss of lean muscle tissue. Diets, in general, are not good for keeping off weight unless you put effort into it. Exercise, another key point in weight loss, can be a “positive addiction.” It gives people motivation to get the weight off. Plus, other people are in the gym working with you so you realize you aren’t the only one. Finally, there is surgery. Surgery can produce long term benefits. Some effective surgery procedures include Gastroplasty and Gastric Bypass surgery. These two procedures effectively reduce the size of a person’s stomach. All things considered, the obesity treatments work well.

One point completely missed a lot, is the question of if obesity is a disease or not. Some believe it is a disease because it may be part of heredity. Typically, children who have overweight parents are overweight or at risk of being overweight. These are the kids that have 3x more fat cells than normal-sized people. With this in mind, people who are obese store more fat. Even though this may be true, there is still dieting and other procedures that can be used to help get rid of the excess fat. People are just lazy and won’t do anything. Other factors deal with the person’s body. If there is an imbalance of the input and output of energy, then they will gain weight. To illustrate, people sit on the couch or at desks almost all day. They don’t get up and get active. If people aren’t willing to exercise then they are to blame. No one can balance a person’s energy than that person themselves. However diseases do not give any good effects. In contrast, obesity has some good qualities. It can help improve risk of bone diseases. If you are fatter, the less of a chance you have of getting osteoporosis. At the same time, Scoliosis is strongly related with people who have a lower body mass index. Another key point to notice is that food is appealing. There are commercials, and other advertisements to promote unhealthy food. Fatty foods are also very affordable and when the food industry gives healthier choices to people, those foods are rejected and they continue to by unhealthy food. Nothing in the body makes a person reject healthy food, it’s their choice.

All things considered, obesity is not a disease. There are too many outside causes for it. Surely there are internal causes but many of them are from the outside world. The treatments require effort from the obese person. Exercise is a great treatment for obesity but many people are too lazy and won’t help themselves. Notably, genetics don’t tell a person to do anything, which proves obesity is not a disease. Obesity is one of the major problems in America, but we can’t help those people, if those people won’t help themselves.