Mackenzie Evers

English 102

Research Paper

20 April 2017

Our Culture is Killing us

Every individual strives to one day achieve a happy, healthy life. Sadly, many lose that

opportunity at a very premature age when their lifestyle is controlled by the culture and

surroundings they are raised in. Many ignorant adults do not see the importance in teaching

young children healthy life-long habits. In this generation, technology is rising above the time

spent doing other activities. This is taking a toll on the suggested 60 minutes of physical activity

doctors believe is needed. The endorsement of unhealthy eating choices seen in advertisements

is at an alarming high. According to the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale

University, fast food restaurants topped the list of which advertisements are seen most by

children, with a child age 12-17 averaging watching 1,416 fast food advertisements each year,

the next closest being advertisements for candy with only 476 a year. (Statista 1) Just because an

unhealthy lifestyle is easier to achieve, that does not mean humans should fall into negative

behaviors considering how badly these choices are catching up to this country. In this

generation, obesity is becoming a major issue with the individuals culture being a driving force

behind the epidemic because of parents teachings, advertisements, and technology.

Obesity is not the moderately overweight man walking on the treadmill at the gym trying

to lose his extra weight. This epidemic is not just a matter of obese people deciding to eat less

and exercise more often. This is a disease that starts at a young age and continues to progress

through out the victims life span. The American Heart Association has an informative article
titled Understanding the American Obesity Epidemic, where the author explains different

topics relating to obesity, such as societys role, the past and present, and successful strategies.

The article states the number of adults suffering from obesity is at a high of 78 million, with 13

million children also dealing with the health and emotional effects of the disease every day.

(Understanding the American Obesity Epidemic 1) That is a very significant number of United

States citizens suffering from a disease that can be prevented. The article What is Obesity?

from obesity.org, states that this disease is defined as excess adipose tissue. This descriptive

article analyzes what obesity is and how to clarify if someone has obesity or not. The amount of

adipose tissue an individual has is most commonly determined by their BMI. This is a short

abbreviation for body mass index which is a mathematical calculation, dividing a persons body

weight in kilograms by their height in meters squared (What is Obesity? 1). The American

Heart Association states if the individual a BMI of 30 or greater, they are classified as obese.
 What Causes Obesity?

Amy Miller, a senior fellow at the Institute of Health Economics, wrote an article through

LexisNexis Academics on every topic related to obesity you can think of, but her main argument

is the reasons why obesity starts at a young age. The changing nature of how children engage

with their physical environment is one factor in the dramatic increase in childhood obesity

(Miller 1). Older generations always pass down stories about the home made dinners their

mothers created, while they played outside and waited to be called in for their fresh meal. Who

would have imagined that, at the extreme, our children would be sitting in the backseat of

climate-controlled minivans watching movies on personal DVD players while eating takeout

fast-food meals? (Miller 2) The always evolving innovations of technology are causing major

changes, keeping kids inside and sedentary, generating more screen time and less outdoor and

physical activities. These innovations include the internet, strategic video games, and all of the

options for any television show or movie they could ever want to watch at the click of a button.

Amy states, Over the course of a week, their exposure to media is equivalent to a full-time job

(Miller 2). This alarming quote should put into perspective the substantial amount of time

minors are spending glued to technology.

PublicHealth.org posted an article titled, Obesity in America, which also covers the

reasons why obesity numbers in this country are multiplying, and likewise believes inactivity is a

major culprit. This source states a strong point, saying Its been decades since most Americans

worked in fields and on factory floors, a far greater majority of us are sitting throughout our

workday. This means less exercise each day. According to one study, only 20% of todays jobs

require at least moderate physical activity, as opposed to 50% of jobs in 1960 (PublicHealth.org

3). Inactivity is the new normal in this generation. The ways people travel are also showing
sedentary behavior, Americans walk less than people in any other industrialized country,

preferring to sit in cars to get around (PublicHealth.org 3). In the end, weight gain and loss is a

mixed equation of total calories consumed and total calories burned off. If children are sitting in

front of technology for the majority of their day and adults are situated in their work chair all day

long, those calories are building up and not being burned off, which is leading to weight gain

which ultimately results in the horrible disease of obesity. The increasing role of media

technology in the lives of children explains, in part, how the equation between physical activity

and food consumption has become so out of balance (Hiller 1).

I Conducted a Survey

I conducted a survey to examine what ordinary people off of my Facebook friends list

thin about this topic. After about a week of keeping my survey up, I had 65 responses from a

random list of people. I first started off with the question, Do you believe culture causes

obesity?, the feedback for this question was the closest out of them all, with 38 respondents

picking yes, 21 choosing no, and 6 being indifferent. I understood that in return because of the

vagueness of the question. The next question I challenged them with having to choose which of

the three choices is the biggest cause of obesity, between parents, technology, and advertisement.

Prior to my research, I would have selected parents. Not surprisingly, 31 people picked parents,

18 picked technology, with the 16 remaining choosing advertisement. Apparently, a lot of people

had the same thought process. The third question asked if they think there is a solution for

obesity. I believe there is, and so did 50 other people who completed this survey. Out of those 50

people, I asked what they believe the solution is for this epidemic. Most of the written responses

said fixing eating habits and exercising more would work, but a majority of them also had to do

with parents teaching healthy lifestyles from a young age. Since many had strong opinions about
obesity, the next question asked if they individually take steps in their life to avoid obesity. It was

uplifting to see the responses for this one because 49 people out of 65 go out of their way to

avoid the disease, which is 75%. Following that question, the next one asked, if so, what steps?

A lot of the answers had to do with eating healthy and putting time aside to workout and focus on

making themselves better and stronger. Some examples of the responses are, Eating healthy,

working out, making my own food instead of going out to eat at a restaurant and Eat well, in

moderation. Do not be sedentary. That was the end of my survey questions. I wanted to keep it

shorter so the responders would not lose interest. Conducting this survey really helped me in

writing this research paper because it was interesting to see what other people think about this

topic without prior research.

 Imagine This

Imagine having your 10-year-old son lose breath after trying to run up the court in his

first real basketball game while all of his friends and teammates wait for him to catch up. Think

of your daughter not being able to fit into the trendy outfits like all the other girls at school

because of her size with and feeling isolated all throughout her middle school years. She would

struggle with self-confidence every single day. What about having a son who dreams of excelling

in football but cannot play the sport normally because his back and joints are always in pain.

This is what obesity does to children. They start out their life with problems that can ultimately

turn into more serious health complications that will become fatal. Obesity can also cause

changes you may not notice, but can seriously harm your health, such as high blood pressure and

high cholesterol levels. Both conditions significantly increase your risk of developing a

cardiovascular disease, such as coronary heart disease and stroke (HealthDirect 2). This disease

will also affect family and friend relationships which can lead to depression because of the

tension and judgment from others. What kind of parent would set their children up for this kind

of life? These children are living a life full of health problems and criticism, all because their

guardians lacked the parental skills to save their young one from a life of obesity.

As mentioned earlier in this essay, fast food restaurants topped the list of which

advertisements are seen most by children, with a kid age 12-17 averaging watching 1,416 fast

food advertisements each year, the next closest being advertisements for candy with only 476 a

year (Statista 1). Children are exposed to the most advertising through broadcast and cable

television, with U.S. food manufacturers spending 95% of their advertising budget on

commercials for television. (Hiller 2) Technological innovations in media have contributed to the

high rise of childhood obesity by exposing them to highly coordinated advertising campaigns. It
does not help that many fast-food restaurants use toys from featured films to connect with young

children. McDonalds Happy Meals always featured fun toys from many different Sony

animations, one example being Surfs Up penguin figures. Doing this, kids get very excited over

ordering a Happy Meal because of the surprise tucked in the grease-filled box. This is fast-food

restaurants sneaky way of getting kids intrigued because they know they will fall for it. When

parents are driving through town, kids usually look out the window at the scenery around them.

These days, this scenery is filled with advertisements on all sorts of things, from billboards to

city busses. Outdoor advertising is a $6.8 billion industry (Hiller 3). Sadly, most of these blank

canvasses turn out to be promoting unhealthy, dollar menu burgers at McDonalds or the new

special going on for frostys at Wendys. The growing amount of time families spend away from

home is increasing the purchases of fast food dinners. (Hiller 4) The fast-food industry knows

exactly how to take over the minds of children and persuade them to choose the unhealthy

choice, while parents follow right into the trap.

Others say

Some individuals do not believe obesity can be controlled. In their opinion, patients who

suffer from this disease did nothing to bring it upon themselves, and they think pulling away

from obesity is near impossible. People do not want to believe that their loved ones with obesity

brought it upon themselves, but their lifestyles made this disease their reality. Doctors and

psychiatrists from the University of Pennsylvania talked about the obstacles of obesity, the first

one is informing people that obesity is a preventable and treatable disease. Arthur Frank from is

the director of George Washington Universitys Obesity Management Program states people

dont have to lose all their excess weight in order to accomplish a great deal, which is

overcoming obesity (Frank 3). Weight loss is a difficult task to overcome. Some think only

dieting is needed, but healthy eating mixed with physical activity is the key. Diet is most

important in losing weight, exercise is most important in keeping it off (Heart.org 2). People do

not think there is a treatment for obesity, they believe they are stuck with the disease their whole

life. No, there is not a single drug created that will fix the epidemic, but there are 6 medications

that are approved for the long term treatment of obesity. (Obesity.org 3) Over the past years,

diet fads have come and gone, with people rushing to blame red meat, dairy, wheat, fat, sugar,

etc. for making them fat, but in reality, the problem is much simpler. Genetics and age do

influence metabolism, but as the CDC points out, weight gain and loss is primarily a formula of

total calories consumed versus total calories used (PublicHealth.org 4).

Obesity affects some groups more than others

Other than culture causing obesity, it can also affect the prevalence of obesity in different

places on the globe with different religions and groups. The Center for Disease Control and

Prevention has an article on obesity called Adult Obesity Facts, where they listed a number of

important statistics regarding the disease. For example, non-Hispanic blacks have the highest

rates of obesity with 48.1%, followed by Hispanics at 42.5%, after that is non-Hispanic white at

34.5% and non-Hispanic Asians at 11.7%. (Cdc.gov 2) This is interesting to think about because

of the different practices each group has specific to them, and what if something they do is one of

the main causes of obesity? Among non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American men, those

with higher incomes are more likely to have obesity than those with low income (Cdc.gov 3).

High-income women are exactly opposite; they are less likely to have obesity than low-income

women. (Cdc.gov 3) There has to be some sort of explanation for this fact, but we do not know

what that is. Another interesting fact about women is that those with college degrees are less

likely to have obesity compared to less educated women. (Cdc.gov 3) More than one-third of

U.S. adults have obesity (Cdc.gov 3), which should prove to people that this is an epidemic that

needs to be dealt with. No matter what religion you are, what language you speak, or what social

class you fit into, you are still at risk for this horrible disease and need to do everything you can

to prevent it from taking over your body.

Are parents the problem?

Robert K. Ross, president and chief executive officer of the California Endowment said,

The research shows us that one of the keys to solving the teen obesity crisis starts with parents.

Growing up, mothers always finished dinner by saying Clean your plate before you can leave

the dinner table. While speeding home from late night practices, they would realize there was

no time to make a home cooked meal, so fast food drive-thrus were the next option. When a

parent raises a child to eat out more than a few times a week, they should expect the child to

begin having weight problems. The parent has trained the child to eat fast food meals often

instead of raising him or her with healthy home cooked meals (thepolypost.com 3). Children

tend to eat what their parents eat. If their mom loves Coke and chicken nuggets from

McDonalds, the child is more likely to enjoy that meal also. Teens whose parents drink soda

every day are nearly 40 percent more likely to drink soda every day (LiveScience 2). Most

parents are not educated enough on healthy eating and a healthy way of living, or they do not the

discipline themselves so they do not push their children to the right choices either. One of the

main problems is parents making kids eat everything on their plate. By doing this, their stomach

is stretching in size, when really they should stop eating when they feel full. (Thepolypost.com

3) Another mistake parents make is bribing their child with dessert. They tell their kids they can

have dessert if they behave well, this is a bad idea because then they grow up believing sweets is

what will make them feel good, and this habit might stay with them for the rest of their life

which would make sweets turn into comfort food as adults. (Thepolypost.com 3) Children are

not going to go out of their way to eat healthy if their parents are not enforcing it. Kids would

choose to live off ice cream if they could. Letting a child become a couch potato because it is

more convenient for the parents schedule is selfish parenting (Thepolypost.com 4).
A Real Life Situation

Everyone knows obesity is prevalent around the world, but most do not think about the

effects this disease actually has. Except in the case of this 10-year-old, the effects could not last

long, because he died at John Hopkins Hospital in Newcastle, on September 29, 2010. May

Slater from Daily Mail wrote this news article posted on September 26, 2014. He was declared

brain dead after a heart attackat 10 years old. The worst part about this situation is that the

parents were informed multiple times that he could die if he did not lose his excess weight. Yet,

they continued to feed him junk food and even did not show up for a numerous amount of his

doctor appointments. The first time the boy went to the hospital he was seven years old. At that

age, he weighed 110 pounds and had a body mass index of 30, with the normal being a range of

14-20. Months later, his parents lied to the hospital claiming he was doing a lot better and did not

need follow up appointments. Soon enough, it was too late for this little boy. These parents did

not listen to the warning and ultimately suffered for it. 10-year-olds should not be suffering from

obesity and dying from heart attacks. The death of this boy is a very sad reminder of the tragic

consequences of childhood obesity (Dailymail.com 5). Childhood obesity should be treated

right away, once the signs show medical treatment is needed immediately to get the child back

on track to live a long and happy life.

 Obesity can be prevented,

and should to be by the pursuit of a

healthy lifestyle. 36% of adults

living in the United States are

suffering from this disease.

(Cdc.gov 1) While 14% of 2 to 5

year olds and 31.3% of children

aged 10-17 are obese as well.

(Stateofobesity.org 3) This

epidemic is taking over our

generation and it is getting worse year by year according to the Rudd Center for Food Policy and

Obesity at Yale University. Parents need to come to the realization that they are the ones

harming their kids by setting them up for this unhealthy life from a young age. Growing up in

this generation throws a lot of new twists at you, like the uprising of technology that is present in

this day and age. It is difficult for kids to understand when enough is enough and when it is time

to pack it up and go spend some time outside doing physical activities and enjoy the fresh air.

Advertisers need to take responsibility to promote healthy options to save this generation. In this

generation, obesity is becoming a major issue with the individuals culture being a driving force

behind the epidemic because of parents teachings, advertisements, and technology.

 Mackenzie Evers

English 102

Works Cited

4 May, 2017

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