Obesity

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Obesity in New Generation
As the modern society fights to eliminate a lot of epidemic diseases, there are new challenges of lifestyle diseases such as obesity which arise. Obesity has come out as an increasing worry in the new generation in comparison to other diseases. For instance, the incidence of overweight and obesity among children have become a global concern that is associated with increased health complications. Obesity is a condition of excessive or abnormal accumulation of fat in the body (Pool, 13). We can consider obesity as a disease because it is caused by physiological malfunction of the body system. The system of regulating weight among the obese people usually works as intended; however, it becomes a concern because the weight gained is very high and surpasses the desired status.
The issue of obesity predisposes the affected individual to increased risks developing other diseases (Pool, 13). Research shows that these risks increase as the degree of obesity increases. Obesity shortens an individual life expectancy by exposing obese people to the risk of developing high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and cancer complication in acute cases. Concern over the definition and the aspect of fat accumulation raises critical questions such as what value is average body fat and how fat is too much for one to be obese. For example, an overweight child may weigh relatively less than a healthy adult. Therefore, the weight alone does not define obesity.

The weight issue should be described in factors such as gender, age, and height. However, the primary responsibility is to address the causes, challenges, and consequences of obesity in the new generation.
Obesity among children has been documented as one of the chronic diseases that have negative health implications. The documentation does not exclude overweight as the two are related (Oliver, 192). As a result, obesity can be mistaken for overweight. However, by considering the body mass index (BMI), one realizes that the two are distinct health states. BMI is the ratio of the total weight of an individual in kilograms divided by a person’s height in squared meters (Kg/m2). Based on the BMI, a person is categorized as being overweight in the case of a BMI that ranges from 25 to 29.9 Kg/m2 while obesity is implicated when BMI is more than 30.0 Kg/m2.
According to Oliver, obesity is caused by the energy imbalance between the consumed calories and the burned calories by the body’s energy requirements; however; this is predominantly higher than the overweight BMI (191). Different factors have been found to be responsible for increased cases of obesity among the new generation. One of the key relevant factors is the lifestyle, a combination of needs, motivations and wants to be impacted by family, culture, and reference groups have been substantially associated with causing diabetes. For example, the current generation has adopted sedentary lifestyles. They eat fast foods that are energy dense but their levels of physical exercise are very small. Some parents of the new generation prefer their children to be driven to and from school rather than walking. While at home the children do not engage in sports as it used to be in the old days; instead, they spend most of their time watching TV or on social media. So, the excess calories are not burnt, and they end up accumulating in the body and over time they result in overweight and subsequently obesity. This instigates the need for enrolling children to the curriculum since, at school, children focus on reading, and there is very little time according to extra curricula activities.
Apart from the excessive consumption of energy dense foods and the low levels of exercise, there are others factors such as genetics and the community environment that increase the risk of becoming obese. Scientific investigations have shown that there are cases where obesity runs in the family later indicating a possibility of genetic risk factors (Hernandez and Blazer, 257). The alteration of the gene structure leading to a variant that probably can be passed over to the next generation, thus in return single-gene mutations has been significantly linked to several cases of human obesity (Juan and Gullans, 4). This infers that some people will become obese due to the combination of factors such as food consumption, the level of physical exercise and genetics. However, the subject of genetic as a causative factor has been contested slowly with arguments that in areas with no adequate food supply, cases of obesity have not been reported. Although the claim over genetics has received repeated criticism, experts have insisted that it is a contributing factor which is excessively manifested if another causative factor is present.
Various physiological influences may predispose the current generation to the risk of being obese. According to Hernandez, Lyla, and Dan Blazer (258), every individual has a predetermined weight which the body tries to regulate and maintain. This is because persons of the same size and age have digressing metabolism rates based on the contributing factors of obesity. The rate at which the body burn calorie determines the prevalence to obesity. Individuals with a reduced and low metabolism level require limited energy calories to maintain a healthy body state. However, they are more likely to develop obesity complications due to the slow metabolism rates. Persons with a higher metabolism rate manage to burn body excess fats. They are also least likely to develop obesity and other related complications.
On the other hand, community environment explores information and resources present in the community. For example, the current community environment is characterized by a lot of media advertisements that encourage and glorify the consumption of the diets that have a lot of calories. The new generation is reluctant to physical exercises which emanate from walking. Cars are now used even for distances where one can walk and therefore burn some calories. However, the advent of new technology has reduced the number of physical activities as most tasks are now automated. This suggests that the new generations are tempted to select foods based on what they saw in the TV advertisements that are usually unhealthy options rather than considering the nutritional aspect. Also, eating while watching TV may expose the new generation to increased energy consumption (Jordan, 10). This is the case for children who like watching movies while having their snacks. The remedy to the TV problem is active education role and advising children on good health practices. Also, parents need to remove the TV in children’s bedrooms and animate the attentive viewing by monitoring the watched screen media and turning off the TV while they eat. Some eating disorders such as binge eating, bulimia nervosa, and anorexia nervosa predispose an individual to the risk of being obese.
Obesity presents significant health challenges to the body health system. It is considered a major contributor to other chronic diseases such hypertension, and other cardiovascular diseases. This implies that if the problem is not controlled, the new generation will have increased cases of diseases and their quality of lifestyles will be destitute (Hernandez and Blazer, 259). A sick generation will mean that there will be no economic progress and the social activities will also reduce. It has been said that ‘prevention is better than cure.’ Parents, guardians and health care providers should inform the children of the need for better and improved nutrition. Also, there should be interventions that promote physical well-being at the family and school levels.
Prevention of obesity requires a change that will convince individuals to adopt healthy lifestyles that guarantee long-term good health benefits. There should be increased physical exercise and healthy diet. People diagnosed with obesity problems should make informed and sound choices that aim at improving their health. This is because most of these food companies which engage in advertising unhealthy diets only focus on the financial gains rather than the health of the population. Many of the adverts about foods displayed on our screens are about food companies with the malicious intention of increasing their overall sales. There is the tendency of many food companies to manufacture products that have long shelf life. Hence, they use preservatives that are mostly unhealthy as a cost-effective approach to maximize profit levels (Pollan, 567). People should turn to the consumption of natural foods that our grandparents ate as compared to what we eat today. Research shows that there is a significant variation on what they used to eat and the related health benefits as compared to what the new generation is consuming.
Obesity should be studied on a personal level before focusing on the national level where it becomes an epidemic. Weight loss is a personal responsibility which starts with adopting the notion or believing in the fact that it is possible to lose weight and retain a normal and healthy body weight. However, this calls for higher levels of self-esteem by believing in oneself. This approach interrupts any desire to eat fatty diets in the aim of maintaining a healthy body. This can only be compared with personal discipline where one vows to engage in vigorous physical activities designed to burning excess calories. An example of physical exercises is going to the gym every day or engaging in aerobic exercises that are also crucial in burning excess fats. However, everyone should have a personal balanced dietary plan that excludes any fast food and those containing high-fat content.
Physicians recommend that any attempt to reduce body weight should be gradual and span over an extensively period. This gives the body ability to adapt to the new environment and other changes taking place in the body. The most crucial point is to avoid offsetting the rate of metabolism in the body as this may cause unexpected changes in the body. A good example is when an obese individual decides to gradually ration his/her food or even miss some meals with the aim of reducing weight. If such a change is very abrupt, such individuals continue increasing weight rather than losing some weight. However, several proposed approaches can be used to treat various causes of obesity such as the body eating behavior pattern (Jordan, 17). Psychological counseling proves to be the best approach to treating various eating disorders such as binge eating. However, caution should be taken to follow up on the medical and nutritional necessities related with each predisposing factor of obesity. Doctors advise that an early intervention of obesity is crucial in the prevention and treatment of obesity. This is because obesity is still at its early stages of development and therefore easier to manage and contain.
In conclusion, it is evident that obesity has become a significant health issue that affects the new generation and leads to adverse social, mental, and physical status among the affected persons. The principal causes of the obesity problem have been proven to be the lifestyle, the environment that centers on the excessive promotion of unhealthy foods, and genetic factors. Fortunately, most of these causing factors can be avoided except the genetic issues. However, the family environment can be changed to enhance increased physical activities and healthy eating habits. It is important for people to come together to address the problem by educating all people on dangers of obesity. This will go a long way in changing the lifestyle of people and ensure that there is a healthy generation for tomorrow. Doctors advise that an early intervention of obesity is crucial in the prevention and treatment of obesity (Juan, Enriquez, and Steve, 16). This is because obesity is still at its early stages of development and therefore easier to manage and contain. The famous saying that prevention is better that cure calls for action measures to develop habits that address the issue of obesity. The bottom line is to have reduced incidences of obesity through the collective responsibility of individual and the efforts of other stakeholders within the medical profession.
`Works Cited
Hernandez, Lyla, and Dan Blazer. Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment: Genes, Behavior, And The Social Environment: Moving Beyond Nature/Nurture Debate. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2006. Print.
Jordan, Amy. Overweight and Obesity in America’s Children: Causes, Consequences, Solutions. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2008. Print.
Juan, Enriquez, and Steve Gullans. Evolving Ourselves: How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation Are Changing Life on Earth. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.
Oliver, Eric. Fat Politics: The Real Story behind America’s Obesity Epidemic. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Web.
Pollan, Michael. Putting it Back Together Again: Processed Foods. Eschholz, 2009, Print.
Pool, Robert. Fat: Fighting the Obesity Epidemic. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Web.