Heart
attack. Stroke. Type II diabetes. Cancer. These are all top causes of premature
deaths in the world. What most people don’t know is that every single one of
those diseases could be reduced or even completely prevented if it weren’t for
the continuously rising rates of obesity (Woolston, Chris. “Why Is There an Obesity Epidemic). The
word “epidemic” might seem like a dramatized way to define the spread of
obesity, but it is a serious disease that has taken control over people’s lives
and killed many before their time. Obesity, unlike most other epidemics, has
taken a very long time to cause the damage that it has. In fact, the “sketchy history of obesity started 30,000 years ago, dated
to about 25,000 B.C., is the “Venus of Willendorf,”’ (Henry Buchwald, MD,
PhD. “A
Brief History of Obesity: Truths and Illusions”).
Not only has obesity itself been dated back a long time, but also the discovery
of the damage that it can do to our bodies. “The relationship of other diseases
to obesity is ancient and can be dated back to Egypt in the 15th century B.C.”
(Henry Buchwald, MD,
PhD. “A
Brief History of Obesity: Truths and Illusions”). The relationship between
health and weight is vital, but that hasn’t stopped people from becoming obese,
in fact, obesity levels are at an all-time high (Henry Buchwald, MD, PhD. “A Brief History of Obesity: Truths and Illusions”).
“World Health Organization data lists that 1.9 billion adults
aged 18 years and older as overweight and 650 million as obese. More than 340
million children worldwide aged 5 to 19 years are overweight or obese” (Henry Buchwald, MD,
PhD. “A
Brief History of Obesity: Truths and Illusions”). The worst of the epidemic
lies solely in the United States, where “about 100
million adults and 12.7 million children are obese. Every U.S. state has a
greater than 20% prevalence rate of obesity, with 22 states exceeding 30%” (Henry Buchwald, MD,
PhD. “A
Brief History of Obesity: Truths and Illusions”). The big question is, why?
Although obesity rates have been on
the rise since biblical times, it wasn’t until the 1900’s that its steady
growth had a massive spike that has continued to rise at rocket speeds ever
since.
“The second half of the 20th century witnessed
explosive growth in the variety, affordability and ubiquity of junk food and
fast food. Innovations in manufacturing, packaging, transporting and marketing
junk food − particularly to children − turned a rare treat into a steady diet
for millions. And all the big companies employ an army of food scientists who
know just how to get us coming back for more” (Roos, Dave. “How Junk Food Works.” HowStuffWorks).
Beforehand, obesity was simply a result of
gluttony and a show of wealth, but what really made obesity an epidemic was
from the introduction of junk food and fast food. It wasn’t that people wanted
to eat bad, it’s that over time the amount of fast/junk food started to
outnumber the majority of food available. Not only was there more junk/ fast
food being produced, it was and still is the highest marketed, cheapest, most
accessible type of food on the market (Roos, Dave. “How Junk Food Works.” HowStuffWorks).
Obesity
has affected our society greatly, and not only has it affected the United
States, but it has slowly crept its way around the world. Although junk/ fast
food had its start in the United States Marketers, food scientists, and
everyone involved in the production of all of the new and exciting junk food
were too greedy to stop there. Now, we see a prevalence of foods with “vanishing
caloric density” around the world, and especially in places of high poverty
levels because that is all they can afford (Roos, Dave. “How Junk Food Works.” HowStuffWorks).
Along with the spread of junk food
and fast food was the spread of obesity and rising rates of the diseases that
are linked to it. (Roos, Dave. “How Junk Food Works.” HowStuffWorks).
Both the United States and the
World have been overtaken by this epidemic and its effects on people can be
clearly seen. It has been known that this epidemic needs to be stopped, but the
question that is now haunting almost half of the world in their sleep is, how
do I lose the weight now?
The medical industry has
produced many “solutions” to obesity that may or may not be reliably
sustainable options to stopping the ongoing growth of this epidemic, however,
they do help erase obesities effects on the people that have fallen into its
grip. Some of these solutions include prescription weight-loss medications,
weight-loss surgeries, and behavioral changing therapy/ counseling (“Obesity.” Mayo
Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research). Weight loss
pills often times get a stigma around them that they don’t really work, but
what most people don’t realize is that they still have to put in their own
efforts to lose weight in combination with the medication. “Weight-loss
medications aren't an
easy answer to weight loss, but they can be a tool to help you adopt the
lifestyle changes you need to lose weight and improve your health” (Pros
and Cons of Weight-Loss Drugs.” Mayo Clinic).
The Gastric Bypass is a weight-loss surgery that “shrinks the size of your stomach, so you can't eat as much as
you used to” and is one of the medical fields answers to keeping people from
overeating (Robinson, Jennifer. “Gastric Bypass Surgery). What many
don’t know is that this surgery is very risky, expensive, and even requires the
patient to lose some weight before the operation (Robinson, Jennifer. “Gastric
Bypass Surgery). Also, in an experiment on post-surgery patients, the study
found that “Despite initial
successful weight loss, 73%
had weight regain” (Jirapinyo, Pichamol, et al. “Weight Regain). Lastly,
because mental well-being is a big aspect of why people gain weight, behavioral
therapy can be a good option to help assist people on their weight-loss
journeys. Therapy on its own will not cause weight-loss, but rather a change in
habits and mentality that previously limited the ability to commit to a healthy
diet and/or exercise (Matta, Christy. “5 Cognitive-Behavioral Strategies for
Losing Weight).
In
all reality, the easiest, cheapest, most viable solution to obesity is not
found within drugs and surgeries but in long-term diet and lifestyle changes.
In fact, M.D. Brierley Wright suggests that
“Diet and exercise are both important for weight loss. What
you eat affects your health and physical activity has numerous health benefits.
But, if you really want to see that number on the scale drop, what you put in
your mouth matters most. People who simply cut calories to slim down lose about
2 pounds a week, says a study in the International Journal of Obesity
and Related Metabolic Disorders. At the same time, people who exercise but
don't restrict calories drop less than half a pound each week” (Wright,
Brierley, M.D. “Diet & Exercise for Weight-Loss).
The only problem with
this solution is that many people aren’t willing enough to go through the
manual labor and effort needed to achieve a healthy weight. Every single weight
loss option available to people who have become obese is not considered a
permanent solution because the only way to keep the weight off is to stop
overeating. Stopping the initial weight gain is the only way to not be effected
by obesity. By not allowing it to happen in the first place there would be no
need to reverse its effects if it never became a problem.
I
believe that Camus’ theory on absurdity relates to the obesity epidemic because
obesity is something that we as a people have completely done to ourselves. The
thought that we somehow managed to create chemically enhanced junk food with
zero nutritional value and ten times the amount of calories than fruits and
veggies, then thought it was ok and safe to make it legal is completely absurd.
To add on to how absurd it is, we then decided that it was a good idea to make
THAT “food” more advertised, accessible, affordable to consumers than any other
type of food. Junk food is certainly not the only reason people have become
obese. However, like I mentioned before, whenever all of these food fads hit
the market is when obesity rates sky rocketed. We wouldn’t have had to create
expensive, unreliable drugs and surgeries to reverse obesities effects if
marketers weren’t so greedy to make a quick buck by shoving junk food and fast
food commercials down our throats by every possible way of advertisement.
Marketing of unhealthy food is one of the things that should be stopped but
isn’t, and that is just fueling consumers to buy and eat unhealthy things. In
fact, every aspect of obesity, from the food to the marketing to the medical
solutions to our sedentary and unwilling lifestyles can be related to Camus’
beliefs because every last bit of this epidemic is completely and utterly
absurd.
Knowing that Camus believed that almost everything in
life was absurd in some way or another, I believe he would think this epidemic
is just as absurd as I do. Since Camus believes that there is no real purpose
to life, the efforts put into making food look and taste more artificial for
the fun of it would seem absurd to him because he would eat whatever food came
from the earth being that there is no purpose in creating “empty calorie” food.
However, because he believes there is no purpose in life, I imagine that he
would think that there is no point in finding solutions to fix this epidemic.
Obesity is a crucial aspect of our generation and it most
certainly needs to be discussed more. A solution to this epidemic is
unquestionably necessary, and it doesn’t lie within medicine but within
ourselves. It is important for us to realize just how much our weight affects
our overall health, and that by stopping this ongoing epidemic we will be able
to save and prolong many lives. Just like this epidemic slowly grew to be out
of hand, it will take the same effort and time to reduce its doings on the
earth. Not everyone will join because over eating to the point of obesity is a
choice, and it will take a lot of determination to change habits and lifestyles
over the course of many generations. Being that we are in the midst of this
epidemic, unless we make permanent changes, we will most certainly be at risk
of a future surge of obesity. The time to start this change needed to start
years ago, but if we don’t make changes in our food choices and lifestyles now,
then obesity rates will continue to skyrocket until the majority of the world
becomes obese and the term “thin” will be defined by a BMI of less than 40
(which is already 10 over the point of obesity). I’m not trying to scare
anyone, but these type of things need to be said for our generation to become
aware of the fatal effects obesity can have on us.
Works
Cited
Woolston, Chris. “Why Is There an Obesity Epidemic?” Consumer
HealthDay, 1 Jan.
2019,
consumer.healthday.com/encyclopedia/weight-control-39/obesity-health-news-505/why-is-there-an-obesity-epidemic-644677.html.
Henry
Buchwald, MD, PhD. “A Brief History of Obesity:
Truths and Illusions” Clinical
Oncology News, 20 Jul. 2018,
clinicaloncology.com/Current-Practice/Article/07-18/A-Brief-History-of-Obesity-Truths-and-Illusions/51221
Roos, Dave. “How Junk Food Works.” HowStuffWorks,
HowStuffWorks, 3 Apr. 2015,
recipes.howstuffworks.com/junk-food1.htm.
“Obesity.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for
Medical Education and Research, 10 June 2015,
“Pros and Cons of Weight-Loss Drugs.” Mayo
Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education
and Research, 18 Sept. 2018, www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/weight-loss-drugs/art-20044832.
Robinson, Jennifer. “Gastric Bypass Surgery.” WebMD,
WebMD, 6 Aug. 2018,
Jirapinyo, Pichamol, et al. “Weight Regain after
Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass Has a Large
Negative Impact on the Bariatric
Quality of Life Index.” BMJ Open Gastroenterology, BMJ Specialist
Journals, 1 Sept. 2017, bmjopengastro.bmj.com/content/4/1/e000153.
Matta, Christy. “5 Cognitive-Behavioral Strategies
for Losing Weight.” World of Psychology, 8
July 2018,
psychcentral.com/blog/5-cognitive-behavioral-strategies-for-losing-weight-that-work/.
Wright, Brierley, M.D. “Diet & Exercise for
Weight-Loss: What's the Best Way to Lose
Weight?” EatingWell,
EatingWell, 29 June 2017, www.eatingwell.com/article/281328/diet-exercise-for-weight-loss-whats-the-best-way-to-lose-weight/.
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