Michelle Obama brought the issue of obesity to the forefront in front of a meeting of the U.S. Mayors today. She called upon our country's mayor's to lead an initiative to help decrease the amount of obesity in our country.
Obesity is growing in America with the consequences including heart disease and many other fatal problems. The question is how do we deal with this growing problem. With fast food and other unhealthy foods so readily available, how do we encourage people to eat healthier. With information just a click away, what will encourage people to stay active and enjoy exercising. This article cited Mayor Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City who made an initiative to have his city lose a million pounds. He started a website to log weight loss and they have so far lost half of their goal, including Cornett's forty pound loss. It is sad to think that our government has to be the one to encourage us to be healthy and active in order to resist the growing obesity rate in America. With advances in technology, so much more is easily achieved with less effort. Despite these advances, we still need to treat our bodies properly and give it proper nutrition and exercise. I hope this post will bring attention to this issue that is sometimes left untouched. Obesity can be dangerous, but can be helped by little changes in everyday activities. I hope that we will take advantage of our technological resources and will stay active as well and hopefully bring down our national obesity rate so that we are no longer labeled "fat Americans."
Newsworthy on this Wednesday Afternoon
2 hours ago
5 comments:
i personally think thats a great issue for michelle to attack but i agree it should really be a given for to want to be healthy.
i know it easier said than done for some people with busy lifestyles but the program set up in oklahoma city is one that should be followed around the country
I think people are trying to force it in a small time frame and that battling obesity is a long term issue. People tend to set a goal, reach it, and then gain it back.
So yes, this would require changing one's lifestyle.. not starving hopefully.
Maybe a way we could do that is to force fast food companies to cut down on the fatty foods? ;/ Not to just take up some healthy (really not) salads but to actually force them to cut it down; but that's going against business so.. meh.
"With fast food and other unhealthy foods so readily available, how do we encourage people to eat healthier."
Ultimately, you can't. People have to have the will to defeat this disease. Maybe we can develop new methods of encouragement and convenience but that's what it ultimately measures to. Also, people depend on the government now, right? I think that's what Michelle is telling you.
I agree with Michelle Obama. I'm sure people at our school have experienced and noticed that our school doesn't sell any types of sodas or potato chips that aren't baked. The school has gotten rid of chocolate bars, cup of noodles and all those fatty foods... Instead, now we have juices, water, and healthier snacks!
I agree that although schools are taking the initiative (at least ours) of getting rid of unhealthy foods such as the sodas, it's still up to people to make their own decisions. Sometimes, however, it's very difficult to eat healthy even when one wants to. Think about it this way. In our capitalist society, many people want to the climb the job ladder and in most jobs, that requires a lot of time. This time gets sucked from the time that most people dedicate to preparing and eating food. Healthy food usually take longer to make, and with all of the fast food advertisements, it's easy for people to be like, "oh, I'll just have McDonalds today." Soon today becomes every other day and sooner or later, people start gaining weight. Maybe, the US should have mandatory exercise sessions during office jobs?
-Henry Zhang
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