Obesity in America
More and more people are suffering from obesity. Obesity is not just a physical condition but it can adversely affect a person’s psychological and social being as well. In America alone, obesity has reached more than 50 million people. Obesity in America is a real problem and more obese people are complaining about more serious medical condition such as heart attacks, high blood pressure, diabetes and other medical condition.
More than one third of the women populations who are in the age of 20 to 75 are suffering from obesity. Since the 1960’s, the growth of people with obesity is growing. Today, obesity in America, is one of the foremost medical and social issues that are yet to be resolved.
The population of obese people in America may be related to one’s lifestyle. Most modern people tend not to engage in physical activities anymore. In an age where everything can be done the “easier” way and with less physical activity, the more people are prone to obesity because they do not burn the calories that they need to burn. For instance, instead of going out in the mall to do some shopping where you can walk around and do some physical activities, some people want the easy way to shop and shop online instead.
If you are obese, you increase your risk to certain disease like high blood pressure, heart conditions, diabetes, breast issues, colon problems and even cancer. Obesity can also be related to one’s mental health and one can go into depression or low self esteem.
But what exactly is obesity? Obesity is not always equivalent to being overweight. To understand this, an overweight person would have an excess weight of his fat, bone, muscle or water content in his body but an obese person would have an excess of body fat. If you have more than 25% body fat, then that can be considered as obese among men. Women who have more than 30% body fat is said to be obese as well.
There are more than one ways on how to know your body fat. You can purchase at-home tools like caliper in your local medical store. You can also go to your doctor’s clinic or medical hospital where you can go in to test your body fat content. There are also special equipments that can measure body fat index simply by placing your hands on them.