Obesity Jaelyn Hughes Introduction to Healthcare Science November 21, 2014 Mr. Monroe Hughes1 Hughes 2 Hughes 2 Jaelyn Hughes Mr. Monroe Introduction to Healthcare Science 21 November 2014 Obesity Obesity known as having excess body fat and means a person’s weight is more than what is considered unhealthy for his or her size. Obesity has become an epidemic throughout the world and greatly affects people in America at an alarming rate. To get a better understanding of obesity, one will have to understand how various aspects in our life are affected by obesity. The mental anguish a person goes through as early as their childhood days. The effect that childhood obesity has on their life as an adult. Obesity is linked to the depression that a person goes through because of the appearance and the lack of self-esteem. Understanding the psychology of obesity will help give a better understanding to what causes the secondary effects of being obese. Learning how to eat and what to eat can prove to be beneficial in the mental state of people that are suffering from obesity. Educating people on the contributing factors of Obesity is paramount in the fight to reverse what has become a leading public health problem in the United States. People Affected by Obesity Obesity is not just an adult concern it has affected children of all ages and preschoolers as well. Obesity effects every ethnic group and both men and woman in the ethnic group. Within the United States the adults affected by obesity or being overweight is more than two-thirds of the adult population (Food Research and Action Center FRAC, 2014). Extreme obesity is seen more in woman than men and the black woman have a higher obesity rate than the white or Hispanic woman. The children and the low-income preschoolers are in the lower 30 percentile range of amount affected by obesity. Obesity has affected more African-American and Hispanic children than Caucasian children. The economic status of the preschoolers affects the rate of preschoolers that are overweight or obese. Low-income preschoolers have a rate of 30.4 percent that are obese. There are many contributing factors to someone suffering from being overweight or obese. Contributing Factors Obesity is diagnosed as a condition that develops because of a person makeup. There genetics, family history, age and sex is considered factors of a person becoming obese. The lack of some type of physical activity and even the negative emotions that a person is experiencing are thought to be reasons a person becomes obese. Another major reason for the growing rate of obesity in the United States is society. People are eating foods that have more calories today and that are lacking nutrition that is needed to remain healthy. Society has used technology to make life comfortable from home. You can order your groceries from your cell phone and have it delivered to your house instead of going to the super market. There are limited walk ...

1. Obesity
Jaelyn Hughes
Introduction to Healthcare Science
November 21, 2014
Mr. Monroe
Hughes1
Hughes 2
Hughes 2
Jaelyn Hughes
Mr. Monroe
Introduction to Healthcare Science
21 November 2014
Obesity
Obesity known as having excess body fat and means a person’s

2. weight is more than what is considered unhealthy for his or her
size. Obesity has become an epidemic throughout the world and
greatly affects people in America at an alarming rate. To get a
better understanding of obesity, one will have to understand
how various aspects in our life are affected by obesity. The
mental anguish a person goes through as early as their
childhood days. The effect that childhood obesity has on their
life as an adult. Obesity is linked to the depression that a person
goes through because of the appearance and the lack of self-
esteem. Understanding the psychology of obesity will help give
a better understanding to what causes the secondary effects of
being obese. Learning how to eat and what to eat can prove to
be beneficial in the mental state of people that are suffering
from obesity. Educating people on the contributing factors of
Obesity is paramount in the fight to reverse what has become a
leading public health problem in the United States.
People Affected by Obesity
Obesity is not just an adult concern it has affected children of
all ages and preschoolers as well. Obesity effects every ethnic
group and both men and woman in the ethnic group. Within the
United States the adults affected by obesity or being overweight
is more than two-thirds of the adult population (Food Research
and Action Center FRAC, 2014). Extreme obesity is seen more
in woman than men and the black woman have a higher obesity
rate than the white or Hispanic woman. The children and the
low-income preschoolers are in the lower 30 percentile range of
amount affected by obesity. Obesity has affected more African-
American and Hispanic children than Caucasian children. The
economic status of the preschoolers affects the rate of
preschoolers that are overweight or obese. Low-income
preschoolers have a rate of 30.4 percent that are obese. There
are many contributing factors to someone suffering from being
overweight or obese.
Contributing Factors
Obesity is diagnosed as a condition that develops because of a
person makeup. There genetics, family history, age and sex is

3. considered factors of a person becoming obese. The lack of
some type of physical activity and even the negative emotions
that a person is experiencing are thought to be reasons a person
becomes obese. Another major reason for the growing rate of
obesity in the United States is society. People are eating foods
that have more calories today and that are lacking nutrition that
is needed to remain healthy. Society has used technology to
make life comfortable from home. You can order your groceries
from your cell phone and have it delivered to your house instead
of going to the super market. There are limited walking areas or
areas where people can exercise. In school now, there is no
recess for the children to burn of them calories. The results of
these factors are obese school age kids and adults.
Childhood Obesity
The consumption of food away from home more now than ever
before is a major contributing factor to childhood obesity. The
fast food that is consumed with the lack of physical activity
among the children leads to the imbalance of calories in a
child’s body. Children are watching TV and playing Video
games instead of being outside playing, burning calories. In the
past 30 years childhood obesity has more than doubled in
children and quadrupled in adolescents (Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, 2014). Obese children health can be
affected immediately and in the future as a result of being
obese. Children can develop low self-esteem leading to serious
psychological problems as a child and as an adult. In a
population-based sample of 5 to 17 year olds, 70% of obese
youth has a least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). The current
First Lady Michelle Obama as set out to make a change in the
number of children that are obese but making school lunches
more nutritional. When a child is obese they are more likely to
be obese as an adult. By the time a child becomes an adult after
being obese throughout their childhood they are convinced that
they were born to be obese.
Adult Obesity

4. In the United States, more than one-third of adults are obese.
The obesity rates affect some ethnic groups more than others
and among the blacks the more money the men made lead to a
higher rate of obesity. With woman the more money they made
the less likely they were to be obese. With education and
obesity there is no difference in the men, but the woman that is
educated tends to not be obese. Woman that obese tend to be
woman that are less educated and make less money. Obesity in
woman is directly connected to their lack of success in their life
status. The adult level of obesity increased overall at all
income and education levels. The adults suffering from obesity
are more likely to suffer from a condition that leads to a death.
These conditions include diabetes and heart diseases that can
lead to a stroke or a heart attack. In 2008 the annual medical
cost of obesity was $147 billion. The medical community as has
recognized the health problem that obesity is causing and how
hard it is to get under control. The question that has been
widely discussed is rather obesity is a psychiatric disorder.
Psychiatric Disorder
A main reason that people are obese is the amount of food that
they intake. They are eating large portions of food or foods that
have a large amount of calories. For a person to lose weight
they must simply burn more calories than they consume. A
person should eat less to obtain this goal. The ability to eat less
is a difficult task for a large group of obese people. They are
overeating constantly and they can’t seem to be able to control
the urge to put food in their mouth. The urge for food is the
same as person that is addicted to drugs. Their addiction to food
is considered to be a disorder. People are using over the counter
drugs to curbed their appetite for food. Doctors are prescribing
medicine to help people resist food just like they prescribe
people to resist alcohol. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) children and obese children have both been diagnosed
with problems paying attention and focusing. Over half the
children hospitalized for treatment for obesity meet the criteria
for ADHD (Barry, PHD, Clarke, EdM, & Petry, PhD, 2009).

5. Overeating could be considered as a disorder but are people
really overeating or are they just eating more calories. This is
an indicator that will continue to be a reason for obesity that
few people have been able to overcome. This should be a simple
task to conquer for people, but like any disorder is hard to resist
what you desire rather it be drug or some deep fried chicken.
Obesity must be prevented at an early stage of life and even at
the earliest stage possible and that being before birth.
Prevention
The prevention of obesity can start as early as prenatally. Only
75% of mothers start out breastfeeding, and after 6 months only
13% of babies is exclusively breastfed (Sullivan PhD MSN RN
CNE COI, 2014). Mother’s need to know that breastfeeding
protects against childhood overweight and obesity. Parents can
become educated and make the correct choices on the foods to
feed their children. Formulate a plan to keep your child active
to burns calories. Parents set the example for their children and
have to understand that if the parent is overeating than most
likely the child is overeating. Setting this type of tone when a
child is young and having a healthy life style will help prevent
the obesity. Children should not sit in the house all day playing
video games or just watching TV all day. Develop a healthy
lifestyle by balancing the amount of calories in to the amount of
calories you burn. Have a healthy eating plan, eating foods that
do not have a lot of calories. Physical Activity is an important
part of an individual’s lifestyle. Being active will help reduce
the risks associated with being obese.
Conclusion
Obesity is a problem that has grown rapidly. I cannot say that
the future may drive to a career serving obese individuals, but
the subject is dramatic and interesting. Therefore, I wanted to
research obesity because people do not take care of their bodies.
In order to solve the issue, we must first understand the root to
this problem. The foods that we eat and how we eat our foods
are an important first step in gaining this knowledge. Our

6. inability to control the amount of foods that we intake are a
major problem in fight against obesity. The knowledge of the
types of food and how to eat them will prove to be powerful
tool in the fight. The children that suffer from this fight against
obesity can’t be help unless we understand how this affects
their behavior. The depression that is suffered in the later years
of life can be related to obesity. We must seek the
psychological answers to turn this fight around. The numbers of
adults that are suffering obesity are directly connected to
amount of children that suffer from obesity. The Adult
population is responsible for feeding our young generation the
proper amount of food. Teaching our children how to eat
healthy and exercise will help decrease the trend of obesity in
the future.
Works Cited
Barry, PHD, D., Clarke, EdM, M., & Petry, PhD, N. M. (2009,
March). Obesity and its Relationship to Addictions: Is
Overeating a Form of Addictive Behavior? The American
Journal on Addictions, 18(1), 439-451.
doi:10.3109/10550490903205579
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014, June).
Obesity Facts. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm
Food Research and Action Center FRAC. (2014, Winter).
Overweight and Obesity in the U.S.. Retrieved from
http://frac.org/initiatives/hunger-and-obesity/obesity-in-the-us/
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2014,Jan). How are
Overweight and Obesity Treated? Retrieved from
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-
topics/topics/obe/treatment.html
Ogden, PhD, C., & Lamb, PhD, M. M. (2010 December).
Obesity and Socialeconomic Status in Adults:. NCHC Data
Brief, 50(1), 1-7.
Seaman, A. M. (2014, Apr). U.S. Childhood Obesity Rates Have
Actually Increased Over the Past 14 Years (STUDY). Retrieved
from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/childhood-

7. obesity-rates-increased_n_5111922
Sullivan PhD MSN RN CNE COI, D. H. (2014, April). Obesity
Prevention Starts Prenatally. International Journal of Childbirth
Education, 29(2), 12-15.
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8. Introduction to Healthcare Scien
ce
November 21
, 2014
Mr. Monroe
Hughes1
Obesity
Jaelyn Hughes
Introduction to Healthcare Science
November 21, 2014
Mr. Monroe