Essay Sample on Obesity Prevention

Obesity is described as a situation where an individual has a Body weight or BMI of 30 and above. Body weight/ mass index (BMI) forms the formula for calculating the mass of persons which uses individual's weight in relation height. Other factors such as muscle mass, sex, age, and ethnicity can also influence the relationship between fat in the body and BMI. As a method of calculating the mass of an individual BMI does have some limitations as it fails to give the difference between excess muscles, bone mass and excess fats. It does not also indicate the actual distribution of fats in the body of an individual. Despite the mentioned limitations, BMI remains the most accurate and widely employed as an indicator of excess weight as it is deemed precise than other methods such as Magnetic Resonance Scans (MRI) among others.

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It is an epidemic disease in Fort Worth Texas and generally in the USA. Obesity originates from consumption of more calories of food than an individual burn on every day's activity on a long-term period. After a given period, the additional calories combines hence yielding weight gain. Some of the common known causes of obesity are: eating non balance-diet foods with high content of calories and fats, less sleep, assuming a sedentary or inactive lifestyle. Other causes are; genetic, old age which leads to less muscle development and slow metabolic rates and weight gained during pregnancy. Medical conditions that lead weight gain are; pride-Willi syndrome- a rare condition which makes one feel excessive hunger, polycystic ovary syndrome- which leads to a reproductive imbalance in females, osteoarthritis and hypothyroidism. The disease can be prevented through healthy nutrition and engaging in physical activities. The paper provides a detailed description of prevention of obesity through healthy nutrition and physical activity a case study of Fort Worth Texas.

In my field assessment study of the obesity prevention through healthy nutrition and physical activity, I narrowed down to Dallas one of the modern metropolis Cities in Fort Worth, Texas USA. It is located at an elevation of 131 meters in Fort Worth holding 7.23 million people. The population distribution of Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington TX Metro according to race and ethnic diversity is 47.1% White, 28.6% Hispanic, and 15.2% Black. The median poverty value of Dallas Fort Worth is 189,100 dollars, and the homeownership rate is 59.1% (Brown & Lopez, 2013). One of the behaviors that I noticed when assessing the population of Dallas is that most of the people in this area commute by drove alone vehicles. Dallas Fort Worth, TX commute time is 27 minutes making the residents too lazy as it reduces the exercise by individuals. From the study, it was found that the average car ownership in the area is two cars per household meaning less walk time. Only 12.7% of the population in Dallas lived below the poverty line, a number which is far much lower than the national average of 14%. It depicts that most of the residents of the town live a better life.

During the field assessment, I used random assessment method where I found out that Dallas-Fort Worth was one of the fattest cities in America. The study took into account the percentage of obese in children, teens and adults. The statistics found out that 29% of the adult population in DFW are overweight, followed by children at 19.1% while only 8% of the youths were obese due to a few exercises they did. The extra weight leads to some severe health problems. From the assessment, I noted that adults made the highest percentage of those suffering from obesity. The most common weight-related diagnosis among the residents of Dallas adults is high cholesterol at 40.9%. Other complications contributed by obese included diabetes (9.8%) and high blood pressure (29.6%). The most common causative agent of obesity in Dallas Fort Worth is lack of healthy alternative diet among people. Only a small number 7.6 per cent of individuals in the area have convenient access to healthy food to choose from. They had them in the nearby stores and groceries.

Due to the high income and the eagerness to live a good life as some were putting it. Most of the people in DFW consumed sugar-sweetened beverages; fast foods prepared out of the home and also took lower vegetables and fruits. These are the precursors and the leading cause of the obese that is being experienced in the area. Lack of regular exercise and an inactive lifestyle was also noted as one of the problems in the city. Only a few youths could mind doing physical activities during their leisure time while most of the adults ignored the precious activity. This is the main reason as to why the most significant percentage of obese is made up of the adults. As noted from the statistics each household had two cars that were own driven, people to be lazier to walk even for shorter distances which could help them exercise. Most of them used vehicles to and from jobs hence staying inactive lives as they spend most of their hours sitting in the office and while driving (Story, Nanney & Schwartz, 2009). Some of the obesity cases originated from ignorance among people and the lifestyles that they lived.

Therefore, I recommend obesity prevention through healthy nutrition and vigorous physical activities among DFW residents. In prevention by use of sound nutrition method, consumption of high fruits and vegetables is necessary. Eating a diet with high content of vegetables and fruits linked to reduced risks of obesity and other diseases of the body such as blood pressure and diabetes. They include a variety of farm foods that contains a sundry of the content of energy and nutrients. They are also universally recommended as healthy to the human body (Anderson, Quinn, Glanz, Ramirez, Kahwati, Johnson & Katz, 2009). This is because they are better sources of elements such as fibre, vitamin C potassium, beta-carotene foliate and numerous phytochemicals. These chemicals prevent the highest level instances of weight gain and also contribute to other healthy developments of the body. It is recommended, therefore, that individuals should take food with one-half of the plate full of fruits and vegetables.

To prevent obesity, it is prudent for an individual to consume at least one orange and one dark green vegetable each day. Also, it is good for one to take vegetables and fruits that are made of very little or devoid of fat, salt or sugar. In addition, enjoy vegetables and regularly than juice (World Health Organization. 2000). The adults should have 7-8 servings while children should have 4-6 servings of vegetables and fruits daily. On the other hand to those using portions, then one should take five portions of vegetables and fruits which is equivalent to 3 heaped tablespoons of raw, cooked or frozen of both. Some of the recommended vegetables include fresh leafy vegetables such as salads, collards and spinach or steamed vegetables like broccoli, kales, carrots and snow peas, beans among others (Waxman, 2004). The fruits include; a piece of pear, apple, banana, orange; cup of cantaloupe, melons; a handful of grapes, berries among others. Potatoes and legumes are also recommended. The foods high in sodium and fats like French fries should highly be minimized. Vegetables and fruits are generally have reduced energy density but give maximum potassium which hardens bones and fibers which enhances digestion, and that is why they are recommended in the reduction of obesity. Due to the benefits, therefore, the government should encourage large production of fruits and vegetables through issuing of incentives to farmers. Awareness creation is also necessary by the creation of bodies and groups who educates people on the significance of consuming vegetables and fruits on a daily basis.

In healthy nutrition, Dallas population should also switch from consumption of foods cooked or containing a lot of fats in the journey towards preventing the obese factor. Instead, they should replace these kinds of foods with carbohydrates. Reduced consumption of sugar-sweetened foods and beverages should also be implemented by individuals in their diets to prevent the several cases of obesity. High consumption of fast food is also one of the menaces that should be annihilated from the individual's diet. Eating fast food two or more times weakly leads to the widening of the waist circumference. Regular consumption of fast foods prepared out of homes leads to a halving of insulin resistance thus causing abdominal obesity.

The other proper method of prevention of obesity is regular involvement in physical exercise. Obesity results from the energy imbalance in the body where too many calories are brought in while too few are broken down. Several factors influence the amount of calories that an individual can burn daily. These factors include; the body size, genes and age. The most variable element which can modify the mentioned factors is the frequency of exercise that people engage in daily. Keeping oneself active through regular physical activity can make one have a healthy weight or reduce the extra weight. Inactive or sedentary lifestyle only makes one increase weight (Haskell, Lee, Pate, Powell, Blair, Franklin & Bauman, 2007). Despite all the benefits of physical activities in health, most of the residents of DFW are doing less of exercise at work, at home and when travelling. Due to the wealthy status and the lifestyles, most of them sit relaxed in the vehicles, in offices and transfer the same to their houses. It turns to be a double tragedy to some who also take diets not recommended by the doctors leading to uncontrolled obese.

It is recommended conventionally that for good health people should assume to regular physical activities to make them break the fats and other elements that lead to obesity. Adults should get two and a half hours of moderate to proper physical exercise two to four times each week. Children and the youths should even do more of the exercise that adults do. They should engage in one-hour physical exercise on a daily basis (Hill & Peters, 1998). The intensity of any physical exercise is equated in metabolic equivalents also known as METS. A person only burns one MET while sitting down quietly for a moment of one minute. For the adults, one calorie is lost in a person weighing 2.2 pounds in an hour while sitting down. Moderate physical activity is the strenuous activity that makes one burn 3-6 METS per minute while vigorous physical activity burns more than six METs in a minute.

In conclusion, it is thus veritable to assert that prevention of obesity is majorly through the employment of healthy nutrition and physical activity. Therefore the Dallas Fort Worth residents should engage in programmed physical activity or physical exercise and healthy nutrition to prevent and cut the high obese statistics. Individuals should take personal initiatives to seek proper dietary information from experts where necessary to avoid developing obesity due to ignorance. The DFW should take half plates of healthy vegetables and fruits during their meal times. Also by engaging in body movements, several calories are flashed out of the body. The activity would help reduce the number of people who are obese in the city or entirely prevent it in those who do not have it. The government should also create awareness among people who are ignorant on the two recommended methods of avoiding obesity.