Obesity in America Essay -- Overweight Americans

How is it that a nation so obsessed with counting calories, cutting back carbs, and going on diets is so incredibly overweight? The United States is by far the heaviest country in the world. Almost two thirds of Americans are overweight and one third are obese (â€Å"Statistics†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). That’s a lot of fatties in a land of 281,421,906 people (â€Å"Question†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). On the surface, it’s simply bewildering as to why America is in such a state because this country is made of people from the rest of the world. However, eastern and western Europeans, Asians, Africans, South Americans, and Australians aren’t faced with even half the number of weight-related health issues that Americans encounter every day. Other countries aren’t nearly as overweight as America: 5% of people in France are considered overweight or obese (â€Å"ObEpi 2003:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ), in Germany less than half of the population is overweight and only 11% obese (â€Å"Quickfacts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ), in Japan about 20% are considered overweight (â€Å"Criteria†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) and in England, 20 percent are overweight (â€Å"Tackling†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). So why are Americans so large? I can think of a number of reasons as to why this is the case. First and foremost, Americans care too much about too many unimportant things. They care so much about swim suits, fitted clothes, and losing weight to look good, that they lose sight of the real problem, their health. Fad diet followers are faced with a tough realization that they are no better off than before they started Atkins, South Beach, what-have-you, and oftentimes their packing more pounds than in the beginning. Sprouting from American obsessive-compulsive eating habits is a number of disorders and conditions: diabetes, high blood pressure, high c... ...ureau. 3 August 2004. . â€Å"Quick Facts: Society.† German Embassy, Washington D.C.. 4 August 2004. . â€Å"Statistics Related to Overweight and Obesity.† NIDDK Weight-Control Information Network. 1 August, 2004. . â€Å"Tackling Obesity in England.† House of Commons – Public Accounts – Ninth Report. 4 August 2004. . Worley, Mary Ray. â€Å"Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance.† 28 July 2004. .