Eat to Live, Don't Live to Eat

Take a look around you next time you're at the food court in the mall. What do you see? More than likely you will see overweight men and women ordering double cheeseburgers and large fries from McDonald's™ or something of that nature. To most people, seeing this is nothing new. We live in a fast food nation where parents pick up fast food on the way home from work for their kids and themselves. Of course it's easier and more convenient, but what they don't understand is when they end up with a disease caused by their eating habits, these diseases will not have been worth the easy and convenient dinners they consumed. America needs to know they are eating themselves to death.

According to the United States Bureau Census 2000, 64.5 percent of the population aged twenty or older is overweight or obese. 33.6 percent of that is overweight and 30.9 percent is obese. That means about two-thirds of our population is overweight. In 1960, the percentage of adults considered overweight was 31.5 and only 13.9 percent considered obese. The number of obese people has more than doubled since then. In 2000, 15.3 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 11 and 15.5 percent of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 were overweight. These numbers need to stop rising NOW.

There are two main causes of being overweight. One being our poor eating habits. Most people just don't care about the nutritional information concerning the food they are putting in their mouths. Our portion sizes have gotten out of control. Let's say you go to a restaurant and order chicken tenders and fries. More than likely your side of fries will be about double, maybe even triple what a nutritionist says should be one portion. Our nation has gotten used to seeing these large portions and considers them to be normal. Sugared drinks are a big contributor to weight gain and people don't realize it. In one can of Coke™, there are 140 calories. Some people go through 5 cans a day and that right there is 700 calories added to your daily caloric intake. Just cutting that out could make a huge difference. Everywhere you go, you see more unhealthy food options than healthy. The snack machines in office buildings and schools are full of unhealthy choices. The people selling all these things don't care about our health; they just care about the money they're making off of us.

The other main cause is our lack of exercise. We have machines that do everything for us. Our cars take us everywhere we need to go instead of walking. Elevators and escalators take you to the higher floors of buildings instead of having to take the stairs. Most jobs consist of sitting at a desk in front of a