There are a lot of people around the world that suffer from being overweight or obese. It has been reported that these cases are getting to be more and more numerous as the years go by. The biggest question is; why are so many people becoming a statistic when it comes to being overweight.

In my opinion there are a few possible causes for it; one of the biggest causes; I think is the increase in technology. Even within the past few decades there have been technological advances that have made our lives a little easier. As great as this is; it has overall made us very lazy. We now watch more television, eat more fast food, exercise less, and have to work half as laborious while still getting the same amount done then even 60 years ago. If you take a look at the statistics you’ll notice that in the 1960’s on average 10% of the American population was obese. Today in 2008 we are at an obesity rate of about 31%, a 600% increase.

Although technology has made us a lot lazier, it can’t be held responsible for the entire blame. These days and I notice it even with myself, our jobs are so hectic and we have only say half an hour for lunch, or we’re at home and don’t feel like cooking so we go and eat out at a fast food joint. Fast food while fairly cheap and fast is some of the unhealthiest food around. This is because almost anything that is fast food related is deep fried. With these foods being deep fried to save on time and money it adds 100’s of unneeded fattening calories to the food, and brings down the nutritional value of the meal.

A slice of the blame for the obesity rate these days can also be placed on factors such as stress/depression/and poor self-esteem. These factors for some of us cause us to eat, in order to take our pain and unhappiness away. The biggest problem with this is that the foods that we usually consume in order to make us feel better are foods with a high fat or sugar content (aka comfort food). This adds tons of empty calories to our bodies that cannot be burned off, thus getting stored as fat. When it comes to issues that deal with emotional eating, it is often beneficial to seek some professional help in order to find the underlying cause of your unhappiness because once you find and fix the underlying issues that cause this overeating you can then work on repairing the damage.

Of all the causes that account for weight gain in today’s society and I really hate to say it but the biggest cause in my opinion is us and our laziness. I mean we can sit there and blame society, or blame others, or even blame your lack of knowledge on the subject, but in the long run it is our lack of will, and lack of caring that causes us to keep gaining weight. What needs to happen here is that we need to start living by the old saying “where there’s a will there’s a way”, and the only safe and healthy way is through healthy eating, and a lot of exercise.

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