Obesity starts with the young and the helpless

   In society now a days, instead of a sitting down at the table eating a home cooked meal, it's now looked upon as normal to end a at work day by sitting in the car waiting for a happy meal in the drive through. According to ASPE (Assistant Secretary for planning and evaluation) "Overweight and obesity in children are significant public health problems in the United States. The number of adolescents who are overweight has tripled since 1980 and the prevalence among younger children has more than doubled. According to the 1999-2002 NHANES survey, 16 percent of children age 6-19 years are overweight." Being overweight during childhood and adolescence increases the risk of developing high cholesterol, hypertension, respiratory ailments, orthopedic problems, depression and type 2 diabetes as a youth.

    Genes probably do play some role in childhood obesity. A parent's obesity doubles the risk that his/her child under the age of 10 will be obese as an adult, regardless of whether that child is overweight at the time. Although birth weight doesn't correlate with adult weight, obese three-year-olds already have a greater risk of adult obesity. Children are less active than they were 30 years ago. They are more likely to be driven to school rather than walk. Physical education classes have suffered under school budget cuts and been eliminated completely in some schools. According to health.kaboose.com " Children as old as five are being wheeled around the mall in deluxe strollers (equipped with cup holders!) when they should be walking. Television, video games, and computers now occupy much more of children's waking hours than they should, which means less time to run around. Children are allowed to eat in front of the TV, which makes it easy to mindlessly munch hundreds of extra calories (adults are guilty here, too)."

Law suits

   For some crazy reason obese people feel they should get special treatment for their excessive eating. Most of them even go as far as blame other people for there over eating by taking it as far as suing fast food for being overweight. Get real! That's like a skinny person suing a gym for getting too skinny. If your eating fast food ten times a day, your just asking for an extra 20 to 30 pounds so why bite the hand that feeds you. Places like McDonald's don't force feed you french fries, YOU order it. YOU can take it or leave it, they even offer the calorie, and fat intake on the back of every bag, so the consumer knows what they are consuming.

    "Caesar Barber, 56, a maintenance worker who weighs about 270 pounds and stands 5-foot-10, claims McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and KFC jeopardized his health with their greasy, salty fare. He filed a class action lawsuit to the New York State Supreme Court in the Bronx on behalf of an unspecified number of other obese and ill New Yorkers who also feast on fast food." Are fast food restaurants really to blame for the obesity rate? In my opinion its not! Ronald McDonald and Cornell sanders don't come into your house, take off your jogging shoes and spoon feed you burgers and chicken. So why blame them for your weight if thier company dosent force food down your throat?

    Lawsuits are getting so rediculous that they want to sue fast-food companies for making the booths way to small. Now shouldnt that be a lightbuld to go to the gym. "Martin Kessman, 64, has filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified financial damages against the fast-food chain, claiming that his local White Castle is in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act because the seating cannot accommodate a customer of his size. A federal lawsuit filed last week claims that in April 2009, Kessman smacked his knee into a metal post while trying to wedge himself into the stationary seating at a White Castle in Nanuet, N.Y., near his home."

A hefty slice of equality

Should obese people be treated as equals? In today's society the number in morbidly obese people has been on the rise and the number of fast food resturants have popped up on every corner. Negative attitudes towards bigger people have risen when issue if obesity should be counted as a disease. I for one stand behind the fact that obese people should NOT get special treatment and should have equal rights just like anyone else!