Humans possess the capacity for free will, that is, to voluntarily choose a specific course of action. However, some choices lead to undesirable consequences, including food choices and physical activity. Obesity rates in the United States have been rising steadily for decades, reaching epidemic proportions. These rates have not increased due to a hard-to-control factor such as a communicable disease; they increased through personal decisions. In the United States, the overwhelming amount of sodium, sugar, and fat in foods, along with the sedentary lifestyle of many Americans, has caused an increase in obesity; therefore, individuals must take a stand by changing their food and exercise choices. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay For starters, Americans simply consume too much sugar. This innate craving for sweet foods comes to us from man's prehistoric ancestors. Before modern technology, fruits were rare compared to vegetables, and prehuman primates sought out these sweet, energy-dense morsels for their nutritious, high-calorie properties. “Since it is more difficult to collect fruit from a tall tree than to simply eat the grass or leaves around it, an intense, innate need for sugar was necessary to drive early primates toward this food.” However, advances in agricultural processing have made it possible for individuals to grow fruits easily and without costing a fortune. The scarcity of fruit disappeared, allowing humans to succumb to their gluttony and consume as much fruit as they wanted. Technology has also advanced enough to allow filtration and concentration of sugar from fruits, usually through juicing and creating fruity candies. Unfortunately, these two developments quickly led to overconsumption of sugar, the latter more than the first. An individual still enjoys the benefits of the pulp and skin when eating whole fruits, but loses these aspects when consuming fruit juices. Additionally, because companies know that humans crave sugar, they add it to the majority of food products they produce. “In fact, manufacturers add sugar to 74% of packaged foods sold in supermarkets.” These processing companies use 61 different names for sweeteners, including: cane juice, dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, maltose, rice syrup and many others. Although the majority of added sugars come from soft drinks and desserts, added sugars are also found in unsuspecting places such as cereals, pasta sauces, energy bars, ketchup and salad dressings. For example, a cup of a specific type of bran and raisin cereal contains 20 grams of sugar per serving, and one type of breakfast bar contains 15 grams of sugar per serving. Due to the large number of items containing additional sweeteners, it becomes easy for individuals to quickly consume beyond their recommended daily amount of sugar. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that adults and children should consume no more than 10% of their daily calorie intake from sugars, with the ideal amount being less than 5%. This means that a person on a 2,000 calorie diet should consume less than 50 grams (12 teaspoons) of sugar per day, less than 25 grams (6teaspoons) being the ideal amount. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends similar amounts for adults: less than 25 grams (6 teaspoons) of added sugar per day for women and 38 grams (9 teaspoons) for men. Unfortunately, the average American ingests about 82 grams (19.5 teaspoons) per day, which adds up to about 66 pounds per year. Another aspect of sugar addiction comes from its addictive properties. A study by Avena, Rada, and Hoebel found that "intermittent access to sugar can lead to behavioral and neurochemical changes that resemble the effects of a substance of abuse." ...intermittent access to sugar and food is likely to produce "addiction." " Additionally, the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that "animal data showed significant overlap between consumption of added sugars and drug-like effects, including bingeing, craving, tolerance , withdrawal, cross-tolerance, cross-dependence, reward and the effects of opioids”. Many other studies have highlighted a correlation between sugar and addition; So, if humans consume too much sugar on a daily basis, it is likely that many people will experience symptoms of sugar addiction. What does all this have to do with obesity? Over time, overconsumption of sugar can change the balance of hormones in the body. When an individual consumes sugar, the amounts of glucose in the blood increase, causing the pancreas to release insulin. With these increased insulin levels, the body begins to store more food calories as fat (SugarScience Team). So, as individuals consume more and more sugar, they are likely to gain more weight. The simple way to avoid excessive weight gain and other harmful effects of sugar consumption is to determine the amount of sugar present in each product. On the back of most processed foods is a nutrition label; By reading this, individuals can see how much sugar companies have added to the product. Below the nutrition label is small print of the ingredients in descending order of quantity. The higher the ingredient, the more the product contains. Moderation is key. With the small effort of reading a label, individuals can see exactly how much sugar they are consuming and can easily put a product back on if the amount of sugar exceeds a healthy amount. Likewise, fast food also contributes to America's obesity problem. By definition, fast food is just that: quick meals. Employees prepare food quickly, inexpensively and consistently and give the item(s) to the customer almost instantly. Millions of Americans eat at fast food restaurants every month, with the majority of customers going through the drive-thru to get their meals. The ubiquity of fast food restaurants proves to be a valid argument as to why so many people choose to dine at places like McDonald's or Subway. There are currently approximately 160,000 fast food restaurants in the United States. In addition to their ubiquity, fast food restaurants generally serve large portions. Food portions have doubled or even tripled over the past 25 years. For example, a cheeseburger in 1993 weighed 4.5 ounces; now it stands proudly at 8 ounces. These larger portions skew an individual's view of what a normal portion size should be, contributing an additional 1,595 calories compared to the same foods portioned 25 years ago. This representsmore than 500,000 extra calories per year. Additionally, the costs of these meals are not necessarily high. Fast food restaurants offer value menus in each of their stores, enticing customers to purchase full meals for very little. For most individuals, paying a total of less than three dollars (plus tax) at McDonald's for a cheeseburger and a big pile of fries seems like a better deal than buying groceries and cooking for themselves. Although these products cost little in terms of money, they can have a high cost to health. On the one hand, fast foods such as fries and hamburgers generally contain high amounts of sodium. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a cheeseburger from a fast food restaurant contains between 710 and 1,690 milligrams (mg) of sodium. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that individuals consume no more than 2,300 mg per day; However, American adults consume more than 3,400 milligrams (mg) of sodium each day. That means Americans are ingesting about 1,100 mg more than they should. According to a study by Ma, He and MacGregor, high salt consumption may be linked to obesity. They said: “The results showed that salt intake, measured by 24-hour urinary sodium, was higher in overweight and obese people. . . . Higher salt intake was also significantly linked to higher body fat in both children and adults…” Therefore, reducing fast food consumption (and therefore sodium intake) may improve overall cardiovascular health as well as reduce the risks of obesity. sodium, fast foods generally contain high amounts of fat and sugar. For example, a Burger King Whopper contains 48 grams of fat, a McDonald's medium fries contains 19 grams of fat, and a Quizno's regular tuna melt contains 94 grams of fat. The Cleveland Clinic recommends that twenty to thirty-five percent of an adult's calories come from fat. In a 2,000-calorie diet, this equates to about 44 to 77 grams; However, individuals must distinguish between types of fats, as only 10% or less should come from saturated fats. This means that people who often eat fast food are likely consuming too much fat. Next, as mentioned in the sugar addiction section, the main source of sugars comes from sugary drinks like soda. High amounts of sugars and fats in foods lead to high amounts of calories. If an individual consumes more calories than they burn, their body will end up storing them as fat. The more fat the body stores, the heavier an individual will weigh, leading to obesity. To reduce the risk of obesity and other adverse conditions due to fast food consumption, individuals should limit the number of times they consume fast food, if at all. Moderation is key. Eating fast food once every two months may not be harmful, but eating fast food once a week could end up having harmful consequences. Another way to reduce the risk of obesity from eating fast food is to simply cook your own food. This allows direct control of what goes into the composition of the foods consumed. Some people may not have time to prepare their meals daily; therefore, meal planning and meal prep for an entire week helps immensely in this regard. Furthermore, theMost Americans don't get enough exercise. This lack of movement stems from the omnipresence of sedentary activities like television and video games. As technology has advanced, it has taken over leisure time across all age groups, especially children. From a young age, children start watching YouTube on their parents' smartphones and playing games on the family computer. They sit inside for hours, silently watching the colorful video that will then be shown on their small screen. In contrast, children of previous generations went outside to play with neighborhood children, exploring and creating vast, imaginative worlds in which anything could happen. Although some children still practice the latter method, the majority of their time is now spent interacting with the technology available to them. The CDC found that children typically spend more than 7.5 hours per day in front of a screen, which takes away time that could be used for exercise or outdoor activities. If a child sits the majority of their days, regularly consumes too many calories, and doesn't burn them off through aerobic or anaerobic exercise, they will likely gain weight. Teenagers also don't get enough exercise. They too have fallen victim to overexposure to technology, texting and tweeting rather than going out and socializing with their peers. According to Common Sense Media, teens typically spend about nine hours a day with digital devices, doing activities like watching Netflix, listening to music and playing online games. Additionally, teens spend about 7 hours a day in school, likely sitting in a classroom for most of that time. Then, as adolescents become adults, school hours become work hours. Many jobs in the United States involve long periods of rest, such as software development or accounting; In fact, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that in 2016, civilian workers spent an average of sixty-one percent of their workday standing or walking and thirty-nine percent of their workday sat. Although thirty-nine percent may seem relatively low, it equates to sitting for just over three hours in an eight-hour workday. “One of the leading risk factors for heart disease and premature cardiac aging is a sedentary lifestyle: sitting for hours on end,” says the American Medical Association. In addition to hurting the heart, sitting for hours reduces the amount of calories an individual burns in a day. The Harvard School of Public Health states: "Physical activity increases people's total energy expenditure, which can help them maintain energy balance or even lose weight, provided they don't eat more to compensate for the extra calories they burn. » Therefore, doing the right amount of exercise leads to a healthy lifestyle and likely a healthy weight. Individuals can increase their amount of exercise during the workday by choosing to stand when appropriate (e.g. to take a call), taking the stairs. rather than an elevator or escalator, and walking or cycling instead of driving. At home, individuals can perform exercise movements while performing their usual tasks. For example, doing squats while waiting for food to heat in the microwave or calf raises while ironing are easy ways to add resistance training without going to the gym. Of.