Obesity

To date, countless people suffer from their weight; indeed, obesity is becoming an

increasingly common problem. This problem's effects can be as diverse as adverse physical effects,

psychological effects, and lifestyle with many causes, such as takeaway and Delivery, but also the

not occasional nature of the food industries.

Obesity produces negative effects on people’s physical health. Breathing problems are

among the most common issues that an overweight person encounters during his life because the fat

of falling asleep does not allow the diaphragm to perform its regular movement. As a result, it

impairs the expansion of the chest during breathing, which is why it happens that the muscles get

tired and breathing becomes irregular. Fat is not only the cause of respiratory problems, but also the

malfunction of many organs since it surrounds organs, such as the liver, the intestine, and the heart;

consequently, there is a risk that these will no longer have their proper spaces in which to perform

the movement and will stop functioning correctly. All this does is increase the chance of serious

cerebrovascular diseases, such as stroke or cardiovascular like a heart attack due to the excess of fat

that forms in the arteries and that prevents the smooth flow of blood. Obesity can also lead to

cancers of the colon, esophagus, and kidneys; in overweight women, uterine or breast cancer is

more common.

Obesity has not only negative effects on the physical body, but also affects the mental

health. In fact, those suffering from obesity could also suffer from 'mood disorders’, so mental

conditions that have impacts on the mood of people, for example depression. According to the

Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 43% of adults with depression suffer from obesity; indeed,

obese people are more likely to have depression than those who are not overweight. Lot of fat

people eat to treat depression; actually, obesity is often linked to 'the symbolic act of eating.' The

need to eat is due to anxiety or other psychological factors that the person believes they can only

satisfy by ingesting food. Several studies have shown that obesity is closely linked to

psychopathological clinical frameworks, such as the 'Binge Eating Disorders' (BED) that is
characterized by a loss of control of food intake and is followed from a feeling of discomfort and

sadness.

Another negative effect of obesity is on people’s lifestyle. This issue is a limit for many

people who would like to travel or carry out daily activities, such as cleaning their homes or

shopping, but their weight prevents them from doing so; they are forced to use appliances such as a

wheelchair to move in and out of the house. A survey of 180 women showed that more than half

used mobility aids and that 48.1% had a ‘Body Mass Index’ (BMI) of 30 or higher and 19.4% of 40.

A second study carried out on 128 men and women showed that they all used a wheelchair and that

on one side 47.7 of them were obese on the other hand 14.1% were extremely obese. Mobility

devices are not the only things that these people need because it is very common the help of the

caregiver at home; they need assistance to walk in and out of the house, to go to the toilet, or even

to get out of bed. Obese people’s lifestyle is sedentary characterized by days watching TV or using

the computer this is because sometimes their weight is so high that they themselves are not able to

lift; therefore, cannot perform some type of physical activity passing so the days sitting on the sofa

or in the bed. In addition, some researchers have speculated that television not only shifts the time

for physical activity, but promotes a diet made of unhealthy snacks during viewing. The computer

has the same function as the tv; as a matter of fact, many people spend their days in bed using the

computer to watch videos, hear music, or play games which contribute to make their live even more

sedentary.

The causes of these effects are countless, but the most significant are eating habits, such as

takeaway and delivery services. People can order Food online at any time, as stated by Dr.

Chinnadorai, "The apps make it so easy to get food. When you are upset you have easy access to

takeaways. You can have your evening meal at 6 pm and still order a takeaway at midnight if you

want." The possibility of eating at any time; however, damages their body even more because it

speeds up weight gain and has negative consequences on metabolism, which if damaged could lead

to digestive disorders, such as reflux and dyspepsia, so eating habits are very important for
metabolism. Because the body reacts according to what the person ingests foods, such as fruits,

vegetables, fish, cereals, or dried fruits, the metabolism will become faster, and the body will burn

more quickly whatever it has ingested more. Therefore, experts advise not to eat outside the

recommended times for meals; it is good to have breakfast from 7 to 8 and not after 10 because the

body consumes calories faster thanks to the production of insulin and cortisol, while it is not

recommended to order food after 21. According to the ‘World Health Organization’ (WHO), food

delivery apps increase the consumption of foods containing high amounts of fat and sugar;

moreover, British research explains that eating takeaway leads to the consumption of 200 more

calories per day compared to homemade food. For the same reason, the 'buy one, get one for free'

promotion was eliminated in England after research showed that the result of this promotion was

that people bought 20% more food than they needed.

Another important cause of obesity is food production by the food industry. What helps to

keep the number of obese people in our society high are also the food industries, which use

chemicals to store food longer. Research claims that the United States consumes 453.6 billion

kilograms of additives per year, but at the same time the use of these chemicals is kept as hidden as

possible because they are associated with a negative health condition. One of these additives is

called ‘High Fructose Corn Syrup’ (HFCS) that is used as a sweetener in many sweets, and research

has found that Americans consume 40 to 60 pounds of this additive per person per year. Moreover,

being an unnatural food causes metabolism problems and could lead the body not to burn fat as it

should. There are also other additives, like azodicarbonamide, that are banned in many European

countries but present in many frozen foods in the US. For example, the yellow chlorate used in

American cheeses is made from coal tar, which leads to diseases, such as ADHD and cancer.

Additives are not the only problem of the food industry; food contamination is also highly

dangerous. Foods could be contaminated with pesticides during cooking or through packaging

materials, these alter the sex organs and increase the chance of growth or development of tumors, as

well as underlying lead to obesity. In addition to additives and food contamination, there are also
'GMO'. Food industry modifies the DNA of 'healthy foods' making them become ‘Genetically

Modified Organisms’ (GMO) and additives, pesticides and hormones are also not healthy for

people.

Nowadays the number of people suffering from obesity is considerably increasing and the

effects that this issue has on their body, psyche, and lifestyle are extremely dangerous, as well as,

caused by taking away, delivery, and countless food industries that add chemicals to foods that

should be healthy. On the one hand, many states are trying to stem this problem; on the other hand,

they are starting to talk about a real 'fat epidemic'.

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