Obesity in young adults - Term Paper Example

27th September, Obesity in young adults: What is obesity? One of the most common issues among adults of the present age is obesity. Obesity is a condition caused by the excessive storage of fat in the human body that reflects in the form of disfigurement of the human body and may be a cause of several diseases in extreme cases. Obesity surfaces so silently that it is often too late for an individual to discover the problem and take corrective measures. Also, people often fail to realize the problem because the interface between health and obesity is quite thin. Not many people bother to check if their weight is right for their height and age. Even if some do, they would consider it a sign of health if they were a couple of kilos above for their standard weight. “What it means to be healthy has changed over time and although it has often been considered healthy and desirable to have a fuller figure.” (Klein, 2001 cited in Rawlins, 2008, p. 139). Obesity often accompanies an individual in the very early years of his/her life and the condition only worsens as the individual grows up. Parents like to see their child red-cheeked with loads of flesh and associate these signs with health. However, more often than not, reality is the other way round. Causes of obesity in adults: With the advent of industrialization and technology, it has been possible to produce more healthful and nutritious foods. This has been coupled with a mechanized way of life that has facilitated man in such a way that the physical activity has been minimized. Not only this, the urge to adopt modernity has convinced people to increase their reliance on the junk food. “U.S. sales of organics rose from approximately $1 billion in 1990 to $25 billion in 2009.” (OTA, 2010 cited in Schuldt and Schwarz, 2010, p. 144). It has become almost impossible to survive in the modern society unless maximum members of a family work together to make the earnings given the exaggerated cost of life. Junk food also suits business men and women well because it saves all the time, they would otherwise spend in preparing the meals. This has resulted in storage of excessive energy in form of fat within the human body and has led to obesity. Moreover, the unhealthy eating habits are so fundamental to the modern way of life that it becomes almost impossible to set them right. In addition to this, there are many people who are genetically susceptible to obesity. Obesity has much to do with the homeostasis of the body that varies from individual to individual. Two persons of the same age if made to adopt the same dietary plan for the same period will experience different results. Obesity often attacks all members of a family because all share the same genes and eating habits. Consequences of obesity: Obesity once occurred, proves no less than a curse. It tends to isolate an individual and break his/her physical connection with his/her friends and relatives instantly. Gradually, the obese individual develops a silo-mentality and tends to remain within his/her comfort zone of isolation from the world. Although many people do not take it so seriously to let this happen to them, but this is fairly possible in extreme circumstances, specially if the obese person is too sensitive. Obesity has also become a very big problem in the today’s world because people have started to place large emphasis on fashion. Personal looks are valued a lot in the modern society. This has caused the obese people to underestimate themselves in social circles. Obesity causes an individual not to make public appearances frequently. Hanging out with friends is not so common among obese youngsters. It is not unusual for an obese youngster to be reluctant to go shopping with friends for he/she knows he/she might have to hide the embarrassment of being oversize for the largest size of shirt available in the market. Many bachelors suffering from obesity have troubles finding their partner because girls expect their husbands to be smart and handsome and vice versa. Not only this, an obese person often has a lot of difficulty in finding a job and in other cases, remaining employed as he/she develops obesity given some jobs are too sensitive towards the physique and looks of the employees. This gives rise to many other psychological problems that reflect in the individual’s behavior in the form of excessive agitation and disgust both for self and the world around him/her. Why fighting obesity is so difficult? Plans advised to fight obesity are often too cumbersome and require a lot of mental and physical exertion on the part of the person suffering from obesity. The person is required to compromise upon his/her cravings for food he/she has developed over the course of his/her life. Eating is an integral part of an obese person’s daily routine and consideration of a life without fats is near to impossible. To top it all, fats are so basic constituent of all eatables that it is quite hard to design a complete fat-free diet. Also, eliminating fats from the diet makes it loose its taste and elegance. Not many people will manage to eat boiled broccoli to fight their obesity on the cost of buttered chicken. Besides, loosing weight is not a matter of days or weeks. It might take one years to loose all those extra pounds gained over the span of one’s life. Having mentioned this, when a person wants to get rid of the long grown obesity in the shortest possible time, weight loss pills often seem quite appealing. These days, weight loss pills are advertised on televisions, news and on the internet and there are very less authentic names among the large variety of medicines available. More often than not, these pill-makers cash the human urge to become slim and smart and the pills prove food for nothing. Even if some bring the promised results, they come along with various side-effects. Obviously, ridding the body of all the fat in days is not a bed of roses and the consequences are often quite complicated. Remedies: Among the most commonly employed treatment procedures for obesity are prescribing slimming teas to the patient in addition to designing the regular diet and daily exercise. Particularly the Green tea is a herbal tea that helps boost the metabolism of human body, burns excessive fat by the reaction of catechin polyphenols with chemical transmitter in the human nervous system and clarifies the gastrointestinal system. (Dosumu et al, 2010, p. 283). In addition to that, dieticians suggest appropriate diet plans for particular lengths of time that are designed to ensure reduced intake of fat and burn the calories in the body. They are quite effective but require strong dedication, determination and devotion on the part of the patient. Liposuction: Surgery offers the quickest relief from obesity that is closest to the patient’s expectations among all other ways that are usually adopted to fight off the obesity. Having realized the fact that it is often quite difficult for many obese people to find time for physical work out from the daily schedule, scientists have devised such surgical treatment that does not need the patients to go through tough, tiring and lengthy physical exercises or boring dietary plans. These days, an individual can achieve a figure, very near to if not fully his/her dream-figure at almost any age. The surgical treatment commonly employed to achieve such results is referred to as liposuction. Liposuction was first introduced as a surgical technique in 1974 to re-define the body contours by sucking the fat cells out of the body with a stainless steel tube called as the cannula. (Einstein Industries, Inc. 2010). Since 1974, liposuction has been widely employed as the most fundamental method to get rid of excessive body fat and the technique has been refined and modified to make it as user friendly and comfortable as possible. In the present age, liposuction has been developed to the extent that fat can be removed from the human body while the patient is fully awake and is in his/her full senses. Patients can even view the surgery happen and still not feel pain. The tube removes the fat cells from the human body and in this way, the contours are redefined. Liposuction is indeed, the quickest and the most effective way to get rid of obesity. Side effects of liposuction are almost negligible. However, some patients are susceptible to infections if the instruments used were not formerly sterilized. But in a vast majority of cases, surgery goes successful. It is indeed, a very safe way of fat removal. That is why, liposuction is mostly used by celebrities all over the world as the most economical yet effective way to reduce their body fat since they are visualized as ideals, they tend to maintain such image in the public eye to remain popular and physically fit. Liposuction should be considered as the most effective technique because it is a form of surgery, which is a manual treatment of the problem of obesity. The patient does not have to wait for long to loose extra pounds as would happen in case one chose not to go for surgery. Difficult dietary plans recommended by dieticians are often too hard to comply with and take very long to reflect the results. Besides, weight shed-off through diet and exercise can be re-incurred in non-surgical methods because unlike liposuction, the fat cells are not sucked out of the body and the patient maintains the susceptibility to become fat upon change of diet. Results gained through liposuction are most prominent and long-lasting. Therefore, the patients of obesity, who can easily undergo the surgery, should safely choose this to get rid of their obesity. Conclusion: Obesity is no doubt a very serious issue common among adults in the present age. It not only destroys a person’s physique, but also ruins his/her psychology and hence the whole personality. Unfortunately, the modern heating habits that fundamentally employ the use of junk food are quite favorable for the development of obesity particularly in the youth. It develops gradually. The individual slowly gets used to his/her changing figure and does not take it serious until it starts to show its effects in the form of sleeping disorders, fatigue, anxiety, depression and social exclusion. However, the condition can be improved by changing eating habits and ensuring reduced in-take of fat consistently. Works cited: Dosumu Omotayo O., Oluwaniyi Omolara O., Awolola Victoria G. and Ogunkunle Olaolu A. “Toxicity assessment of some tea labels from supermarkets in Ilorin, Nigeria using brine shrimp (Artemia salina) lethality assay.” African Journal of Food Science. 4(5): 282–285. 2010. Web. 27 Sep. 2010. . Einstein Industries, Inc. “Liposuction.” 2010. Web. 27 Sep. 2010. . Rawlins, Emma. “Citizenship, Health Education and the Obesity ‘Crisis’.” ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, 7 (2): 135-151. 2008. Web. 27 Sep. 2010. < http://www.acme-journal.org/vol7/ERa.pdf>. Schuldt Jonathon P. and Schwarz Norbert. “The “organic” path to obesity? Organic claims influence calorie judgments and exercise recommendations.” Judgment and Decision Making, 5(3): 144-150. 2010. Web. 27 Sep. 2010. . Read More