Why Shame Won't Stop Obesity in America

Obesity in America in the last 30 years alone has completely skyrocketed, with some places like the state of Georgia having rates up to 30% of the population being obease, but one might ask why is this happening, and what can we do to help? Well Obesity Shaming might be one’s answer to the question, one might say it is a “personal problem” or “it’s their fault they are overweight” but overall that's not the answer, this is because of some of the things going on in the United States and overall around the world. This is much more than a “personal problem” it’s an educational problem, an corporate and advertisement problem, an accessibility problem, a money problem, an economic problem and overall the population needs to recognize this before it gets even worse.

One reason I am correct is because of how we educate the people about obesity, if there isn’t enough information about this disease and we don’t inform people from a young age about it, this epidemic could potentially get worse. Author and doctor Dhruv Khullar writer of the short article “Why Shame Won’t Stop Obesity” would also argue this also, he explains that we have created a much bigger problem with obesity than it seems, he states that while taking care of one’s health is definitely important, and everyone should focus on living a healthier lifestyle for the long run, it isn’t everything. He states “While taking responsibility for one’s health is certainly part of the solution, we must also recognize that we have created a food environment so ripe for obesity that to expect anything else would be irrational”. This supports what I was originally saying, due to the lack of education in some areas about obesity, if there is worse education about obesity in a general area, then the rates will be higher due to kids, and people overall won’t know how to read things like nutrition labels, and won’t know what food to look for and what to avoid.

Author Khullar also explains in his article, that he used to be on the opposite side of the argument, stating to some of his patients, even telling some of them “you need to eat better.” Well Khullar later realizes that this isn’t a problem of people needing to eat better, but it is also an corporate and advertising problem, he states that “the food industry spends nearly $2 billion marketing its products to children, and evidence suggests that children exposed to junk food advertising, express greater preference to these types of foods.” This goes back to one of the reasons explained why food shaming isn’t a good reason to put on obesity, it is much more than people needing to tell them that they are fat for example, but we need to change the way corporations advertise to people and kids, so that they won’t be more intrigued to eat less healthy foods.

Another reason for why shame won’t stop obesity is the accessibility of healthier foods, The University of Michigan created a study about this topic as well, and they explain even though fat shaming works for some people, and that they specifically need to be told that to make a change, those people are not the rest of the obese population. They explain that Obesity is much more than just a personal problem as well, but they explain it is a money problem as well, stating that “Using a model created from data on over 111,000 students, Michigan Medicine showed that the higher poverty rates are in an area, the higher the rate of obesity is among children living there. Although obesity rates were higher among African-American and Hispanic kids, the relationship disappeared when factoring in family income, according to the study published in Childhood Obesity.” 

This correlation between money and obesity supports my original statement, due to a money problem there is also an accessibility problem, with buying healthier foods. More low income families might find it harder, to find and buy more cheap and accessible foods that are healthy, so they have to deal with what they can afford, which could generally mean they are eating less healthy.

My original outlook on obesity used to be very harsh, I used to be the person that thought that being overweight is a personal problem, and that they need to exercise more and eat less, well exercising more and eating less can help one become less obease and overall help them, but there obesity is once again more than just a personal issue, Author Erica Finkelstien explains that it is also an economic problem, she states that there are multiple factors that make this an economic problem instead of just a personal problem, stating that even things like increased wages can contribute to the obesity rates going up, she states “Although not addressed in the Lakdawalla & Phillipson analysis, higher wage opportunities for women have also led to a dramatic increase in female labor force participation, which may have independently increased obesity rates. From 1970 to 1990, the typical two-income family increased annual market work by 600 hours. This trend may partly explain why the consumption of food away from home increased from 18% to 32% of total calories between 1977-1978 and 1994-1996 and from 32% to 38% of food expenditures between 1980 and 2000 (17, 35).5 Foods eaten away from home, particularly fast food, are associated with high levels of fat and calorie intake”. This gives additional evidence to my original claim, that more than just shaming people will fix obesity, even things that don’t seem to correlate to obesity can contribute to one's obesity, like what author Finkelstien says even higher pay and longer working hours can contribute to obesity. All of this makes sense also, if one has a longer work week and work more hours, this could contribute to eating more pre packaged, or unhealthy fast food alternatives, instead of making something themselves that is more healthy, and has less calories.

Overall obeasity is much more than a “personal problem” there are many other internals and things that can attribute to one being Obese, balancing the food with the exercise is definately important to understand, but there is much more going on than one might think. Obesity starting out is an educational problem, without programs to teach adults and kids about obesity, how to stay healthy, what to look for when buying food, and the short term and long term effects of obesity, people could be misinformed or misguided about obesity, and will never know how bad it really is until it actually hits them. Obesity is also an advertising problem, with all of the ads we consume daily directly selling pre packaged foods, and fast foods, like Marie Callender's Pies or Mcdonalds, we have constant exposure to unhealthy foods, which overall can increase the chance of one buying and eating these foods without research, most of these foods advertisements go along with money, and price of the product. Money is a huge thing for people and some healthier alternatives may be expensive, which is overall why advertisements are being sent out of cheaper and cheaper products everyday, even though it is cheaper and easier in the short term, in the long run all of this could potentially be very damaging for a huge section of people around the world. Lastly obesity is an economic problem. With longer work days and higher pay, over time, as well as a high percentage of men and women working right now, we might be inclined to have a fast easier meal so we can get back to our job and overall at the end of the day get paid. But this could be one of the main factors in why obesity is so high to this day, and also why obesity might be way harder to fight than anybody thought, with prices on many different products and services going up, people need to work more generally to make more money to afford their lifestyle, which could overall attribute to hours spent at work, and amount of unhealthy food eaten due to one wanting to get better at their job and overall get a better pay. 

So what should we do? Since shame won’t stop obesity than what will, one might ask. Well first off we need to start with educating the people, if we don’t educate men, women, and kids about the risks of obesity, and how much worse of a life one could live due to this, than we could potentially never solve the problem in the first place, we also need to hold corporations liable for advertisements sent out, directly selling unhealthy products, contributing to obesity. Finally we need to get people to stop working, and spend time for themselves, to cook a planned meal with the amount of calories in it, or to get people to find time to exercise for 30 minutes a day, if the United States enacted a law where people have to get time to get up and move around in their daily work routine, this country could have plenty of happier and healthier people as a whole, and we can actually start the fight against obesity.