Speech...

Did you know that over 30% of adults and 17% of adolescents are obese? If yes, then congratulations you already know the nations largest but least cared about problem of the modern day. Obesity increases the chance of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and much more; in 2007 just those three combined caused 823,401 recorded deaths, which is approximately 34% of the fatalities in that year. The solution to this devastating problem is simple; however, neither the people of the United States, the government, or the food industry will venture to solve it.

The first and most simple answer starts in the public schools, where students eat government approved food and take barely educational Health and Physical Education classes. During lunch period hundreds of thousands of students a day eat food that is prepared and has been approved by the government as “healthy.” But in no way are hamburgers and fries that have been mass produced and provide little nutritional value, good for a growing young adult. One easy solution would be to get rid of deserts at school lunches, they aren't needed and are just pointless calories in the already terrible diets of kids today. The government would only have to change their food plans slightly to create a healthier diet that would help the students to a great extent.

Today, Health and P.E classes have been transformed to be a class in which the students do not participate or pay attention in the slightest. Health classes are known by students as a class where they can sleep and pass the final test because it is common knowledge; this is because the class has become so generalized and useless that students are not even taught how to create a basic diet and how their current food consumption is hurting them. If Health class would focus more time on how to create a nutritional diet, then young adults would think twice before they go out and eat three big macs and drink a monster.

PE classes have become similar in that instead of learning the basics of sports and doing physical activity, it has become acceptable to walk around the gym for an hour. Just doing physical activity for that hour a day would greatly increase the health of the students during that time, and for most would instill a healthier standard of living composed of more athletics and less time sitting on the couch watching TV.

Another key influence to the waistbands of Americans is the food industry, mainly, the fast food industry, which has grown steadily as Americans have become more lazy. In Food Matters they said “We are poisoning ourselves with highly processed and poor nutritional foods.” The food at these “restaurants” are detrimental to the health of the people eating it, but because of the low prices and easy access the general public couldn't care less. One example of cheap food is Taco Bell using grade D meat, if you didn’t know grade F meat is used as dog food, this was done because it was a cheap alternative and gave them the largest profit as possible. The serving sizes at fast food restaurants is ridiculous, no single person a meal needs a one pound burger, large fries, and a large coke; but since the prices are so low, people think that it is worth it to spend the 50 cents more to get a massive amount of food and gorge themselves until they cannot eat anymore. Just that change of serving size would have a nation wide positive effect on the public, but cash is king and the food industry will not change unless they can make more money off of it. The Food and Drug Association (FDA) and the government need to strengthen and create a more solid laws against companies creating poor nutritional products.

Some restaurants are attempting to change society, Subway with their Jared and Professional Sports Players campaigns has focused on making good decisions on eating and food consumption while at the same time the company makes money. If fast food restaurants would put more time into making healthier food than cheap food then they could make the money that they want and help the people at the same time.

On the other hand, the people have to take a large blame for the rising obesity rate in the US. People can no longer blame genetics for their bad health, a study appropriately called “It's Not Just Genetics” from Time Magazine has shown that actually the environment and the lifestyle of the person at hand has a much greater effect on their health than anything else. This may seem obvious at first, but most people quit before they start because they do not think their body can physically change. They are the ones making the decisions to eat bad food and not exercise on a weekly bases. Children are growing up in environments that teach that the best tasting food is what to eat, not the best food nutritionally. Every child needs to have a healthy diet and all parents should strive to prepare their children for the future by teaching them how to eat right.

It is a simple two hours a week walking, running, or doing an athletic activity that can change a persons life from being a French fry away from a heart attack to living till they are 98 years old. A basic change in a persons diet will work wonders and they will feel better and look better in just a few days. People need to learn that they can become fit, its no longer a dream to, it is determination and a simple diet change to become to be the best person possible. Thank You.

Bibliography:

· Arnst, Cathy. "Blaming The Food Industry For Obesity - BusinessWeek." Businessweek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. Bloomberg Businessweek, 16 May 2009. Web. 09 Aug. 2011. .

· Food Matters. Dir. James Colquhoun and Carlo Ledesma. By James Colquhoun. Permacology Productions, 2008. DVD.

· Walsh, Bryan. "It's Not Just Genetics - TIME." Time 12 June 2008. Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Time. Web. 09 Aug. 2011. .