Obesity in America

In America, being fat and having it be acknowledged by others, it is very shameful. It’s like living your worst nightmare. ‘Fatso’ ‘Huge’ there’s nothing more embarrassing then being called a name which is meant to be an insult which is true about you. 61 % of Americans are overweight. About 30% of those percentages are obese. Most of the time, it’s not factually the added pounds and the disabilities it brings that are the predicament in the obese persons mentality. It is the social and physical humiliation that their disorder has brought along. Being obese means having enough fat to pose a medical risk. People can be defined as obese if they have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or more. The 30 stands for the percentage of body fat you have. For example if your BMI is twenty-seven, then your body is probably made up of approximately twenty-seven percent body fat. Having a high BMI puts you at risk for certain diseases and cancers linked to obesity. Another sign of obesity is hypertension. Also known as high blood pressure, obesity is a cause of hypertension. Hypertension occurs in obese people when so much fat clogs the arteries that little blood can get through the arteries, which leads to pressure of the blood building up in the arteries, which could possibly lead to a bursting of the artery which could lead to fatality. The large amount of obese people has increased drastically over the past few years causing what doctors call the obesity epidemic.