Internationally, obesity is a growing problem due to a lack of exercise and an increase in unhealthy eating and home entertainment. Increasingly, more and more people rely on take out and processed food to satiate their hunger and are not doing the exercise to compensate this. In America, according to ABC News, the annual cost of obesity is $147 billion (Reinberg, 2009) which, to put in context, is around $1500 worth of healthcare spent by obese people every year which is around 41% more than a person of average weight (Reinberg, 2009). People who are obese are more likely to have severe health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, strokes, cancer and joint problems (Sims, 2010). But the problem is one which is easily resolvable if people would just begin to implement exercise into their daily routine – walk to work instead of taking the bus, walk to the shop instead of driving, buy a bike and go cycling at the weekend – nobody is expecting anyone to buy an expensive gym membership, but by implementing a small amount of exercise into your daily routine, you can help to keep your health in better shape – as well as your waistline.
The health risks behind obesity are palpable – an obese person is significantly more likely to have a heart attack due to clogging of the arteries with fat and cholesterol (Laurance, 2011). It should be recognised that simply just exercise is not enough to secure a long, happy and healthy life: it takes a commitment to making strong, healthy choices all the time. Be that food, exercise or even limiting the amount of stress you allow yourself to endure. For many, their obesity represents an unhappiness that sees them becoming reliant upon food to fill a ‘void’ in their life. However, by eating well and by incorporating regular exercise into your life, you will be able to reduce your weight and increase your happiness quota. Equally, exercise helps the body to release natural endorphins in the brain too – these are chemicals which help you to feel happy, energetic and enthusiastic about life. When you exercise, you’ll want to exercise more and so it becomes a happy, healthy cycle. On the flip side of this, when you don’t exercise and only eat junk food, your body becomes sluggish and run down – you lose your lust for life and it becomes an unhappy, unhealthy cycle as you become more and more overweight and more dependent on food to provide you with ‘comfort.’
So, what exercise can you do to help you to lose weight and prevent obesity? The options are endless and often, they do not require you to spend any money either. In reality, implementing exercise into your life is all about making healthy choices: walk to work or to the shops, instead of driving or taking public transport; walk the dog twice a day instead of once – he’ll thank you for it too; go for a jog or a run if you feel comfortable with it; try working out at home to an exercise DVD – or, if you feel you need more of an incentive to exercise, join the gym (Brooke, 2009). Exercise needn’t be an expensive activity and it doesn’t need to take up all your free time either – the trick is to build it into your daily routine and find a way of making it work for you; if you find yourself dreading your daily exercise then you aren’t doing it correctly. By exercising, you are decreasing your chance of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and lowering your weight which reduces the chance of you being obese. Plus, if you’re exercising then you can afford to have a few beers occasionally, or a pizza as a treat. It is not about going without – it is about compensating for what you choose to have.
So, the next time you need to go to shop, walk there and don’t drive – remember that your body will always thank you for it. Exercise is an excellent way to keep obesity at bay in America. Our international neighbours mock us for being an obese nation because of our incessant take out restaurants and our love of over-sized portions. We do not need to be ridiculed anymore; all we must do is begin to exercise more and whilst the naysayers might claim that it is too expensive or too time-consuming, they are wrong! We’ve discussed some of the cheap ways of losing weight here and it does not need to be expensive nor time consuming. In practice, thirty minutes of exercise a day is enough to keep your heart happy and your body trim. Exercise is a fun, healthy way of making yourself feel good and keeping your weight down. So, next time you are faced with a choice between the healthy and unhealthy option, choose exercise and work towards a happier, healthier, trimmer America.
References
Brooke. (2009). Excercise For Free – Tips For Inexpensive Workouts. Retrieved from http://www.thehappyrock.com/2008/02/06/excercise-for-free-tips-for-inexpensive-workouts/
Laurence, J. (2011). Rise in obesity sees resurgence in heart attacks. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/rise-in-obesity-sees-resurgence-in-heart-attacks-2294970.html
Reinberg, S. (2009). Almost 10 Percent of U.S. Medical Costs Tied to Obesity. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/story?id=8184975&page=1
Sims, J. (2010). The Health Risks of Overweight and Obesity. Retrieved from http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/body_weight/obesity_health.htm
