Obesity is a serious issue that is plaguing this country that we all love. Obesity is pretty much defined as a medical condition in which excessive body fat becomes harmful to one’s health.
A person is often considered to be obese if he or she weighs more than 20 percent over his or her ideal weight. The ideal weight is taking into account factors like build, height, age and sex.
The National Institute of Health correctly defines obesity as having a body mass index of 30 or above.
A person that has a BMI of 30 is roughly 30 pounds overweight. Mississippi is the most obese state in the nation. About one in five children between 10 and 17 years old are considered obese.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to any MSU student that has traveled throughout the country. That could probably be attributed to the fact that there is a plethora of things to do in other states.
Mississippi has some things to do, but the things we have aren’t nearly enough to satisfy those who want more than what we have.
Obesity could be somewhat decreased if more people at MSU walked to the other side of campus instead of driving there. This really applies to the times of day when people aren’t going to class.
Many people don’t want to walk from one side of campus to the other because it’s “too far.”
Mississippi has topped the U.S. obesity rankings for the past several years. The percentage of obese people in this state has gone up each year. Obesity is dangerous because it increases a person’s chances of getting diabetes, arthritis, hypertension and heart disease.
There is a host of other things that obesity can cause, but these things are the most common.
First Lady Michelle Obama and Gov. Haley Barbour visited schools across the Jackson area earlier this year to talk about eating healthy foods  and exercising. Obama specifically picked Mississippi because it received national attention with the alarming statistics. Obama’s anti-obesity drive is called “Let’s Move.” The idea behind it is for people to not be sedentary for most of the day.
Her effort was combined with the Mississippi initiative “Let’s Go Walkin’ Mississippi.”
With this country facing an economic downturn, it makes it harder for people to become healthier. People are often concerned with just getting something to eat to satisfy their hunger.
Others just want to eat foods that taste good, most of which are unhealthy because they have a high amount of sugar, sodium, fat or cholesterol.
We all know that people have different tastes, but people have to find things that they like and are healthy foods. Food establishments in Mississippi are offering more and more healthy choices.
There are many Mississippians who go to the gym for 30-60 minutes a day, eat healthily and visit the doctor regularly, but there are still many people who don’t do any of those things. If there were, then our state wouldn’t be at the very top of the obesity rankings.
Taking vitamins and medications oftentimes help when supplementing with a balanced diet. Sometimes people have to resort to getting counseling because everything else they’ve tried hasn’t worked.
Obesity isn’t always caused by eating poorly or the lack of exercise. Genetic factors could be partly to blame. It is much more likely that a person will be obese if he or she has at least one parent that’s obese.
With that said, having an obese parent shouldn’t be like doomsday. People overcome things all the time, even things they previously thought they had no control over. Battling obesity is no different.
Get with a friend.
Studies have shown that lifestyle changes are more likely to happen if people have a support system. You will have to make some lifestyle changes that will help you in the long-run.
Christopher Webb is a senior majoring in industrial engineering. He can be contacted at [email protected].