Why America is Fat
Being fit is a relatively simple task. Yet some find it not very EASY. America has the highest obesity rating in the world. Obese people are EVERYWHERE! I see them every day and it’s extremely unhealthy. Maybe they should all go on diets. But many people who go on diets find they don’t work. It’s also because they don’t really know what they are putting in their bodies. Straight up, I think the majority of Americans need to start exercising more and eating better.
Does anyone ever wonder why Americans keep getting fatter despite our best efforts to reduce the amount of fats in food? Have you ever seen food labels claiming that they have reduced fat or even no fat? So you may be asking, how the hell are people getting fatter when they go on low fat diets? Any long term diet that counts fat out of the equation completely isn’t a smart diet at all, because believe it or not, fat isn’t the problem..sugar is. Sugar has very little nutritional value and stores in the body as fat very quickly. Fats are important in making sure your metabolism works correctly, and a strong metabolism makes it easier to lose weight. So in a sense, eating fat doesn’t make you fat, not eating it does..which is a pretty profound way to look at it..almost contradictory even. But it’s true.
Another thing that Americans don’t realize is that carbs aren’t the enemy. Carbs with lack of exercise is the enemy. Carbs give you an energy boost for your workout, however, they will be stored as fat if they aren’t burned off. Sugar is also stored as fat. Actually, sugar is turned to and stored as fat faster than fat you eat in foods, if you can wrap your mind around that.
Another reason why Americans keep getting fatter is because of advertising. If you see an advertisement for a multi-grain bagel, you might think you’re getting a healthy on-the-go snack, right? Wrong. The word you’re looking for in front of the word “grain” is WHOLE. Whole grains are the key. Just because there are multiple grains in that bagel, it doesn’t mean all those grains aren’t processed. And processed grains such as white flour, used to make white bread, store in your system exactly like sugar, which like we learned earlier, turns very quickly into fat. I also saw on a peanut butter ad that said “1/3 LESS SATURATED FAT!!!” I looked on the label of the “fatty” peanut butter and saw it only had 3 grams of saturated fat to begin with..meaning that this new peanut butter has 2 grams of saturated fat. These labels aren’t lying or tricking you..but they aren’t quite telling the whole truth.
This brings me to my next point. Nutrition needs to be paired with exercise. Now I used to be a high school wrestler, I can tell you a million different ways to make the number on the scale drop. Ya know..no carbs after noon..sleep naked with a fan on you and the window open to shiver pounds off..sleep with a bunch of sweats on and the window closed to sweat the pounds off..eat only apples all day..and spit in bottles..another popular weight loss tactic among us wrestlers was to eat little or nothing at all. But no matter what crazy diet I was on, one thing remained constant..the fact that I was on a vigorous workout regimen.
I worked my ass off every day for 2.5 to 3 hours in the wrestling room..many times twice a day..including thanksgiving..and christmas. No breaks. We were lucky enough to have one of the nicest high school facilities in the state and quite possibly one of the best in the nation. But you dont need to have nice facilities to maintain a healthy weight and stay in shape. Hell, ive seen tons of people who are extremely in shape and athletic who also work out in shitty gyms. The key is WANTING to work out and WANTING to be healthy. Whether its running, doing the elliptical, chuggin’ along on the stair master, or just playing in the back yard with your kids..or your parents. Get some sort of exercise every day. Your life span will increase and you will feel great. Carrying around excess weight is a bitch, and not only is it your fault for putting it on, its also your fault for not taking it off.
Too busy to work out? No, youre not. Everyone has 24 hours in a day. Arnold Schwarzenegger had 24 hours in a day and he became a pioneer for body building. Donald Trump has 24 hours in a day and he owns over 400 companies and is a billionaire! What im saying is if Arnold has time to become a beast, and Donald has time to rule the universe, you should be able to fit an hour of exercise into your schedule each day.
I’m not saying that everyone needs to go join the wrestling team or even a health club to stay in shape, I am, however, saying that America needs to get off it’s fat ass and start exercising and eating correctly. It’s really not that hard people.
By,
Kyle Knight
Posts
Thesis: Americans are getting fat because they don't know how to diet, and they aren't exercising enough.
ReplyDeleteReasons: 1. People are going on low fat diets and getting fatter.
2. Advertising on food labels are misleading.
3. People may think they are too busy to exercise.
By Kyle Knight
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhat's Good: You did an awesome job of providing facts about what food people are putting into their bodies. It was very informative of how to avoid bad fats and sugars. You also provided a good life experience about being a wrestler and how you don't have to do crzy weight loss tactics in order to stay in shape (it reminder me of my brother too because he's a wrestler so it was kinda cool..random but still :)
ReplyDeleteSuggestions: Your first fact about the percentage of people that are obese needs to have a source (not like MLA or anything just like what website you got it from). Anyone reading it could think that you just made it up. I also feel like that it could be a little more relaxed. While I do like your informational tone and personal trainer attitude, I think it could be a little more teenage friendly. It's just a little stiff. Just a couple of picking things: beginning of your second paragraph- off not of in worked my ass OFF and high school is two words not one (sixth paragraph)
That's all! Awesome blog!!! :)
By: Jenny Simon
What I liked about this blog is the facts about nutrition. It really sounds like you know what you're talking about, so I take it more seriously. I did have trouble figuring out what the thesis was. I didn't know if it was about nutrition or working out. Maybe you could state the thesis in the begining, to help make sense of the order of reasons.
ReplyDeleteBy Jarad Williams
Kyle,
ReplyDeleteYour points that "eating fat doesn’t make you fat, not eating it does" and "The key is WANTING to work out and WANTING to be healthy" are important one, and I'm glad that you say them so clearly. How about adding an example in the second paragraph (the one about fats) to make the science easier to understand?
I also wonder if your post should begin with an example--rather than a statement of fact--to hook your reader. Your anecdotes about wrestling might work as a more colorful way to begin your essay.
In addition, I feel like you could work on your voice in this post, Kyle, especially in the first half and mostly the first paragraph where it still sounds a little academic. (Your voice actually improves as the post goes along.) Save that academic voice for your next essay. I notice that when you use short sentences your voice (ie: "no breaks") is especially unique, so you might try more of those in the beginning.
Dr. McCaffrey
One more big thing, Kyle . . . did you have to look up any of this medical info? If so, you have to cite your info. You can do this in a blog post by simply saying, "according to . . . " and then including the URL at the end of the essay so that people know how to access that info.
ReplyDelete