Despite the numerous diet plans and various
educational programs, obesity has reached an all-time high in
America. This trend is due to several variables, which were
discussed by a host of doctors and specialists in this field at an
Agriculture Department-sponsored debate held last Thursday. They
believed that Americans needed to eat less, exercise more and
consume less sugar.
“Refined sugar ought to be reduced (in diets) as
well as the quantity of food,” Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman
said. He said the Agriculture Department will explore longer-range
studies on diets and how they breakdown in certain regions and
populations.
Barry Sears said that Americans continue to eat
less fat but are still getting fatter. The author of “The Zone”
believes, “We need to view food as a potential drug ... as Americans
are the fattest we have ever been.”
A recent
study done on obesity found that the epidemic spread rapidly during
the 1990s across all states, regions and demographic groups in the
United States. Obesity (defined as being over 30 percent above ideal
body weight) in the population increased from 12% in 1991 to 17.9%
in 1998. The highest increase occurred among the youngest ages (18-
to 29-year-olds).
How is that possible? How could American youth,
who are supposed to be an extremely active age bracket (18- to 29-year-olds), be the
group who is attributed the highest rate of obesity? Perhaps the
multitude of video games, movies, television and other forms of home
entertainment have made Americans lazy.
"Overweight and physical
inactivity account for more than 300,000 premature deaths each year
in the U.S., second only to tobacco-related deaths. Obesity is an
epidemic and should be taken as seriously as any infectious disease
epidemic, " says Jeffrey P. Koplan, director of the CDC. "Obesity
and overweight are linked to the nation's number one killer – heart
disease – as well as diabetes and other chronic
conditions."
These
diet programs offer anyone interested in trying them the opportunity
to a quick fix to their weight problem. Experts argue that
the low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet to the plant-based
diet and all-you-can-eat diet are the most effective and least
dangerous ways to lose weight.
However, some nutritionists said these fad diets
don't work in the long term. “Controlling weight is a life-long plan
and takes a long term solution,” said Keith-Thomas Ayoob, professor
at Albert Einstein College in New York. “Diets that are too
restrictive make it impossible for people to sustain in the
long-term.”
The problem with American society is that it has
become consumerized in almost every aspect of daily life. Marketing
specialists have exhausted every avenue of figuring out how to get
money from the American people. Because of this, the multitude of
slogans and marketing campaigns are designed to draw the American
public in. You see it in television and radio programming and on
billboards. You see it on side of trucks that transport material
from one place to another. It has become so engrained in the psyche
of the American people; we sub-consciously fall into the trap of
buying consumer goods when we really don’t need them.
Surveys
conducted in 1977-78 and 1994-96 reported daily caloric intakes
increased from 2239 Kcal to 2455 Kcal (calories) in men, and from
1534 Kcal to 1646 Kcal in women. The habit of eating more frequently
is encouraged by innumerable environmental changes: more food and
foods with higher caloric content, the growth of the fast food
industry, the increased numbers and marketing of snack foods,
increased time for socializing and a custom of socializing with food
and drink.
Without even needing statistics to prove it,
Americans eat much more at every sitting than do most cultures.
Therefore, these diet plans amount to nothing more than simply being
another gimmick, trying to siphon money out of our pockets.
Prophet Muhammed offered the best solution to
this problem over 1400 years ago. Unfortunately, many people have
forgotten the eminent words of our beloved Prophet (PBUH). He said,
“When you are hungry, eat, but don’t
eat until you are full. If you cannot do that, then reserve 1/3 of your stomach for food, 1/3 for water and 1/3 for air.” If Americans were to follow this program, the rate of obesity would rapidly decrease.
