The weight of the nation
The movie we watched is called “The weight of the nation”. I learned that:
- Worldwide obesity has nearly doubled since 1980.
- In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults, 20 and older, were overweight. Of these over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese.
- 35% of adults aged 20 and over were overweight in 2008, and 11% were obese. >65% of the world’s population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight.
- More than 40 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2011.
- Obesity is preventable.
- Most of the food commercials make you want to eat.
My reaction to this movie is that people started eating more food over the 30 years so they should start taking food seriously. What makes people obese is an increased intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat and an increase in physical inactivity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization.
Not only the food matters but your physical activities that you do every day. Childhood obesity is associated with a higher chance of obesity, premature death and disability in adulthood. But in addition to increased future risks, obese children experience breathing difficulties, increased risk of fractures, hypertension, early markers of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and psychological effects. Overweight and obesity, as well as their related noncommunicable diseases, are largely preventable. Supportive environments and communities are fundamental in shaping people’s choices, making the healthier choice of foods and regular physical activity the easiest choice (accessible, available and affordable), and therefore preventing obesity. At the individual level, people can:
- limit energy intake from total fats and sugars;
- increase consumption of fruit and vegetables, as well as legumes, whole grains and nuts; >engage in regular physical activity (60 minutes a day for children and 150 minutes per week for adults).
