Unacttractive People Have Difficulty Getting Jobs

Obesity among adults has risen during the past 20 years. Among children and teens, it has more than tripled since 1980. As of the present over 9 million young Americans aged 6-19 are overweight. Obesity has implication to American’s health that it needs more attention of government. Obesity can lead to health and disease implications like hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gall bladder disease, osteoarthritis, apnea, and some type of cancers. (Center for Disease Control, n. d. ) Indeed, it is said that unattractive people “are more likely than others to have difficulty getting their needs met, and as psychiatrist”.

The author William Glasser in his book Reality Therapy (Harper & Row, New York, 1965, pp. 5-6), even goes further as to say that “… everyone who needs psychiatric treatment suffers from one basic inadequacy: he is unable to fulfill his needs. … Whatever the symptom, it disappears when the person’s needs are successfully fulfilled. ” It is a fact of life that biological psychiatry today is a regression from what in the past was a more widespread and more accurate understanding of what is called mental illness or disorder. (Myths of Madness).

Once a person reaches adult stature, body weight usually remains surprisingly constant despite fluctuating energy requirements. Even though the food intake goes up or down with the expenditure of energy—one needs more food when one does a strenuous activity such as tennis and less when one is studying. However, today, the problem is that people tend to eat more and more than the body’s expenditure. The rising obesity epidemic reflects the profound changes in society and in behavioral patterns of communities over recent decades.

While genes are important in determining a person’s susceptibility to weight gain, energy balance is determined by calorie intake and physical activity. Thus, societal changes and worldwide nutrition transition are driving the obesity epidemic. This paper attempts to look into this burgeoning problem and proves that modernization, urbanization and globalization of food markets are the major forces that underlie the epidemic. In defining the magnitude of the obesity problem, Tommy G. Thompson, US Secretary of Health and Human Services points out that in 1991, no US state had an obesity rate higher than 14%.

At present, there is no state except Colorado that has an obesity rate lower than 15%. One reason, said Janet Voute, Chief Executive Officer, World Heart Federation, Switzerland, is a cultural shift. She cites for instance that the time the average family takes preparing meals has gone down from two hours to 15 minutes in the past few years (Robinson, 1999). Mayo said that corporations bear some responsibility for the problem. Because of rising health costs, he said, “we’re essentially subsidizing the food industry to peddle junk food to kids”.

This is not that easy though since regulation is not an ideal solution. Multi-national corporations like Unilever, Pepsi and Coke had all voluntarily changed their products and practices to respond to clamor for growing health concerns. There was the pressure on them to do their own regulation in coming up with better, more healthy foods. It was even revealed that Unilever was asked to reduce trans-fatty acids in their products. Unilever’s response was dramatic. It eliminated them altogether (Robinson, 1999). On the other hand, Dr. Marion Nestle feels that poor nutrition is the ultimate reason for obesity.

Diets lacking calcium, phosphorus and other nutrients tremendously affect the weight gain or loss of a teen’s fat cells. Dr. Bedell, agrees with the findings. ” Any family below the poverty level has an incredible amount of outside stress,” she said. ” If there’s no education of nutrition, it’s a matter of surviving emotionally and physically. ” (Gard MC, 1996). Mayo said that corporations bear some responsibility for the problem. Because of rising health costs, he said, “we’re essentially subsidizing the food industry to peddle junk food to kids”.

This is not that easy though since regulation is not an ideal solution. Multi-national corporations like Unilever, Pepsi and Coke had all voluntarily changed their products and practices to respond to clamor for growing health concerns. There was the pressure on them to do their own regulation in coming up with better, more healthy foods. It was even revealed that Unilever was asked to reduce trans-fatty acids in their products. Unilever’s response was dramatic. It eliminated them altogether (World Economic Forum). On the other hand, Dr. Marion Nestle feels that poor nutrition is the ultimate reason for obesity.

Diets lacking calcium, phosphorus and other nutrients tremendously affect the weight gain or loss of a teen’s fat cells. Dr. Bedell, agrees with the findings. ” Any family below the poverty level has an incredible amount of outside stress,” she said. ” If there’s no education of nutrition, it’s a matter of surviving emotionally and physically. ” (Gard MC, 1996). In sum, with due recognition of the skills and abilities of unattractive persons, it is best that they regulate their weight so that employers will take a second look and hire them in important job positions despite their looks such as their weight problems.

References

Center for Disease Control n. d. Information on Obesity. Retrieved October 29, 2006 at: at http://www. cdc. gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/state_programs/index. htm Gard MC, Freeman CP, (1996), The dismantling of a myth: a review of eating disorders and socioeconomic status. Int J Eat Disord (1996), 20(1):1-12. Myths of Madness. Retrieved October 29, 2006 at: http://www. antipsychiatry. org/br-mom. htm Robinson, T. Reducing children’s television viewing to prevent obesity: A randomized controlled trial, Journal of the American Medical Association 1999: 282: 1581-1587