It's next to impossible to watch TV without seeing one ad asking, "Are you struggling to lose weight?" Our society is obsessed with weight. Gaining weight, losing weight, childhood obesity and celebrity weight issues; if there is a chance to talk about weight, we all will join in and share on the subject.
According to the Journal of American Medical Association, 68.3 percent of the population over the age of 20 is obese with a Body Mass Index of 25 or higher, which means that a quarter or more of their body is fat.
That statistic is frightening to many, but instead of decreasing how much we eat and starting to exercise more, we are building bigger cars, bigger airplanes and 100-calorie packs, all in an effort to hide the fact that we are getting bigger. It's a delusion from which the majority of the nation is suffering.
How many times on campus have you seen someone run to catch the elevator to go from the first to the second floor? It's ridiculous: If they were able to run to go up one floor, then they can damn well walk up a flight of stairs.
The attitude of personal disrespect is not just restricted to elevators. In many stores, there are motorized carts for people who need assistance getting around the store. Most of the time the electric carts are used by obese adults who end up sending their children to get items around the store while they sit in the produce department.
Sometimes, yes, it is understandable that the people using the electric carts can't walk around by themselves.
There are other people with mobility issues, however, who are able to get around and don't have to get a cart.
Obesity is a disease that can be cured, and in many situations if obesity were removed, many other diseases would decline as well.
Diabetes is one of the many diseases that have grown at an exponential rate over the past 10 years -- due mostly to obesity. The cure is right in front of us. All any of us has to do is try.
This is not a crusade to make every person in the country be 145 pounds and starve himself or herself to reach the ideal weight. This is a movement for a healthier America.
Understand your own body. Not everyone has the genes to be super skinny, nor should you think that if you have a little excess body fat, it makes you obese. That is no the case at all.
At the same time, thinking that there is a magic pill or a super-high-powered drink mix that will melt your body fat away is a delusion. Eat a sensible diet; take the stairs every once in awhile. With such little changes and a little patience, obesity soon can be a thing of the past.
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