In America today, there is a growing epidemic of obesity. In United Sates there is also an alarming increase of diabetes. These concerns have me asking the questions, “ehow healthy are Americans?†and “els there anything I could do to help raise my level healthiness? My understanding is that health is a lifestyle that is based on choices that one makes. From the food one eats to going for a walk or jog, everyone has a choice to make. Since this question I have is a growing concern, there is a lot of information posted on the World Wide Web. The best website that I found is at www.healthierus.gov.
The information on this site is about a national effort to prevent and reduce the costs of disease, improve people’s lives and promote community health and wellness. I found this site to be very useful in helping me answer my questions on health. The site is run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This helps me believe that this source is credible and believable. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, those national and state policies on obesity are falling short of their goals.
Nearly 119 million Americans, 65% of the population, are overweight or obese. The direct and indirect costs of this obesity problem are over 119 billion dollars a year. These stats help prove that we as a nation need to help each other and correct this epidemic. Some of the things that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are trying to do is bring more attention to school food and physical activity programs. There are more issues than just obesity that affect the population of the United States.
Diabetes in America is another concern that is rising rapidly. Diabetes is a group of diseases marked by high levels of blood glucose resulting from defects in insulin production and insulin action or both. According to Center of Disease Control, diabetes in youth under twenty years of age has recorded 176,500 cases which is roughly 1 out of every 400-600 kids. For adults between the ages of 20 and 60 there are 20.6 million cases of diabetes or 9.6% of all people in that age group. While in 2005 there were 1.5 million new cases of diabetes being diagnosed in the United States were older than 20 years old.
Diabetes in the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, it kills around 224,092 Americans each year. There are numerous complications that diabetes can contribute to. Diabetes in the United States needs to look at carefully in my opinion. With it affecting some many Americans, I am surprised that there is not more advertising about diabetes. Everyone in the U.S. knows someone who diabetes has touched or who is currently getting treated for this disease. While the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is trying to spread this message, there are other actions being taken.
The President of the United States, with the help of the Department of Health and Human Services, is now launching a campaign called “Small Steps.†This programs goal is to help Americans by make 3 small choices about their health to get big results, instead of making a drastic lifestyle change. The choices start with helping them eat better, by using portions and moderations with healthy fruits, and vegetables. From there the program focuses on getting physically active for five times a week for at least thirty minutes, examples are jogging, walking or going to the gym. The last step is learning more, since information is easily accessible these days changes are always being made to improve health. While that is a great way for the public to start getting informed, I found a website that talked about tips for improving ones health at familydoctor.com.
This site is run by the American Academy of Family Physicians, so that the information obtained from this site is from qualified doctors in the field of medicine. This article stated good nutrition is one of the keys to good health. The means making sure you regularly eat foods that have a lot of vitamins and minerals, while passing on ones high in fats. It states little things that would improve you diet such as if you eat meat bake or grille rather than fry it. This article tells you to read the nutrition labels on foods before you buy them. These are just some easy pointers to help get someone into health shape. These programs look to be a great way for kids, teens, adults, and seniors to help raise their individual health levels.
One thing that I have noticed is that these programs need more publicity in order for Americans to hear about them. It took me a research paper to find this information out. In the military the concerns of health are always being talked about from briefings to barracks life. Once you leave that military community the issue of health seems not to come up as much as it should. To me it seems people try to push it to the back of conversations. The most common phase you hear people ask is “How are you doing?â€, but you never hear a truthful answer.
Most of the time people just say what they think the other person wants to hear. What I have learned about health from my own perspective is that people under estimate their health and are surprised when something happens to them. Then they try blaming the physician rather than looking at their own health style. Health is a choice, the choices one chooses to make about their health, will determine a healthy lifestyle. Everyone has a right to health life that choice is up to them. A famous quote by Leigh Hunt helps sum up the importance of health. “The groundwork of all happiness is health.
