4 Homework 2 Part 1: Overweight The Population

Overweight
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Overweight
What are the various explanations for the dramatic increase in the rate of obesity beginning in the 1980s? Which explanation do you agree with the most, and why?
Before the 1980s, most of the population was of the average weight relative to their height. However, this then changed after the 80s, there were more people that were now gaining massive weight. At the time, not many of the researchers had noticed that most of the population was growing overweight in a matter of short years (Kessler, n.d.). The explanation that was given for the overweight problem which started in the 1980s within the society was overeating. This simply meant that most of the people overfed. This is the most logical explanation for the weight gain compared to the rest of the explanations that were given at the time. Ideally, when one overfeeds, they tend to take in more energy than they can dispense, which is then stored in the body as part of the body’s mechanism to prepare for the future by storing excess energy (Kessler, n.d.).
Based on scientific evidence, to what extent do you think people are genetically programmed to crave sugar, fat, and salt or acquire a taste for them as a result of the American culture and/or the Standard American Diet (SAD)?
People tend to be attracted to fat in their foods. While it may seem that people are craving for the sugars in their foods, it is rather the fats that they want to taste in their foods. This means that other than the food being palatable, people are more drawn to it (The Beginning of the Obesity Epidemic, n.d.). They are attracted to the foods that have fats and this means that they tend to feel the need to constantly eat such foods. The foods that have sugar, fat and salt tend to give people some element of pleasure. It is this realization that has some of the food companies raking in millions relative to the fact that...