Marissa - Fat Americans

Americans are thought of as being fat. Americans eat what they want, watch television all the time, and do not exercise. As a result of this laziness, Americans become fat. Americans eat meals that are from fast-food restaurants or easy-to-cook pasta dinners. Food portions in America are very large and the food is not healthy. Most Americans think of a serving as a whole plateful of food, when in reality, it is about a quarter of that. Other Americans, however, do not even know anything about healthy eating and therefore, eat what they want which can be dangerous. Today’s youth does not do a lot of physical activity and yet continues to eat massive quantities of food. Children today spend most of their time playing video games or watching TV instead of going outside to run around and burn calories. Instead, they sit in front of a TV screen, eating snacks, and not exerting any energy. However, there are many Americans that watch what they eat. They prepare healthy meals, watch their food portions, and exercise regularly. Pressure in today’s society to be skinny sells a lot of diet plans and encourages eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. There are a large number of diet plans, such as Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, and herbal and other pills that are tried by many people. Media and TV put pressure on people to be skinny and many people succumb to that pressure and take dieting to the extremes of eating disorders.The cultural myth that all Americans are fat is not true. There are extremes; some Americans are obese, especially with the relatively new charts that show what someone’s weight should be compared to their height. However, there are Americans that are not obese and are careful about what they eat and the amount of exercise they get. Unfortunately, another part of the population has fallen victim to eating disorders.