Abstract
This paper looks at obesity as a significant health problem. It seeks to ascertain whether poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles are the major cause of obesity. Data for the research was collected from ten individuals categorized into two groups of five each. The first group entailed the experimental group that comprised of obese individuals and the second group entailed the control group that comprised the healthy individuals. I used to visit food restaurants in the evening when families gathered to have their supper and food canteens in colleges during lunch hours. From the results, it was quite clear that poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles were the major cause of obesity.
Nutrition Scientific Method
Introduction
Obesity cases have significantly increased in the recent years to be a major global health concern. According to Ogden et al., (2014), obesity is defined to be the state when an individual is overweight to an extent which it poses a threat to their health. Different researchers have come up with various causes of obesity where some argue that it is as a result of genetics as the majority relates obesity to poor eating habits. This contradiction between the multiple authors of what leads to obesity was the driving force behind my research to ascertain the significant cause of obesity. Unlike from the ancient times, the modern society is characterized by increasingly cheap and high-calorie foods. These junk foods have high contents of fats, sugar, and salt when combined with our sedentary lives they cause detrimental effects on the body. I believe that this poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles must have been the major cause of obesity and so I had to carry out scientific research through observation to refine my assumption. The hypothesis statement for my research was, “poor feeding habit and sedentary lifestyles are the major cause obesity in the present world.”
Methods and Materials
Collecting data for my research was not an easy task as I was supposed to keep track of the eating habit of the few obese individuals who were essential participants in my study. My data was mainly collected through observation and recording down the information in my notebook. I used to visit food restaurants in the evening when families gathered to take their supper and food canteens in colleges during lunch hours to observe how the obese individuals are used to taking their meals. These times of the day were the best since they usually form the bulk of the meals that an individual takes a day. Also, the time was most convenient for me in carrying out my research as it could be too expensive for me to travel house to house to observe how the individuals took their breakfast since most of them had their breakfast while at home. A choose ten individuals for my research and categorized them into two groups of five each. The first group entailed the experimental group that comprised of obese individuals and the second group entailed the control group that consisted the healthy individuals.
Result and Conclusion
Of the ten participants that took part in my research, all the members of the individual groups almost had the same eating habits and lifestyles. For those who were in college, the obese individuals were always inactive and usually came to take their meals late than the rest. They used to prefer taking sugary and junk foods and those in the control group preferred having a small share of a balanced diet. They were always the first to serve and leave after meals. At the restaurants, obese family members also preferred sweet junk foods as compared to the normal ones. They were the last ones to finish their share that sometimes the others were forced to wait for them before they leave. From the results, concluded that obesity is a result of poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles as the obese individuals were always inactive (Wright and Aronne, 2012). Many authors have pointed to these two factors as the primary causes of obesity.
- Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2014). Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. Jama, 311(8), 806-814.
- Wright, S. M., & Aronne, L. J. (2012). Causes of obesity. Abdominal Radiology, 37(5), 730-732.
