Wealth and Health

             With a cornucopia of food products available in the U. and worldwide markets, why would rational consumers make dietary choices that tend to contribute adversely to their health?.
             In the past twenty years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the Unites States. There is abundance of foods to choose from in the US, however with the fast pace of the world today, many people are fast food junkies or on the go eaters. It's so much faster to drive through the local hamburger joint for a burger and fries than it so sit down and have a good healthy lunch or dinner. Most adults continue the diet that they were raised on as children by their parents and as they say old habits are hard to break. Behavior, Environment and Genetics also play a part in obesity. Behavior, such as eating too many calories while not getting enough physical activity will certainly drive your body fat up. The environment that one is associated with will also play a part in becoming obese. Home, work, school, or community can provide barriers to or opportunities for an active lifestyle. If your work schedule is such that your always on the run and you don't have the opportunity or will not allow yourself the opportunity to eat a healthy diet or make the time for physical activity then your setting yourself up for failure. With the work schedule being so difficult and demanding it can lead to a fast paced home environment as well. This will cause the careful planning of healthy eating to be pushed to the back burner; at this point you are now ingraining unhealthy eating habits into your children. The there is school; this is a big part of your and your child's day. Schools now have soft drink machines, fast food dispensers and even snack machines filled with nothing but fats. If your child is not disciplined enough to stay away from these fattening foods, it's a steep to becoming obese. Genetics "heredity plays a large role in determining how susceptible people are to overweight and obesity.