Although this was only a personal observation, fact can back it up. Only seventeen percent of Great Britain's adults are overweight, compared to America's whopping eighty percent, showing the drastic difference in other countries compared with the U.S. Why is it that Americans are so much more overweight than the rest of the world, especially when compared to a country with such a similar lifestyle as Great Britain? The United States supports an unhealthy lifestyle through its social tendencies, scientific advancements and greedy economy, which combine to create a dangerous concoction that produces an obese nation.
When it comes to social tendencies, one of the main problems is our screen-crazed society. According to Muscular Development, a sports and fitness magazine, American teens spend an average of 5.5 hours in front of some sort of screen. In the past, it was necessary to walk to a newsstand or convenience store in order to find out the daily news or read a favorite magazine article. Nowadays, any article or story is just a click of the mouse away. In addition to our dependence on computers, the advancements of video games also play a role in the increase of screen watching. With over a dozen types of game stations, not to mention the thousand plus games that go with them, it is impossible for a kid to get tired of playing video games. Many spend hours on end with a controller in their hands and determination in their minds.
Another social trend that has affected Americans" waistlines is the acceptance of being fat. In 1956, the President's Council of Physical Fitness implemented broad-based fitness goals for all young people and supported such slogans as "When the aliens land they"ll eat the fat people first!" When the 80's rolled around the so-called fat acceptance movement caused people to face the risk of getting sat on if caught making fun of a fat person. As best said by the magazine Muscular Fitness, "Coolified by MTV and glued to the tube with an acquired taste for deep fried junk food, much of our youth is trapped in its corpulence.
