In the years between 2007-2008 and 2015-2016, obesity rose significantly among adults, from 33.7% to 39.6%. Rates of severe obesity increased during this time from 5.7% to 7.7%. Portion sizes have increased, unhealthy foods have become more affordable, and there are now big societal norms on obesity. 

Portion sizes have increased drastically, data revealed that over the past 20 years: hamburgers have expanded by 23 percent, a plate of Mexican food is 27 percent bigger, soft drinks have increased in size by 52 percent, snacks, whether they be potato chips, pretzels or crackers, are 60 percent larger. Not only has portion sizes increased, but so has the food intake. In 1970, Americans took in an average of 2,160 calories per day. Today, it has skyrocketed to 2,673 daily calories per person. There are a lot of predictions as to why portion sizes have increased, and Americans are consuming more and more, but I think the biggest factor to all of this is the American mindset.  

What used to be considered a path of self-destruction has become today’s normal. The Cosmopolitan just released a new magazine with the cover page portraying an obese woman, with the caption, “This is Healthy.” This cover page wasn’t referring to her healthy eating or exercise habits, if there are any, it was just depicting her size. I agree nobody should be “fat-shamed” or mocked regarding their weight, but telling people that overeating and lack of exercise is the picture of health is inaccurate and wrong. To be clear, weight isn’t what determines someone’s health. People can be more prone to being over or underweight even though they do eat a healthy diet and get enough exercise, but with that being said, most of the population who are obese do not take proper care of their bodies, and whether people are prone to obesity or not, it can still cause many problems with health and cause them to be more susceptible to things like strokes, heart attacks, heart failure, kidney failure, and can put them at a higher risk of getting various types of cancers. 4.7 million premature deaths each year occur from obesity-related problems alone. The normalization of unhealthy behavior is no different than anorexia or bulimia acceptance, it’s just at the opposite end of the spectrum. Like obesity, these disorders are very dangerous and destructive to one’s body. No one chooses to be dangerously overweight or dangerously underweight, but our society has normalized these to the point that most people can’t even see anything wrong. So, why have these behaviors been normalized? 

No one really knows the key reason as to why these self-destructive behaviors have been normalized, but one reason could be that unhealthy eating is just simply cheaper. A healthy diet compared to an unhealthy one costs about $1.50 more a day, which might not sound like much, but this works out to more than $2,000 more per year on the average family of four’s grocery bill. This is because fresh fruits and vegetables are more expensive to farm than crops that will be processed. Produce relies on human labor rather than machines, and machines are much more efficient and cheaper in the long run. Another reason can be that they do not have enough time to fit in daily exercise. A study was done by Freeletics shows that 44% of people said they don’t have enough time to exercise and that their day is too busy. A lot of common excuses come down to convenience. According to the results, only 29 percent of Americans consider working out to be convenient. The average American only has 89 minutes of free time a day, 

Our world’s mindset of health has changed so much, with no thanks to portion sizes, costs of healthy foods, little time to work out, and the normalization of unhealthy habits. Not only will regular exercise and healthy diets help with your physical health, but they will also help with your mental health. Studies show that healthy diets and regular exercise can have impacts on depression, anxiety, and ADHD. It also relieves stress, improves memory, helps you sleep better, and boosts your overall mood. The sooner healthy habits become more promoted, the sooner people will be able to live happier, healthy, lives.