I had grown up wanting to be a pharmacist and to give myself an edge I started working as a pharmacy technician at my town's local pharmacy. At the pharmacy I came in contact with around 300 patients a day who either were dropping off a prescription, picking up a prescription, or asking questions about a prescription. The majority of our patients were morbidly obese. I started to get annoyed by the fact that I was providing these people with a means to silence their body telling them they are doing something wrong. From cholesterol regulating medicine to type two diabetes tablets the prescriptions I was handing over to our patients was letting them live an unhealthy lifestyle just without the pain as they damaged their body more and more. I no longer desire to become a pharmacist but rather a nutritionist because America is facing one of the biggest epidemics in our history and it is because a lack of education and support. Nobody wakes up one day and is obese they slowly fall from normal weight to overweight and finally to obesity. "Love your body" movements have started to promote being overweight as okay. It is not okay. The health risks that go along with being overweight are not something to be overlooked because soon they turn into bigger and bigger problems that affect quality of life, self esteem, cholesterol, type two diabetes, osteoporosis, certain types of cancer, and many more. 

In 2016, being overweight is more common than being a healthy weight. "Obesity: America's Epidemic" states that "approximately 65% of adults in the United States are either overweight or obese and 23% of the United States are obese." According to the World Health organization, "after 15% of a population suffers from a health problem it is considered an epidemic" (Daniels 40). In "Obesity: America's Epidemic" Daniel's discusses the state of obesity in the United States, defines obesity in terms of body mass index (BMI) and myocardial infraction (MI). The article focuses on the effects obesity has on an individual's health and how it can cause diseases such as cancer. Daniels explains that there are many factors that go into obesity from genetics and evolution to the environment someone lives in. The article also discusses the problem with the modern diet, sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise. It also acknowledges that people are trying to change through the use of diets but most of the time the diets do not help people keep the weight off for more than a year. The solutions suggested are motivation from health professionals, family support, preventing it from the start, healthy eating, and exercise. Judi Daniels has a PhD and is an advanced registered nurse practitioner. She is also a member of the Clinical Faculty at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing. Daniels is credible on the topic of obesity because she has written a lot of articles on obesity for medical textbooks and journals. Her article on obesity lacks bias because it is solely facts and statistics and she references different studies throughout. 

The article "Prognosis In Obesity: We All Need To Move A Little More, Eat A Little Less," explains "Americans believe they have less time to do things but in reality are spending more time watching television and being inactive."  This inactivity leads to increased food consumption during periods of time where there is no appetite. Inactivity is also associated with the rise in childhood obesity. The percent of children that are becoming obese is growing and can be caused by watching television for more than four hours a day, not getting the proper amount of sleep, and maternal smoking. Overweight children are suffering from low self-esteem, decreased activity, overeating and are at risk of becoming obese adults (Lean 1339).  The author of "Prognosis In Obesity: We All Need To Move A Little More, Eat A Little Less", M E J Lean, is a professor and the chair of Human Nutrition at the University of Glasgow. He has a MA in History and Philosophy of Science, did four years of research at the MRC and University of Cambridge Dunn Nutrition Laboratories, and was chairman on the Food Standards Agency Advisory Committee on Research. This shows that he understands the importance of nutrition and has an understanding for other aspects in the medical world that deal with obesity. Lean uses facts and not his opinion making the article less bias. He cites all of his sources at the end of the article and they are all credible organizations such as the US Department of Health and Human Services and the World Health Organization. 

Lack of education can be linked to the cause of obesity in children and adults. Amy Jordan explores how children's eating behaviors are shaped through experience in her article "Overweight and Obesity in America's children: Causes, Consequences, Solutions". Jordan believes that the way children are fed by their parents and what they are served at school effects their eating habits as adults (Jordan 226). If fruits and vegetables are not a part of a child's daily diet, then they most likely will not become a part of their diet as they grow up. Portion control is also important to implement in a child's lifestyle. By serving a child an age appropriate portion parents are able to protect against building a habit of overeating. Parents can also lead by example by having a positive relationship with food to protect children from developing emotional eating or poor body image (Jordan 227). Amy Jordan, the author of "Overweight and Obesity in America's children: Causes, Consequences, Solutions," is the director of the Media and the Developing Child sector of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Jordan also has a PhD and is the UPenn PRC Lead on the Communication & Dissemination Core, Co-Principal Investigator on the Skin Cancer Communication Project, Co-Principal Investigator on the Cognitive Aging Project, and Co-Investigator on The Healthy Brain Research Network Project. Jordan's work has been funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institute of Child Health and Development. 

There is variability in opinions in what contributes to obesity but all of the studies agree that obesity is a problem. But still many Americans do not see obesity as the problem it is. The question about why America is in an obesity epidemic may cause less people to argue that obesity is not that big of an issue. Lack of education can cause people to overlook obesity as a health issue and see more as a self esteem issue. Disagreements with obesity being a problem are rooted with people promoting positive body images for people of all sizes. I might revise my research question to be "why is promoting a positive body image people that are overweight a bad idea?"

