The obesity issue in America has come to critical levels. Competitive eating or speed eating is an activity that causes one to consume large quantities of food in a short period of time. Most of these contents are4 typically less than 15 minutes in length, with a person consuming the most food within this time being declared the winner. These kinds’ of competitions are mostly common in the United States. Hot dogs are made from beef, chicken or turkey. Such are some of the foods that grossly contribute to obesity rates in the United States.
The research findings on obesity rates related to eating disorders shows a high adult obesity rate though the data collected in the recent past shows a reduction inn the obesity rate. The trends of obesity due to eating disorders have taken a worrying trend world wide. The problem is creeping into the developing world. In the United Arab Emirates, overweight and obese children are a common sight nowadays. This shows an urgent need to address the processes that lead to overweight and obesity worldwide.
This is because the obese are increasing in third world countries despite exercises in their daily activities like walking and the obvious lack of sufficient nutrition. At the same time, according to the study released by the Canadian study shows that fruit and vegetable intake has drastically gone down. According to Hopkins obesity whether mild or severe increases the chances of developing kidney stones and that this risk doubles not being determined by the rate of obesity. The famous contest of eating hot dogs in United States is held in the month of July-Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest.
This contest draws huge fans and spectators. There is a clear correlation contests’ where one eats as many hot dogs as possible within a short period of time. In the United States, media has played a key role in promotion of eating disorders. Media’s world has become glamorous and setting delusive expectations of what image is considered beautiful, school girls and boys consider some of the movie actors as possessing perfect shapes and hence follow them blindly. This leads ton gradual deterioration in the physic al structure owing to the eating disorders.
Bulimia eating disorder includes binge eating, purging behaviors such as self-induced vomiting, laxative abuse, misuse of diet pills and compulsive exercise. The most common form is defensive vomiting which is at times called purging. Fasting is also highly practiced in such a condition. This is both related to eating disorder as well as a form of mental heath condition. Bulimia nervosa is most prevalent in females and there is considerable overlap between this eating disorder and mental conditions like depression band anorexia nervosa. This condition affects over two million adolescent girls and young women in the United States alone.
At the same time studies reveal that 10% of those diagnosed with this disorder are males. It is a highly addictive condition and even purging once may cause a person to fall in to a lifetime cycle trapped into it. More than 3. 5% of the females and 2% of the males are trapped by the binge eating disorders (BED). Lack of control over food consumption in certain periods, eating unusually large amounts of food at one time than a normal person would eat in the same time, eating more quickly during binge episodes than during normal eating episodes and mostly when one is bored or depressed.
One can eat large amounts of food even when not really hungry; this can be what really the hot dog eating contests promote among the contesters in the eating competitions. BED is also closely related to Bulimia nervosa and certain symptoms are present in both of these conditions. However, those with BED condition do not engage in strenuous exercise or purge after binge eating while bulimics are typically of normal weight, are underweight but have been overweight before or are slightly overweight. The hot dog eating contests have a significant role to play in enhancing the eating disorders highlighted above.
As such competitions should be discouraged due to promotion of unhealthy eating habits among the participants. Risks of heart attack have increased among these participants and at the same time kidney stones chances have also risen. With the threat posed by eating disorders in the United States due to fast foods, lack of exercise due to immobility among the natives of the nation and changes in tastes and preferences among the youths, there is a critical need to examine the role played by the various contests that involve eating such foods like the hot dogs, chicken pies etc.
Government should pass and enact policies regarding such competitions and regulate this industry. Some of the competitors are people suffering from these conditions and such opportunities only encourage them further instead of bringing healing and deliverance to such groups of people. At the same time awareness campaigns need to be carried out to educate the public on the dangers of unhealthy heating habits or eating disorders. Where obesity may not be evident, it does not lead to conclusion that the persons are healthy.