Choosing the Right School Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Choosing the Right School - Essay Example Therefore, the selection of a school is one of the most important decisions in the life of an individual. This paper discusses some of the factors that need to be taken into consideration while selecting for studying in up to a certain level. the paper addresses the concerns of adolescents, so they are primarily the audience for this paper. There are several factors that need to be considered while evaluating the choices available. An individual can not always decide to join a particular school of its quality of education is good because he/she might not be able to afford the expenses of the school. Schools that have a good reputation among the public and are known for their quality of education are generally quite expensive. An individual needs to select a school that has a good reputation and is also affordable. Affordability and quality are difficult to achieve in the same school, though the school that offers optimum benefits should be selected. The first and foremost trait one l ooks for in a school is the quality of education. The quality of education depends upon the level of commitment of the school administration and the whole staff of the school with their duties and responsibilities in the school. The quality is not merely an outcome of the selection of curriculum. In many schools, the curriculum is quite rich and thoughtfully designed, yet it does little to improve the intellect of the children. The real determinants of the quality of education are the tutors. Some teachers are so committed to their job that they encourage the students to approach them out of the regular duty hours if they have any problems, in education or otherwise. They do not even mind if the students come up with personal problems that have no educational significance. They are the spiritual guides and counselors of students in addition to being their teachers. In the company and under supervision of such a teacher, students tend to build strong ties with the education and take interest in the studies. This essentially speaks of the quality of education. In addition to the teachers, the school administration also plays a fundamental role in determining the quality of education. They may or may not participate directly in the education, but they have an important duty of establishing the educational setup, which has both direct and indirect impacts on the education. An individual should consult the students and their parents regarding these factors in a school before deciding to join it. Another factor that has a lot of weight in the consideration of a school for joining is the distance of the school from an individual’s home. The expenses of a school can significantly increase if the school is far away from the home because of the additional charges of transport to the school. Some people tend to live in a hostel in order to study in a particular school of their choice which has its own repercussions. Life in a hostel can be very unsuitable for some people. Living in a hostel is totally different from living in the home while studying. There are so many distractions in the culture of a hostel that an individual may find it very difficult to concentrate upon the studies while living in the hostel. In a hostel, the individual may have to share his/her room with others which can have negative impact on the individual’s tendency to gain education. Quite often, people acquire negative habits when they start to live in the hostel like smoking and drinking under the

The Field Of Genetic Counselling Psychology Essay

The Field Of Genetic Counselling Psychology Essay Over the past fifty years, the field of genetic counselling has been constantly evolving, often changing the roles and adjusting the values of genetic counsellors within the field. This progress can be monitored by looking at the genetic counselling literature from various decades and comparing fundamental values of the profession at a certain time period. In this paper, an evaluation of genetic counselling services is based on four studies conducted in 1970s and 2000s. These studies were on genetic counselling provided for neural-tube malformations by Morris and Laurence (1976), Duchenne muscular dystrophy by Emery et al. (1972), the role of genetic counselling in multidisciplinary metabolic clinic by Hartley et al. (2010), as well as on the genetic counselling for patients with psychiatric disorders (Hill and Sahhar 2006). The main focus of Morris and Laurence (1976) research was to assess the value of genetic counselling provided to couples who had a child with neural-tube malformations, an affected relative, or themselves had been suffering from these defects over the period of 8 years. The success of 160 genetic counselling sessions was measured by the clients reaction to counselling, accurate recollection of risks, and the appropriateness of the actions taken as a result of the risk numbers provided. In this study, genetic counselling consisted of two consultations. During the initial consultation, information on the origin, possible causes of the neural-tube malformation, and risk figures was given. In addition, the counsellor addressed the couples concerns and discussed the potential means of solving them using a nondirective approach (Morris and Laurence 1976). After the session, none of the couples had received the letter with the details of the consultation, it was only sent to their general p ractitioner. A two-hour follow-up consultation was arranged at the couples home, with a previous consent of the couple via a formal letter and the general practitioner. During this visit, a genetic counsellor had focused on the couples reactions to counselling, accurate recollection of risk information, and their decision on further pregnancy (Morris and Laurence 1976). The main purpose of Emery et al. (1972) study was to evaluate the effectiveness of genetic consultations given to women with confirmed diagnosis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy over the period of 4 years. The effectiveness of genetic counselling was measured in a similar way to the previously mentioned study, in addition to the influence of consultations on womens marital status. In contrast with the findings on neural-tube malformations (Morris and Laurence 1976), genetic counselling in this study consisted of two sessions and one follow-up visit. All three consultations differed in nature. Women referred to genetic counselling in this study were not aware of the exact risk numbers of them being a carrier for the X-linked Duchenne muscular dystrophy; therefore, the point of the first visit was to conduct a predictive test based on the serum levels of creatine kinase. As soon as the results were obtained, women came for the second consultation, where the information on the character o f the disease, their carrier status and risk figures was given. Similar to the study done on neural-tube malformations, Emery et al. (1972) implemented a nondirective approach into the genetic counseling sessions, with a slight emphasis on the importance of the risk figures given to women who were in the high risk group only. During a follow-up visit, a questionnaire was used to assess womens reactions to counselling and their views on future pregnancies. Neither counselled women nor their general practitioners received a detailed letter of the consultation. pg. 2 Both of the studies showed that the majority of clients seemed to have a fairly good apprehension of the disease nature and recall of the risk numbers, with the outstanding memory of clients falling into groups of very high and low risk. However, Morris and Laurence (1976) found that 23% of their clients had a very poor recall due to various reasons. It was quite surprising to see that nearly one-fifth of the couples were disappointed with the nondirectiveness of genetic counselling mostly because they were looking for someone to make decisions for them. The question that immediately comes to mind is: What are the reasons for disliking the nondirective approach? Was it because the counsellor did not provide enough psychological support? If the counsellor was concentrating on being nondirective and let clients be completely responsible for their own decisions, then the counsellor might have missed the opportunity to emotionally connect with the clients and give them enough confidence to make the decisions of their own. The evaluation of the effectiveness of genetic counselling in these two studies was mainly measured by the clients ability to retain information on risks, their attitude towards advice given, and their future decision making (Emery et al 1972; Morris and Laurence 1976). However, both of these studies had no emphasis on feelings of other family members about the disease, financial burden associated with the disease, and the social aspects of it. It was quite surprising to see that in the attempt to evaluate the effects of genetic counselling in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Emery et al. 1972), there was no record of the actual feelings of the clients towards genetic counselling and the nondirective approach used. In my opinion, one cannot fully assess the attitude towards genetic counselling if it is measured through comprehension of the nature and risks of the disease, and not the emotional responses to the counselling process. It can be seen from both of the studies, that nondirective approach was used as a method for conducting genetic counselling. Over the past three decades, nondirectiveness was an integral part of genetic counselling (Kessler 1997). As a result, the information given to families had an emphasis on the genetic aspect of the disease, the risks associated with it and the importance of those risks. Genetic counsellors restrained themselves from participating in active discussion, giving advice or making any decision for the client. The study on Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Emery et al. 1972) clearly shows that the decisions associated with future pregnancies regardless of the risks were left entirely to the woman. Looking through the literature on genetic counselling, there seems to be a lot of criticism of nondirective approach and dissatisfaction of many genetic counsellors that have recently entered the field with it (Kessler 1997; Weil 2003; Weil et al. 2006). A high rate of dissatisfa ction with nondirective approach in the field could be well due to the fact that nondirectiveness was initially implemented in reproductive genetic counselling era, when genetic counsellors could only provide information on risks and prenatal testing, and left the decisions on family planning up to the clients (Weil 2003). This is well illustrated by the studies on neural-tube malformations (Morris and Laurence 1976) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Emery et al. 1972). The study done by Hartley et al. (2010) vividly shows how different the role of genetic counsellor is these days. It looks at a genetic counsellor as a part of one complex multidisciplinary environment providing a wide variety of health services to children with metabolic disorders. The distinct feature of the genetic counselling in such clinics is pg. 3 that the counselling sessions are provided continuously over the life span of a patient. In contrast with the genetic counselling services in 1970s, the counsellors in this type of clinical environment have an opportunity to fully engage with the client, an advantage of addressing every concern the patients family has, as well as providing a continuing emotional support (Hartley et al. 2010). The consultations themselves differ quite significantly from those taken place in reproductive genetic counselling era. During the first consultation, genetic counsellors do realize that the stress of recently diagnosed child with metabolic disorder often overrides the familys ability to take in the information on the disorder and risks associated with it. Keeping this in mind, genetic counsellors do not go into the genetic aspect of the disorder, but rather provide immediate psychosocial support and give an idea of what it means to live with a metabolic condition on the day-to-day basis (Hartle y et al. 2010). Looking back at the studies done by Morris and Laurence (1976) and Emery et al. (1972), one could see a possible downside of giving a whole lot of information in a single counselling session, which could be the underlying reason for clients poor recall of information when in distress. Therefore, the second consultation is usually held at least four months after the metabolic disorder is diagnosed. And it is during this session that the extensive information on the inheritance and nature of the condition, and the available community support groups (Hartley et al. 2010). The study done by Hill and Sahhar (2006) also shows a newly developing role of a genetic counsellor in the field of psychiatric genetics. Due to the current limitations in the knowledge of psychiatric genetics, most of the genetic counsellors work is devoted to providing helpful resources to the family, connecting them with support groups, emphasizing the importance of family support and helping to deal with the stigma associated with psychiatric disorders, however, the risks of recurrence are also explained. The counselling sessions also tend to be held over a long period of time, which gives clients more time to adapt to a genetic side of mental illness. The two recent studies are similar in a way that there was a detailed summary letter written to the clients with the information covered during the counselling session (Hartley et al. 2010; Hill and Sahhar 2006). In studies done by Morris and Laurence (1976) and Emery et al. (1972), it is quite understandable that if someone wants to measure the ability of a client to remember the information given, then no summary letter should be sent. However, such letter tends to be crucial with helping clients to fully understand and retain the information on the disorder if they were not able to concentrate on it during the counselling session (Hill and Sahhar 2006). These letters also serve as important starting point for sharing information within the family or with a general practitioner. Both of the recently done studies on the genetic counselling emphasize a psychosocial approach to genetic counselling rather than nondirective approach. It is quite interesting, because few years before these papers came out, Weil (2003) did raise a question of whether nondirective approach should continue to be recognized as the main ethos for genetic counselling, or whether a new approach, emphasizing psychosocial direction, should be developed. As Weil (2003) suggested, some crucial values of nondirectiveness, such as providing balanced information, not imposing the genetic counselors values on the counselee, and supporting counselee autonomy should be included in the central ethos of the genetic counselling practice in general, regardless of the approach used.

Essay --

The growth of agriculture and railroads in Texas and in the United States helped form our economy today. Railroads today pass through a lot of Texas, and even in big cities like Houston or Dallas. Since there are so many farms and open farmland (especially in south and west Texas), railroads can carry the produce and livestock to their destination. James Watt invented the first steam engine in about 1769, and from then on, railroads were a must for transportation, since cars had yet to be invented. Railroads began to be built before the Civil War. It originally took about 6 months to get from the west of the US to the east, but now it only took 7 days. With railroads expanding all across the country, agriculture was affected in a mostly positive way. Now, crops and other goods could be transported by train anywhere in the US, and fast. When Stephen F. Austin brought the â€Å"Old 300† to Texas, they got about 4,338 acres for grazing, and 177 acres for farmland and labor. This is where the first slave-based cotton plantation came into being. The Texas’ farms were starting to be a commercial business. Small family farms were becoming more frequent, and the livestock business became popular, all between 1836 and the Civil War in 1861. Cotton production generated most of the state’s agriculture production and sales. 58,000 bales were produced in 1850, but in 1860, there were 431,000! The number of slaves grew to more than triple as well, from about 58,200 to about 182,500. The whole population of Texas tripled too. It was kind of like a ‘Texas Cotton Rush’! There were many immigrants who settled in Texas. Some of those towns are still here today, such as New Braunfels, Brenham, and Boerne. Those are German towns. Also, immigrants from... ... could easily and (more importantly) quickly move from farms to cities to be sold. Even livestock could be carried by freight to reach markets across the country. The expansion of agriculture and railroads helped form Texas’s present economy. The invention of the steam engine not only allowed people to move across the country in 7 days, instead of 6 months, but it also allowed crops and livestock to be carried to markets and places where they would be sold anywhere in the country. They could be moved to another farm in Texas as well. Since it’s such a large state, railroads were a necessity for travel, and general transportation. The railroad-building boom lasted 40 years. The production of cotton in Texas introduced some of the first slave-based cotton farms, and was the dominant crop for a very long time. After this event, Texas’s economy was forever changed.

Teachers needs self-confidence to plan and implement

IntroductionThe words of the General Teaching Council ( GTC ) statement that â€Å" instructors inspire and lead immature people, assisting them achieve their possible as fulfilled persons and productive members of society † highlight the importance of instructors in today ‘s society and stress that instruction is a demanding profession. This mission statement is reinforced by the Professional Standards for Teachers which outline â€Å" properties, cognition, understanding and accomplishments required of instructors at each calling phase † . Both apprehension of theory and practical experience are required to heighten a instructors ‘ development. Different theories and doctrines have been used to explicate the patterned advance to going a ‘good instructor ‘ and I aim to analyze the mode in which these theories have contributed towards my ain professional development whilst critically analyzing different doctrines.ProfessionalismIn my position, a professional instructor requires both self-confidence and humbleness. A instructor needs assurance to program and implement undertakings whilst being undeterred by troubles and humbleness to avoid assurance going haughtiness. The comprehension of professionalism is supported by Hoyle ( 1995 ) , that professionalism can be understood by cognition, liberty, and duty. A profession should establish its pattern on specializer cognition which is beyond the range of laic people. This cognition should be both theoretical in the signifier of scrutinies and practical in t he signifier of experience. Autonomy follows the rule that every category is different as is every kid and the instructor should utilize their better opinion to move in the best involvements of their students. Duty is the reciprocal of liberty. The freedom of liberty must be expressed responsibly. A more in-depth analysis has been researched sing the key attributes which are associated with professionalism by Hoyle. Hoyle ( 1980 ) distinguished between restricted professionals and drawn-out professionals. Restricted professionals have their focal point in the schoolroom with the precedences being learning methods, their ain didactic behavior, and capable affair. The drawn-out professionals nevertheless are concerned with professional coaction and turn up their schoolroom instruction in a broader educational context. They besides aim at working as members of a school squad.REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONEROther than merely using professionalism in the transporting out of responsibilities, a instructor should be one who at regular intervals, looks back at the work they have done, and the work procedure, and considers how it can be improved by reflecting on the work that has been done and the jobs encountered in the class of making it. The construct of brooding pattern can be described as a critical procedure in heightening one ‘s field or subject harmonizing to Donald Schon ( 1996 ) . Brooding pattern is a manner for novices to recognize the nexus between â€Å" their ain single pattern and those of successful practicians † . Using this construct it allows for thoughtful consideration into 1 ‘s ain experiences and using cognition to pattern whilst being guided by professionals. Hopkins and Antes ( 1990 ) show a similar position that brooding pattern can be classified in footings of action research. Action research, in bend, is defined as a tool of course of study development dwelling of uninterrupted feedback that targets specific jobs in a peculiar school puting. As such, it has become a standard construct in teacher instruction plans. The instructor pedagogue as research worker and function theoretical account encourages pupils to set theories they have learnt into pattern in their schoolrooms. A parallel attack indicates that portfolio development has become a favorite tool used in pre-service instructor instruction ( Antonek, et Al, 1997 ; Hurst et Al, 1998 ) . Portfolios encourage inexperienced instructors to garner important stuffs culled in the class of their professional development to document their competences. Portfolios include a brooding constituent, for when the instructor decides which stuffs to include, they have ascertained which learning patterns worked good and why ( Hurst et a, 1998 ) . The portfolios can and should be modified at points throughout a instructor ‘s calling, as the instructor continues to use larning to practical instruction, a process which is the trademark of a brooding practician. The above theories are similar in that they focus on either pre-service or novices in a subject and lineation that contemplation is used to derive cognition and to get the better of failings. These attacks are summarised by educational theoretician and psychologist Jerome Bruner ( 1987 ) when he stated that â€Å" ego is a perpetually rewritten narrative † .PRE-BLOCK ExperienceIn the broadest sense, a instructor can be defined as person who non merely teaches or imparts cognition, but is besides and possibly most significantly, person responsible for determining the heads and attitudes of all those whom they teach. A A instructor has the power to exert a strong influence over theirA students. When coupled with certain definite accomplishments, a good instructor has the potency to hold a womb-to-tomb impact on the pupils. An effectual instructor of mathematics continues to look into new mathematical cognition and effectual instruction schemes. An effectual mathematics instructor wants to eliminate the fright and anxiousness that mathematics represents to many pupils. As stated in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics ( NCTM ) Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for school mathematics ( NCTM, 1989 ) , an effectual mathematics instructor will be able to actuate all pupils to larn mathematics. My doctrine about what constitutes an effectual mathematics instructor may outdo be illustrated by an illustration which came to my attending detecting a freshly qualified mathematics instructor. The mathematics instructor was portraying fractions in a manner easy comprehendible by the bulk of the category with assorted appraisal techniques used to guarantee the students understood. However, one student failed to hold on the subject and non unnaturally struggled to reply the inquiries. As the instructor ‘s attending was occupied by the remainder of the category, this one student was unable to continue with the inquiries. At the terminal of the lesson as the instructor had non watched over the category for any students that struggled, the student left the category still uncomprehending and uninterested in the subject. The instructor was unable to assist the kid as he had omitted to watch for students in trouble and this runs counter to the doctrine that every kid is of import. I n this peculiar case the instructor lacked the experience to detect the troubles that the student was confronting. My class experiences have allowed me to associate to the constructs of contemplation, in peculiar the dimensions of brooding pattern ( Zwozdiak-Myers, 2006? ) . The dimensions of brooding pattern relate to the thoughts in which instructor ‘s reflect, better and test new thoughts. This so allows for instructor ‘s to be able to see the types of techniques which were successful and unsuccessful in the schoolroom. The nine dimensions each have a cardinal facet in which to near contemplation and this proves to be a cardinal theory in building my doctrine about the function of a instructor. John Dewey ( 1933 ) observed that brooding thought is called for when people recognize that some jobs can non be solved with certainty. Pulling from this observation, King and Kitchener ( 1994 ) chose the term â€Å" brooding judgement † to depict the sort of epistemological knowledge that includes the acknowledgment that existent uncertainness exists about some issues. These theories have re-constructed my doctrine in the fact that the profession of instruction is non ‘black and white ‘ . There are jobs where there is no perfect solution ; nevertheless it is up to the opinion of the instructor to react in the involvement of the pupils. Lawrence Stenhouse ( 1975 ) explores the construct of a instructor as a research worker, which takes a different attack from the old theories. It encourages instructors to set theories they have learnt into pattern in their schoolroom. This has re-constructed my beliefs of what constitutes a instructor of mathematics as research is an imperative factor in instruction.DecisionResearch on effectual instruction over the past two decennaries has shown that effectual pattern is linked to inquiry, contemplation, and uninterrupted professional growing ( Harris 1998 ) . Brooding pattern can be a good signifier of professional development at both the pre-service and in-service degrees of learning. By deriving a better apprehension of their ain single instruction manners through brooding pattern, instructors can better their effectivity in the schoolroom. The instructor ‘s function has now changed from the traditional image of a didactic lector ordering an indigestible measure of facts to a schoolroom of students who solemnly inscribe the words and later larn them by bosom to regurgitate them in the signifier of an essay in response to a inquiry on a termly or annual scrutiny paper. These alterations are due to a new position being taken on course of study, teaching method and the organisation of learning and larning, every bit good as alterations caused by wide socio-political tendencies in the society ( Hoyle, 1974 ) . The instructor ‘s liberty, control and professionalism ( Hoyle, 1974, Pollard et.al.1994 ) are no longer beyond difference both in the schoolroom and in society as a whole. As a consequence, the instructor ‘s duties are no longer limited to the schoolroom but scope more widely than hitherto. A modern instructor must now get a broad scope of cognition and accomplishments to get by with the new demands of their increasing duties. A instructor must therefore develop professionally so that enhanced cognition and accomplishments from the procedure of development can be put into pattern both in the schoolroom and outside to profit their students which constitutes an drawn-out professional.

Obesity In the United States

In the United States today, obesity has become an enormous problem. In the last 3decades, the number of people overweight has increased dramatically. A study done by theCenters of Disease Control showed that since 1980, one third of our adult population has becomeoverweight. America is the richest but also the fattest nation in the world, and our obese backsides are the butt of jokes in every other country (Klein 28). The 1980s were a time whenAmericans suddenly started going crazy over dieting, jumping onto the treadmills, and buying prepackaged non-fat foods.However, while all of that was going on, the number of obeseAmericans began to increase. According to a report in the Journal of the American MedicalAssociation, 58 million people in our country weigh over 20 percent of their body’s ideal weight. The article â€Å"Fat Times† states, â€Å"If this were about tuberculosis, it would be called an epidemic†(Elmer-Dewit 58). The eating habits of society have stea dily become more harmful and havestarted to produce gluttonous children, over-indulgent adults, and a food industry set too muchon satisfying our appetites.Obesity can begin at a very young age. Many children in our society are overweight,setting themselves up for serious health problems later in life. Type 2 diabetes, high bloodcholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart problems are just some of the risks. Children who areoverweight also tend to feel less secure, less happy, and be stressed more than normal weight children do. They get teased, criticized, and judged. In many cases, the problem is not the child’sfault.Being overweight may run in that child’s family, or their parents do not encourage them to be active and get enough exercise. Many children spend too much time indoors wasting away infront of the TV, playing video games, or spending time on the computer, and consuming high fatsnacks, soft drinks and candy at the same time (Weight Management). The CDC per formed astudy in 1994 that was described in the book Fat Land; it showed that children who watched over four hours of television a day had higher body mass index (body fatness) numbers than thosewho watched less than one hour a day.In 1994, The Centers for Disease Control studied the TVviewing time, exercise patterns, and weight gain of 4063 children aged eight to fifteen. Theresults found that the less a child exercised and the more they watched TV, the more likely theywere to be obese or overweight. When they surveyed the parents, they discovered that theconcern about crime was a reason that the parents didn’t want their children outside being active. That is why they were not concerned about the harmful effect of sitting in front of the TV allday; they were just glad that their children were safe.Surveys, studies, and reports that came outin the 1990s began to show shocking results of how â€Å"socially disfranchised† children were becoming from being obese (Critser 73-74). Schools aren’t helping the children either;How can the school nutritionist compete against BigFoot pizzas and Super-Size fries? The $50,000 the U. S. government allots each state annually to teach kids to eat right islost next to the billions spent designing food and packaging that will ring the kids'Pavlovian bells†¦ the percentage of teens who are overweight, which held steady at about15% through the 1970s, rose to 21% by 1991. The kids eat nothing but junk food’ saysLiam Hennessey, a special-ed teacher from San Francisco who watches students on school trips open the lunches their parents pack for them, gobble up the Oreos and Pop-Tarts and toss out the sandwiches† (Elmer-Dewitt). A Harvard Health Report, â€Å"Weight Less, Live Longer,† discusses how many people donot realize that their appetite and diet can be closely related to many psychological factors. Any person who has ever binged on chips or cookies when they feel upset can underst and this.Several studies have shown that people tend to eat more when they feel anxious, depressed, or have symptoms of other emotional disorders. Certain foods have been known to have a calmingeffect, although unfortunately it is usually the fattening foods that do. When a depressed personeats to feel better, they gain weight, and being overweight can in turn cause depression and theemotional problems that signal overeating. A vicious cycle begins. Being overweight can causemore emotional problems than just overeating, however.Sadly, obese people are very oftensocially shunned, judged, criticized, and made fun of. They have more trouble finding jobs,friends, and mates. Being discriminated against just adds to the emotional strain that overweight people have to deal with. Their depression from being obese can cause feelings of hopelessness,making it seem impossible for them to try to lose weight and change the way they look (WhyPeople Become Overweight). The book Food as a Drug desc ribes some studies that have beendone to try and see if obesity could be considered the same as a drug dependency disorder.Foodcan sometimes be a powerful psychoactive substance, and â€Å"one way to view eating disorders isto appreciate that food is a complex mixture and that the body responds to food as it does tochemicals, such as those found in alcohol and other psychoactive drugs. Eating disorders aretherefore chemical disorders† (Food as a Drug). The food we eat in America is another factor contributing to the nation’s obese population. The desire for junk food has rapidly replaced the desire for fruits and vegetables and other healthy edibles. Who can blame people for buying it? It’s easy, quick, cheap, and fun.What people can be blamed for is the amount they eat. Junk food defined is food packed withchemicals, sugar, and sodium, such as french fries, hamburgers, and sweets. Junk food is not justlimited to snacks; fast food was put on the list when the ca lories, fat, sodium, and chemicalcontent surpassed the nutritional value. â€Å"Although many health authorities insist that there is nosuch thing as junk food, consumers find it a useful term for distinguishing nourishing food from products whose chief appeal is fun, convenience, and addictive taste; ‘bet you can't eat just one’†(Junk Food). Americans are spending about $4. billion a year on potato chips, and 23. 5 billiona year on candy and gum. 46 Percent of adult Americans eat out on a typical day, and one thirdof them choose fast food. That is because the fast food industry has slowly become one of thesymbols of American culture and is spreading to other cultures as well: McDonalds has 26,000locations in 119 countries, Pizza Hut has more than 10,000 in 86 countries, and Subway has14,500 in 75 countries. Commercials, signs, and huge advertisements are pushing junk food at usevery day; people can not even go to the grocery store without candy bars being lined up right bythe checkout.The junk food industry realizes how appealing it can be. When a person is in arush, they can easily eat a large meal without having to make a lot of decisions, work, dress up,or get out of their car. The speed and convenience fit Americans’ pressured lifestyles. It does notfit, however, to our health and wellness. A fast food meal, such as a Burger King DoubleWhopper with cheese, contains 965 calories, more than double the amount of fat, and as much as750 grams too much sodium for the day. The food is providing all the wrong ingredients; it hastoo much protein and fat and no fiber or vitamins. It is o wonder our nation is so overweightwhen the food they make habit of eating can be so dangerous. It is very unfortunate that Americans get to the point where fat caters to their hurried lifestyles. Junk food may not bealtogether toxic, but when it is eaten on a habitual basis it can be deadly (â€Å"Junk Food†). Excessive weight on the body can pose some extremely serious health risks. Just some of those risks are type 2 diabetes, infertility, hypertension, heart attacks, colon cancer, prostatecancer, hyperlipidemia, and breast cancer. The general mechanism for gaining weight is obviousand simple.When people consume more calories than the body can burn, the body stores thosecalories as fat tissue. However, some genetic factors can play a part, such as how the bodyregulates the metabolic rate and appetite. Some people use their genetics as an excuse, butactually those that have the predisposition to gaining weight do not have to be fat (Carson-Dewitt). â€Å"People with only a moderate genetic predisposition to be overweight have a goodchance of losing weight on their own by eating fewer calories and getting more vigorous exercisemore often.These people are more likely to be able to maintain this lower weight† (Why PeopleBecome Overweight). It is mainly the amount of fat that people make a habit of eating and their lifest yle that plays the biggest role in their overall health. Some symptoms of obesity are excessfatty tissue and excessive weight gain, causing arthritis, lower back pain and other orthopedic problems, hernias, heartburn, adult-onset asthma, high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure,gum disease, gallstones, skin disorders, shortness of breath that can be incapacitating, sleepapnea, and emotional and social problems.Studies have shown that individuals who are â€Å"apple-shaped† tend to have higher risks of risk heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes than peoplewhose weight sits in their hips and thighs and are â€Å"pear-shaped† (Carson-Dewitt). The book Eating Disorders and Obesity points out also that where fat is deposited in the body makes adifference in disease risk. The intra-abdominal fat is very dangerous. In this area, fat cells produce harmful chemicals that go to the liver. Lipacidemia (the presence of fatty acid in the blood) obstructs oxygen and glucos e from being transported to the muscles, thus increasing the body’s resistance to insulin.The book also shows statistics that adult onset diabetes is mostsensitive to weight gain. â€Å"A gradient in risk of more than 50-fold is seen from the leanest to theheaviest men and women, and even modest gains in weight from age 18 to midlife are associatedwith an increase in risk several times greater than that of a person who maintained a stableweight† (Eating Disorders and Obesity). Increased BMI (body mass index) of 23 to 25 hadincreased abnormalities in blood pressure, glucose tolerance, and serum lipids.People who areoverweight may try to present the benefit of less hip fractures and broken bones than people whoare lean (because of more padding), but heart disease and diabetes are far more important anddangerous health risks. There are no benefits to being overweight (Eating Disorders andObesity). Preventing obesity at an early age is very beneficial to people’s he alth and self-esteem. Parents can prevent their children from becoming obese later in life more than they know. Theyneed to be role models for their children, and set examples of a good lifestyle.Regulating howmuch the child eats is important, especially what they’re eating. Sugar should be cut down, aswell as high-calorie snacks. Limiting time in front of the TV and computer could increase physical activity as well (Weight Management). The article â€Å"Obesity† explains that obese adultswhose parents never taught them good eating and health habits have to take care of themselvesand change their lifestyles. Treating obesity is not just about quick weight loss, it is about settingup a lifelong pattern of good choices. Yo-Yo† dieting is very dangerous and can increase a person’s risk for fatal diseases. Behavior-focused treatment should concentrate on learning andunderstanding the fat content and overall nutritional value of most foods. Overweight individua lsmay need to keep a food diary to record their calories and food choices, and change habits in grocery shopping, times of meals, and actual rate of eating. Some psychological factors, such ashow a person views food, could play a part. Some people overeat when they are under extremestress, for example, and see food as a comfort.Others may eat to reward themselves for success. Many views of food are contributing to why people gain weight so quickly, and if people canidentify the psychological reasons behind why they eat so much, they could prevent a lot of problems. The article continues by describing how physical activity is another life habit that isvital to make. The amount of time someone spends exercising and being active can contributemuch to his or her overall health. As many as 85% of dieters who do not exercise on a regular basis regain their lost weight within two ears. In five years, the figure rises to 90%. Exerciseincreases the metabolic rate by creating muscle, which bu rns more calories than fat. Whenregular exercise is combined with regular, healthful meals, calories continue to burn at anaccelerated rate for several hours. When individuals work hard and build endurance, it helpsthem not feel discouraged. New activities and varied routines can help them not lose interest instaying active. Individuals trying to make these life changes would be wise to be encouraged andsupervised by a medical professional.Weight loss programs, such as â€Å"Weight Watchers† cansometimes be effective, as they emphasize realistic goals, sensible eating, gradual progress andexercise. However, some can be dangerous because they promise extreme weight loss and may put people on dangerous diet plans or pills. Most doctors would not approve of those, but wouldrecommend a low calorie diet (about 1200 to 1500 calories a day), or a liquid protein diet for upto three months. Along with the supervision of dieting and exercise, the doctor would probablyrecommend a psychi atrist to help the patient deal with their views on food.Sometimes appetite-suppressant pills are administered, which increase levels of serotonin or catecholamine,chemicals that control feelings of fullness. Food plays a huge part though; â€Å"getting the correct ratios of protein, carbohydrates, and good-quality fats can help in weight loss via enhancement of the metabolism. Support groups that are informed about healthy, nutritious, and balanced dietscan offer an individual the support he or she needs to maintain this type of eating regimen†(Obesity).Obesity experts have made the point that monitoring fat consumption is moreimportant than just counting calories. Just 30 percent of calories eaten per day should come fromfat, and only one third of those calories should come from saturated fat (Obesity). Many Americans are trying to fight the battle against obesity. Many aren’t winning. Howcan they when packaging on junk food is distracting children from the salad bar , or when adultssee commercials for huge meals every 10 minutes on television? Food is being pushed atAmericans constantly; there seems no way to get around the message of â€Å"you have to eat. There seems to be no way to achieve fitness goals because there are too many obstacles. Whether a person’s obstacles are their genetics and metabolism, their depression, or their habits andlifestyle, being overweight is one of the hardest things in life to deal with. The things that obese people have to deal with are very unfortunate. The health problems are harmful enough to well- being, but the cycle of depression and emotional problems that comes along with obesity in somany cases can be worse.Obese people have to walk through life constantly being reminded of their damaging habits and things can seem so hopeless. It is so important to start healthy habitsearly in life. The benefits of good behavior and good life patterns can make life more fulfilling,worth living for and longer l asting. Americans used to embrace healthy eating habits but thecountry got so busy that good ideals were thrown away. The problem of obesity is not just aboutfood; it is about an entire lifestyle Obesity In the United States In the United States today, obesity has become an enormous problem. In the last 3decades, the number of people overweight has increased dramatically. A study done by theCenters of Disease Control showed that since 1980, one third of our adult population has becomeoverweight. America is the richest but also the fattest nation in the world, and our obese backsides are the butt of jokes in every other country (Klein 28). The 1980s were a time whenAmericans suddenly started going crazy over dieting, jumping onto the treadmills, and buying prepackaged non-fat foods.However, while all of that was going on, the number of obeseAmericans began to increase. According to a report in the Journal of the American MedicalAssociation, 58 million people in our country weigh over 20 percent of their body’s ideal weight. The article â€Å"Fat Times† states, â€Å"If this were about tuberculosis, it would be called an epidemic†(Elmer-Dewit 58). The eating habits of society have stea dily become more harmful and havestarted to produce gluttonous children, over-indulgent adults, and a food industry set too muchon satisfying our appetites.Obesity can begin at a very young age. Many children in our society are overweight,setting themselves up for serious health problems later in life. Type 2 diabetes, high bloodcholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart problems are just some of the risks. Children who areoverweight also tend to feel less secure, less happy, and be stressed more than normal weight children do. They get teased, criticized, and judged. In many cases, the problem is not the child’sfault.Being overweight may run in that child’s family, or their parents do not encourage them to be active and get enough exercise. Many children spend too much time indoors wasting away infront of the TV, playing video games, or spending time on the computer, and consuming high fatsnacks, soft drinks and candy at the same time (Weight Management). The CDC per formed astudy in 1994 that was described in the book Fat Land; it showed that children who watched over four hours of television a day had higher body mass index (body fatness) numbers than thosewho watched less than one hour a day.In 1994, The Centers for Disease Control studied the TVviewing time, exercise patterns, and weight gain of 4063 children aged eight to fifteen. Theresults found that the less a child exercised and the more they watched TV, the more likely theywere to be obese or overweight. When they surveyed the parents, they discovered that theconcern about crime was a reason that the parents didn’t want their children outside being active. That is why they were not concerned about the harmful effect of sitting in front of the TV allday; they were just glad that their children were safe.Surveys, studies, and reports that came outin the 1990s began to show shocking results of how â€Å"socially disfranchised† children were becoming from being obese (Critser 73-74). Schools aren’t helping the children either;How can the school nutritionist compete against BigFoot pizzas and Super-Size fries? The $50,000 the U. S. government allots each state annually to teach kids to eat right islost next to the billions spent designing food and packaging that will ring the kids'Pavlovian bells†¦ the percentage of teens who are overweight, which held steady at about15% through the 1970s, rose to 21% by 1991. The kids eat nothing but junk food’ saysLiam Hennessey, a special-ed teacher from San Francisco who watches students on school trips open the lunches their parents pack for them, gobble up the Oreos and Pop-Tarts and toss out the sandwiches† (Elmer-Dewitt). A Harvard Health Report, â€Å"Weight Less, Live Longer,† discusses how many people donot realize that their appetite and diet can be closely related to many psychological factors. Any person who has ever binged on chips or cookies when they feel upset can underst and this.Several studies have shown that people tend to eat more when they feel anxious, depressed, or have symptoms of other emotional disorders. Certain foods have been known to have a calmingeffect, although unfortunately it is usually the fattening foods that do. When a depressed personeats to feel better, they gain weight, and being overweight can in turn cause depression and theemotional problems that signal overeating. A vicious cycle begins. Being overweight can causemore emotional problems than just overeating, however.Sadly, obese people are very oftensocially shunned, judged, criticized, and made fun of. They have more trouble finding jobs,friends, and mates. Being discriminated against just adds to the emotional strain that overweight people have to deal with. Their depression from being obese can cause feelings of hopelessness,making it seem impossible for them to try to lose weight and change the way they look (WhyPeople Become Overweight). The book Food as a Drug desc ribes some studies that have beendone to try and see if obesity could be considered the same as a drug dependency disorder.Foodcan sometimes be a powerful psychoactive substance, and â€Å"one way to view eating disorders isto appreciate that food is a complex mixture and that the body responds to food as it does tochemicals, such as those found in alcohol and other psychoactive drugs. Eating disorders aretherefore chemical disorders† (Food as a Drug). The food we eat in America is another factor contributing to the nation’s obese population. The desire for junk food has rapidly replaced the desire for fruits and vegetables and other healthy edibles. Who can blame people for buying it? It’s easy, quick, cheap, and fun.What people can be blamed for is the amount they eat. Junk food defined is food packed withchemicals, sugar, and sodium, such as french fries, hamburgers, and sweets. Junk food is not justlimited to snacks; fast food was put on the list when the ca lories, fat, sodium, and chemicalcontent surpassed the nutritional value. â€Å"Although many health authorities insist that there is nosuch thing as junk food, consumers find it a useful term for distinguishing nourishing food from products whose chief appeal is fun, convenience, and addictive taste; ‘bet you can't eat just one’†(Junk Food). Americans are spending about $4. billion a year on potato chips, and 23. 5 billiona year on candy and gum. 46 Percent of adult Americans eat out on a typical day, and one thirdof them choose fast food. That is because the fast food industry has slowly become one of thesymbols of American culture and is spreading to other cultures as well: McDonalds has 26,000locations in 119 countries, Pizza Hut has more than 10,000 in 86 countries, and Subway has14,500 in 75 countries. Commercials, signs, and huge advertisements are pushing junk food at usevery day; people can not even go to the grocery store without candy bars being lined up right bythe checkout.The junk food industry realizes how appealing it can be. When a person is in arush, they can easily eat a large meal without having to make a lot of decisions, work, dress up,or get out of their car. The speed and convenience fit Americans’ pressured lifestyles. It does notfit, however, to our health and wellness. A fast food meal, such as a Burger King DoubleWhopper with cheese, contains 965 calories, more than double the amount of fat, and as much as750 grams too much sodium for the day. The food is providing all the wrong ingredients; it hastoo much protein and fat and no fiber or vitamins. It is o wonder our nation is so overweightwhen the food they make habit of eating can be so dangerous. It is very unfortunate that Americans get to the point where fat caters to their hurried lifestyles. Junk food may not bealtogether toxic, but when it is eaten on a habitual basis it can be deadly (â€Å"Junk Food†). Excessive weight on the body can pose some extremely serious health risks. Just some of those risks are type 2 diabetes, infertility, hypertension, heart attacks, colon cancer, prostatecancer, hyperlipidemia, and breast cancer. The general mechanism for gaining weight is obviousand simple.When people consume more calories than the body can burn, the body stores thosecalories as fat tissue. However, some genetic factors can play a part, such as how the bodyregulates the metabolic rate and appetite. Some people use their genetics as an excuse, butactually those that have the predisposition to gaining weight do not have to be fat (Carson-Dewitt). â€Å"People with only a moderate genetic predisposition to be overweight have a goodchance of losing weight on their own by eating fewer calories and getting more vigorous exercisemore often.These people are more likely to be able to maintain this lower weight† (Why PeopleBecome Overweight). It is mainly the amount of fat that people make a habit of eating and their lifest yle that plays the biggest role in their overall health. Some symptoms of obesity are excessfatty tissue and excessive weight gain, causing arthritis, lower back pain and other orthopedic problems, hernias, heartburn, adult-onset asthma, high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure,gum disease, gallstones, skin disorders, shortness of breath that can be incapacitating, sleepapnea, and emotional and social problems.Studies have shown that individuals who are â€Å"apple-shaped† tend to have higher risks of risk heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes than peoplewhose weight sits in their hips and thighs and are â€Å"pear-shaped† (Carson-Dewitt). The book Eating Disorders and Obesity points out also that where fat is deposited in the body makes adifference in disease risk. The intra-abdominal fat is very dangerous. In this area, fat cells produce harmful chemicals that go to the liver. Lipacidemia (the presence of fatty acid in the blood) obstructs oxygen and glucos e from being transported to the muscles, thus increasing the body’s resistance to insulin.The book also shows statistics that adult onset diabetes is mostsensitive to weight gain. â€Å"A gradient in risk of more than 50-fold is seen from the leanest to theheaviest men and women, and even modest gains in weight from age 18 to midlife are associatedwith an increase in risk several times greater than that of a person who maintained a stableweight† (Eating Disorders and Obesity). Increased BMI (body mass index) of 23 to 25 hadincreased abnormalities in blood pressure, glucose tolerance, and serum lipids.People who areoverweight may try to present the benefit of less hip fractures and broken bones than people whoare lean (because of more padding), but heart disease and diabetes are far more important anddangerous health risks. There are no benefits to being overweight (Eating Disorders andObesity). Preventing obesity at an early age is very beneficial to people’s he alth and self-esteem. Parents can prevent their children from becoming obese later in life more than they know. Theyneed to be role models for their children, and set examples of a good lifestyle.Regulating howmuch the child eats is important, especially what they’re eating. Sugar should be cut down, aswell as high-calorie snacks. Limiting time in front of the TV and computer could increase physical activity as well (Weight Management). The article â€Å"Obesity† explains that obese adultswhose parents never taught them good eating and health habits have to take care of themselvesand change their lifestyles. Treating obesity is not just about quick weight loss, it is about settingup a lifelong pattern of good choices. Yo-Yo† dieting is very dangerous and can increase a person’s risk for fatal diseases. Behavior-focused treatment should concentrate on learning andunderstanding the fat content and overall nutritional value of most foods. Overweight individua lsmay need to keep a food diary to record their calories and food choices, and change habits in grocery shopping, times of meals, and actual rate of eating. Some psychological factors, such ashow a person views food, could play a part. Some people overeat when they are under extremestress, for example, and see food as a comfort.Others may eat to reward themselves for success. Many views of food are contributing to why people gain weight so quickly, and if people canidentify the psychological reasons behind why they eat so much, they could prevent a lot of problems. The article continues by describing how physical activity is another life habit that isvital to make. The amount of time someone spends exercising and being active can contributemuch to his or her overall health. As many as 85% of dieters who do not exercise on a regular basis regain their lost weight within two ears. In five years, the figure rises to 90%. Exerciseincreases the metabolic rate by creating muscle, which bu rns more calories than fat. Whenregular exercise is combined with regular, healthful meals, calories continue to burn at anaccelerated rate for several hours. When individuals work hard and build endurance, it helpsthem not feel discouraged. New activities and varied routines can help them not lose interest instaying active. Individuals trying to make these life changes would be wise to be encouraged andsupervised by a medical professional.Weight loss programs, such as â€Å"Weight Watchers† cansometimes be effective, as they emphasize realistic goals, sensible eating, gradual progress andexercise. However, some can be dangerous because they promise extreme weight loss and may put people on dangerous diet plans or pills. Most doctors would not approve of those, but wouldrecommend a low calorie diet (about 1200 to 1500 calories a day), or a liquid protein diet for upto three months. Along with the supervision of dieting and exercise, the doctor would probablyrecommend a psychi atrist to help the patient deal with their views on food.Sometimes appetite-suppressant pills are administered, which increase levels of serotonin or catecholamine,chemicals that control feelings of fullness. Food plays a huge part though; â€Å"getting the correct ratios of protein, carbohydrates, and good-quality fats can help in weight loss via enhancement of the metabolism. Support groups that are informed about healthy, nutritious, and balanced dietscan offer an individual the support he or she needs to maintain this type of eating regimen†(Obesity).Obesity experts have made the point that monitoring fat consumption is moreimportant than just counting calories. Just 30 percent of calories eaten per day should come fromfat, and only one third of those calories should come from saturated fat (Obesity). Many Americans are trying to fight the battle against obesity. Many aren’t winning. Howcan they when packaging on junk food is distracting children from the salad bar , or when adultssee commercials for huge meals every 10 minutes on television? Food is being pushed atAmericans constantly; there seems no way to get around the message of â€Å"you have to eat. There seems to be no way to achieve fitness goals because there are too many obstacles. Whether a person’s obstacles are their genetics and metabolism, their depression, or their habits andlifestyle, being overweight is one of the hardest things in life to deal with. The things that obese people have to deal with are very unfortunate. The health problems are harmful enough to well- being, but the cycle of depression and emotional problems that comes along with obesity in somany cases can be worse.Obese people have to walk through life constantly being reminded of their damaging habits and things can seem so hopeless. It is so important to start healthy habitsearly in life. The benefits of good behavior and good life patterns can make life more fulfilling,worth living for and longer l asting. Americans used to embrace healthy eating habits but thecountry got so busy that good ideals were thrown away. The problem of obesity is not just aboutfood; it is about an entire lifestyle