Annotated Bibliography

English 1190 – Amolsch

Final Draft

11/15/18

Proposal/Annotated Bibliography

The topic I have been researching this semester is obesity. I’m going to mainly focus on obesity in the United States. Obesity is a serious concern in America because of all the health problems it causes. My personal experience will lend me credibility; I was starting to become overweight my first year in college because I was to busy to exercise and I made very poor nutrition choices. Now I’ve figured out how to fit exercise into my very busy school and work life, and I’m also educating myself on how to eat heathier and it’s starting to help. My Annotated Bibliography provides sources I discovered while doing my research about obesity. These sources will inform people why Americans are becoming obese so quickly and what Americans can do to help educate themselves about how to lose weight or to help others lose weight for those who may not know how.

I feel like this is a serious issue that many Americas must address. Studies have shown that one in three Americans are obese and that over time that percentage will go up even higher. As fast food industries grow, some Americans have decided to eat that food instead of preparing a healthy home cooked meal. These fast food restaurants serve unhealthy options and large portions that have caused the people who consume it to become overweight and eventually obese.

While doing my research I asked myself, “How can we get people to stop making unhealthy choices?” Overall, we literally can’t stop people from deciding what they can and cannot eat. We also can’t force fast food restaurants to serve healthier food with smaller portions. Unfortunately, there’s no physical action I, or anyone, can take to stop obesity. My only option is to educate the people that care enough about their own health to make some changes. My research will educate both myself and others who wants to live a healthier lifestyle. I have come across many informative sources that have helped me understand what I could do if anyone were to ask how they could fight obesity. I don’t plan on having any problems with my research since many people in the world have done research and provided more than enough information. I propose to use this research to educate people and encourage them to make healthier choices.

Annotated Bibliography

“Future Diets: Obesity Is on the Rise Globally.” Visual.ly, Overseas Development Institute, 3 Jan. 2014, https://www.odi.org/opinion/9329-future-diets-global-rise-obesity

This visual source shows how quickly obesity rates have grown in the past ten years. One in three people are obese and over time that percentage will continue to grow. This should be important to everyone because obesity causes many health concerns like diabetes and various cancers. Even if a person is not obese, this visual source should convince people to help others that are obese. This supports my argument because it’s one of the most important facts about obesity, and it proves that more people are choosing to live an unhealthy lifestyle and continuing to live that lifestyle despite the facts about the risks they’re taking.

Gunnar’s article shares three main points on how to lose weight fast, which was to cut back on sugars and starches, eat more protein, healthy fats, and vegetables, and to work out at least three times a week. He adds another ten tips that would make losing weight easier and faster. For example, people can do something simple like drinking water a half hour before every meal, or eating slowly when you do eat. Toward the end of his article, Gunnar mentions that people don’t have to starve themselves to lose weight; rather, people can eat until they are full and still lose weight successfully.

Kris Gunnars presents a strong argument about how easy it really is to lose weight. Even if someone couldn’t follow his simple three steps, they could go to his alternative steps that are easy as well, which supports his argument in many ways. The author uses logos when he goes into detail about which health risks people can prevent by following these steps. This is a creditable source because in the author’s summary about himself shows that he has a Bachelor’s degree in medicine and has been studying nutrition for many years.

The article “How to Lose Weight Fast: 3 Simple Steps” by Kris Gunnars is an amazing source for anyone that is looking to change their lifestyle to a healthier one and isn’t sure on where to start. While he provides many facts on how easy it is to lose the weight, he mentions that people can prevent many health diseases along the way. Gunnars even explains how people can expect to lose between five to ten pounds the first week if they strictly adhere to these steps. This article will support my claim that weight loss can be both easy and realistic.

"Obesity." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/PC3010999129/OVIC?u=lom_macombcc&sid=OVIC&xid=df369b36. Accessed 5 Nov. 2018.

This article explains the calculation of a person’s weight status to determine whether or not someone is healthy according to their BMI number. The article continues to give us information about the health risks obesity causes. The author presents the causes that will eventually lead to obesity and explains what to do to prevent these causes. Toward the end of the article, the author warns people of the effects of obesity and the types of diseases people can develop by choosing to live an obese lifestyle.

Logos is used in this article through the explanation of many facts about obesity and the way it is measured. It provides reasonable supporting details for its argument and would attract an audience that wants to learn more about what BMI is and how they can measure it for themselves. Overall, this is an informative article that could answer many questions people may have if they are interested in losing weight themselves or if they just want to study obesity so they can help inform others about how to lose weight.

“Obesity” provides supporting details for my argument about obesity and will enable me to educate readers about BMI and how they can measure themselves based on their height and weight to determine if they are obese. The article transitions to the option of having a medical operation to help people lose weight if they are not able to diet or exercise, but the operations can lead to major side effects. This article can benefit the public if they are interested in an alternative to proper diet and exercise, but warns people what they should be aware of regarding health risks when taking this alternative option.

Richtel, Matt and Jacobs Andrew. “American Adults Just Keep Getting Fatter.” The New York Times, March 26, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/health/obesity-us-adults.html.

Richtel’s and Jacobs’ article begins by sharing facts about how obesity rates have increased over the years and that they don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. The authors mention that health experts were alarmed that after educating adults about the health risks of obesity that obesity continue to rise. They also refer to many doctors that have studied nutrition, and most of these doctors provided more information and facts about how quickly obesity is increasing. According to Richtel and Jacobs, one doctor claimed that something is happening to young adults and children to account for this increase, but the doctor couldn’t explain what it was.

The authors made it obvious that Americans are becoming more obese than before, but they can’t figure out how to stop it. They employ logos in their article by quoting doctors who studied at universities across the country, and in by incorporating quotes from those doctors, they provide readers with facts about obesity. They seem credible in his article because of the research from doctors they have presented. With all the information the authors provide, they could not recommend an approach to decrease or end the obesity epidemic.

The article “American Adults Just Keep Getting Fatter” is a great source to help me explain why America is becoming more obese. Along with all the facts the authors provide, they also suggest that telling people to change their eating habits is not working. No matter how much information people receive, they are going to eat what they want when they want, which also supports my point of view.

Wile, Elise. Why Did Obesity Increase So Much in America? Livestrong.com, Leaf Group Ltd, July 18, 2017, https://www.livestrong.com/article/339349-why-did-obesity-increase-so-much-in-america/.

This article begins with what I think is the most interesting fact about obesity and what I think everyone show know when they think about obesity: One in three Americans are obese. Wile claims that the availability of fast foods, a lack of exercise, and even the presence of food additives are the main causes of American obesity. She mentions that when high fructose corn syrup was first introduced into the American food system, people started to gain weight, and eventually become obese. Wile argues how majority of Americans rely on cars for everyday transportation, and that may be another reason why American obesity rates have gone up so dramatically. She compares America to Sweden and other Europe countries on how most of there people walk or ride bikes instead of cars and their obesity rates are much lower than ours.

Wile gives us a strong argument by providing simple facts about obesity and giving people other reasons why America is so obese. She establishes logos with the facts that she provides readers about obesity and how its harming Americans. The author quotes from the Journal of the American Medical Association, which makes her a creditable source. Overall, Wile gives us four main reasons on why she thinks America is getting fatter and that possibly changing these reasons will benefit obese people.

“Why Did Obesity Increase So Much in America?” by Elise Wile is a great source to help me explain information about nutrition and diet choices that might cause people to gain weight without realizing or understanding why. It will also support one of my main arguments, which is that fast food and lack of exercise are the main causes of obesity.