Raising Waistlines in Mexico

Drew Gabaldon
Anna Scanlon

English 1001 133

13 October 2014

Rising Waistlines in Mexico

Although American waistlines continue to grow at a steady pace, Mexico now secures the position as the number one obese country in the world. These two countries are close in comparison; however, Mexico topples over the United States as 32.8 percent of Mexican citizens are overweight compared to the 31.8 percent of Americans (Planas “Mexico Surpasses US”). The topic of obesity in Mexico seems intriguing as it gives clear evidence of a world that is plagued by corrupt habits and the gruesome consumption of non-nutritious foods. Being from America, which is quite often perceived as an obese country, it will be interesting to research different factors that contribute to the mentality of citizens as they slowly start to fall into poor habits that will affect them throughout their lifetime. Mexico is frequently observed as a country with a corrupt government, drug abuse, and pollution; but now with obesity as a high-rising issue, Mexico takes a new title to the international stage. Mexico is trying to decrease the overall number of obese citizens by instilling new dietary and fitness habits into them so they can live healthier and happier lifestyles.

The Huffington Post, based out of New York City, published Roque Planas’ article “Mexico Obesity Surpasses the United States’, Making it Fattest Country in the America”, where she discusses different factors that contribute to the overall weight gain of the population. This health crisis is sweeping the nation, causing a concern where “children are growing fatter and adults are increasingly dying from heart disease and diabetes” (Planas “Mexico Surpasses US”). The majority of Mexico has a low source of income, which therefore results in poor eating habits and an overall unsanitary lifestyle through the consumption of items such as greasy, fat, and sugary foods and sodas. Like America, Mexico is now starting to consume more fat sugary foods, rather than their old diet consisting primarily of maize and beans. Most reasonably healthy foods in Mexico are too expensive for the working class to afford, consequently forcing them to resort to whatever is cheapest at the local store. Because of this epidemic, “seventy percent of Mexican adults are overweight” and “a third of teenagers are fat as well” (Planas “Mexico Surpasses US”). Since most trends of obesity start an early age for the individual, he or she will most likely remain obese for the rest of his or her life due to habitual practices and cyclical poverty.

Al Jazeera published Nina Lakhani’s article “Mexico Obesity Bulges in Diet Concerns” out of Mexico City, Mexico, where she writes like Planas by giving examples of nutritional habits and the general lack of physical activity by those in Mexico. Unlike forty years ago when the most common form of death was “malnutrition and infectious diseases”, today’s leader is “cardiovascular diseases” (Lakhani “Bulges Diet Concerns”). These diseases are commonly seen as diabetes, heart failures, and other forms of illnesses, which directly correlate to the consumption of sugar. In total, these diseases “accounted for 150,000 deaths” alone in the year 2012, while the numbers continue to exponentially rise into present day (Lakhani “Bulges Diet Concerns”). Nina Lakhani writes with a concerning tone as she seems to be surprising herself with these outlandish statistics. Through this article, she hopes to transmit a message of awareness to her readers to signify the importance of this fast and growing issue. A main source of this rise stems from the diets of the common people. “Seven out of ten” Mexicans eat their breakfast with a sugary refresco, a Mexican type of soda, leading to an annual “22,000 deaths” due to an obscene amount of soda intake (Lakhani “Bulges Diet Concerns”). With the accessibility of junk food and the “6.5 billion dollar” profit gained from it, Mexico continues to decline while, paradoxically, death rates escalate (Lakhani “Bulges Diet Concerns”).