How Culture Affects Obesity Rates

Culture affects obesity by changing the way a person eats and exercises.

There is something to be said about how culture affects obesity rates.

When we are losing weight, we often don’t take into consideration our respective nationality which in-turn affects our genetics—which in turn affects our weight.

What to take into consideration and why:

Not to say that any one race is any better or worse for losing or gaining weight—but our heritage has a lot to do with gene pool and where we carry our weight the most.

It is a good thing to take into consideration three factors if you have trouble spots.

• Race
• Genes
• Nationality

Examples of how culture affects obesity rates:

One disclaimer first here—there are cases of a person being of a certain nationality and having an easier or harder time with weight—simply because they live in the US and not on the original continent. This means that lifestyle and habits of the culture can take over.

For example—if you are of a Latin or Italian nationality you may have a bottom-heavy tendency. But, if you live in Italy—you may not have a weight problem. However if you are Italian-American and eat differently than those in the mother country—you may have a tougher time keeping it off your bottom half.

This is because people in Europe do not eat the portions we do and in a lot of places—they do not eat the three meals a day we do. On their homeland they are not eating a lot of the chemicals and preservatives that we do. This is also a factor in weight gain that is to be taken into consideration.

The Europeans also walk a lot more than we do just getting around from one place to another.

Is race, genes and nationality really an illusion?

The culture one lives in as in the aforementioned example is actually more of an influence than race, nationality or genetics.

These three things can be overcome to an extent apart from genetic because you are built as you are built according to genetic makeup—but even then—you can reshape a lot of your body with a lot of dedication and working out.

There is a lot you can do to combat what nature gave you just by doing what very few in America do—eat regularly and with balance as well as some kind of daily exercise. Though culture affects obesity rates you can carve your own path to a better body and healthier you.