Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

Seminar für Übersetzen und Dolmetschen

Proseminar: Popular Culture in U.S. Television (PSTV)

Sommersemester 2006

Abgabetermin: 24.07.2006

Essay

Cultural Preferences as Causes for Obesity

Vorgelegt von:

Carina Klehr

2. FS: Englisch

Fachsemester: 2

Table of contents

A.

Introduction

B. Main part: Cultural preferences

of

obesity

I.

The

United

States

(U.S.)

1. What is obesity?

a, BMI

b, Waist circumference

c,

Body

fat

measurements

2.

Facts

and

figures

3.

Causes

for

obesity

4.

Effects

on

health

and

body

5. Therapies

II. Germany

III.

Cultural

aspects

C. End: Summary

Notes

Bibliography

A. Introduction

Almost anybody today knows the troubles people have with their weight or figure. Articles

in magazines and newspapers about diets and weight can be found everywhere, and one

country where the problem of being overweight or obese is always on the top is the U.S.A.

North America was the first nation to make people realize that it was not only the precursor

of technologies and new industries, but also the `motherland′ of weight problems. Though,

what are the reasons for this development? How is the situation like today? And what can

be done against this disease?

In my following essay I will try to work out these points more explicitly.

B. Main part: Cultural preferences of obesity

I. The United States (U.S.)

1.

What is obesity?

"Obese: very fat, in a way that is not healthy1." The definition of the `Oxford Dictionary′

points out that this amount of body fat is not normal but dangerous, and that this person′s

weight exceeds a normal level. But where does overweight begin?

a,

BMI

The first ­ and probably best ­ method to classify weight is the Body Mass Index (BMI).

"BMI is a number based on both your height and weight. It can help you determine the

degree to which you may be overweight and gives a reasonable assessment of total body

fat for the general population2." To calculate the BMI, this check can be useful:

[weight (in kg)] / [height (in meters)] ² = BMI

.

The following table will help to rank the results:

BMI < 18.5

->

underweight

BMI 18.5 ­ 24.9

->

normal weight

BMI 25.0 ­ 29.9

->

overweight

BMI 30.0 ­ 39.9

->

obese

BMI 40.0 or higher

->

severely (or morbidly) obese3

1 Oxford Dictionary

2 AOA: "What is Obesity"

3 Wikipedia