More than one-third (34.9% or 78.6 million) of U.S. adults are obese according to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention.

The reason why millions of people are obese today is because of the American diet. Every day, people consume too many calories in their meals and  drinks through junk food or their diets.

In today’s society, there are several things that affect our nation’s high schoolers and one of them is obesity.

Obesity is a complex disorder involving an excessive amount of body fat according to Mayo Clinic Hopistal.

Fast food is a quick and easy way to gain weight since it is easy to get.

According to the Gallup Website, eight out of 10 people in the U.S. eat fast food as their diet menu. Some of the most popular fast food chains people tend to eat are McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Domino’s Pizza.

Many students have fallen to the path of obesity because of the lazinnes and the growth of technology.

Though some may think that obesity is not a huge problem in the Annandale area, many others think otherwise.

“I believe it is more of a  prevalent issue in the Annandale community,” junior Amiansu Khanal said,” Peers’ influence does have a magnificent influence on how teenagers view obesity.”

At AHS, a great percentage of students receives free or reduced lunch. But how healthy are the options that are available?

A second option on food are the vending machines which contain a variety of healthy and unhealthy snacks for the students to eat.

Some students, due to a time crunch, decide to skip out on waiting in line and getting lunch. Thus, plenty of students end up getting unhealthy and preservative filled snacks from the vending machines.

“The school’s lunch lacks a variety of healthy lunch options, and mostly provide greasy, highly-processed food,” Khanal said. “Eating that for an entire year you would definitely gain tons of unwanted weight, hence leading to obesity,” he said.

“It is highly important that the media  should not be left out because of the false advertising and portrayal of how women and men’s bodies are characterized.” khanal said.

Today, many companies advertise different methods that can apparently resolve people’s problems with obesity, although not all of them are effective or safe. Examples of these methods are weight loss pills, surgeries and different types of diets.

“I have seen many commercials advertising different types of weight loss pills that apparently help  loss weight, but at the end I do not think they actually work,” sophomore Candy Harris said.

Despite the commonality of obesity, there are several measures that one can take in order to prevent health issues caused by being obese.

A good option to avoid becoming obese is practicing a sport after school or outside of school. Playing a sport helps students stay fit because of all the practice and conditioning that keeps the body working and burning the extra fat.

Another good option that helps people prevent obesity is watching what they eat. A lot of people, because of school or work do not measure how much they eat during the day, or whether what they are eating is healthy or not.

“The same old advice, eat a balanced diet, drink lots of water and exercise as often as you can,” Khanal said.

Many of these alternatives are positives, as opposed to the commonly used diet pills and surgery that have been on the rise.

“High school students should stay in shape by participating in a sport or just trying to be active for at least 30 minutes a day.” Faris  said.

There is an availability of several sports at AHS, especially with JV sports that have not reached the capped number they can accomodate.

Obesity is a problem that affects thousands of people across the country every year, and as the years go by, the rates increase every day.

In AHS, there are various measures taken by the Health and P.E. department to stray students away from unhealthy mannerisms now and later into life

“Based on my P.E. experiences at AHS, I think that the teachers did a great job educating students about healthy lifestyles and how to prevent obesity,” Faris said.

“The health classes were especially informational and they always stressed the importance of personally continuing daily exercise after the 10th grade.”