It’s no secret that obesity is a problem throughout America, it’s a topic that has been discussed and re-discussed time and time again. We’ve deliberated it so much we’ve ran the topic into the ground. I get it, it’s a very important problem and it shouldn’t be ignored or taken lightly. We should do whatever we can to stop the problem and keep it from escalating.

These facts are great motivators for America to start passing policies that help with the problem but there seems to be only one issue with America’s mindset and that is we’re not looking at all the factors encompassing the existing problems. America is ignoring all of the key components to the problem at hand and without looking at every piece of the puzzle, we cannot solve it. Soda is not the only cause for obesity—true, it’s a big one-- but not the only piece to the whole puzzle.

There are a lot of diet problems throughout America, our country probably has ome of the worst habits compared to others. Our portion sizes are completely off, we don't eat a balanced diet, and we ALL definitely have a really bad sweet tooth. Our country is pampered and prefers a leisurely diet compared to a healthy diet. Let's look at two of the most common foods in America-- hamburgers and hot dogs.

Hamburgers are one of America's favorite sandwiches but there's a lot of health issues and weight gain related to hamburgers. That doesn't mean ALL hamburgers are bad, when they're made fresh and with grass fed meat they aren't nearly as bad as the ones you order out to eat-- but then nothing ordered out to eat is usually healthy.

Hamburgers are high in calories, high in fat, and can be high in sodium, these are all factors that lead to weight gain. According to nutritiondata.self.com, a typical 85% lean hamburger patty is usually around 209 calories, it's total fat is around 12 grams with saturated fat being 23% of the total fat. The sodium levels in a typical homemade patty are actually fairly low.

However, no one usually eats a hamburger patty alone, these numbers go up with each added topping, a bun can add 114 calories alone. There's no question we should be managing how many hamburgers we eat but since they're an American favorite, we're clearly not doing that.

Hot dogs are another American favorite and there isn't much healthy about them, although they do taste good! Hot dogs are very high in sodium, a typical hot dog has 537 grams in sodium, that's 23 percent of the hot hog, they're also around 151 calories a hot dog and some brands are more than that. One of the problems with hot dogs is we typically don't eat one hot dog at a time, it's usually two so all of those numbers and percentages are doubled and then we add the rolls, definitely not a good choice for weight loss.

Hamburgers and Hot Dogs are just two foods that play a factor in poor diet choices. I personally think the worst problem is our portion sizes. If you compare America's fast food combos to other countries, the difference is comical. Fortunately we've moved a little away from super sized meals but not much, smalls are still mediums, mediums are still larges and larges are-- well still ridiculous in most establishments. This is only one small piece to America's portion conundrum.

Meat is one of our biggest portion errors, it is often considered the main course so it's usually the bigger food on American plates. A healthy portion size of meat is the size of a card deck and vegetables are supposed to be the bigger addition to the dinner plate. A lot of weight gain comes from these backwards portion sizes as well as the choice of meat preferred.

A larger meat portion would be much better if we ate more lean meats, chicken, fish and pork but beef is the preferred meat selection by most homes. Beef is fattier and we often choose the more tender and fatty options. That goes back to the problem with hamburgers, saturated fat is high in beef which is exactly what we want to avoid. Even if it tastes better!

All of this relates to a balanced diet, you can't have proper portion sizes with an imbalanced diet. Our diet is something we learn about early on in childhood but following it is key, a percentage of people do and those are the people who are fitter and have less health issues when they're older.

It's not just food that's a problem, level of activity is another problem throughout America. Americans are SUPER lazy and any other country will tell you this. We spend eight hours of each day working hard and earning money. By the time everyone gets done work they would rather go home and relax instead of hitting a gym or going for a jog. I get it, everyone's tired and they want to do something fun after a long boring day but you can't burn calories that way. Sitting on the couch is not a form of exercise and switching channels is minimal activity.

All of these factors are big pieces in the puzzle of obesity. Soda is NOT the problem, sugar is a big problem but soda isn't the only place it's found. Junk food like cakes, candy, brownies and cookies have loads of sugar in them too. So even if you were to cut out soda completely it would not get rid of the obesity problem in America, it would just be the first steps.

Stop blaming soda solely for America's problems, it's a much bigger problem that will be hard to tackle. We need to look at other countries and follow their example. If we do that, we just might solve the obesity puzzle.