Introduction Obesity has been on a steady increase in the US resulting in a decline in the individual’s health since people who are obese are at increased risk of physical as well as psychosocial health consequences. The high prevalence rates of obesity particularly among children and adolescents have caused alarm. Calls have been made for direct action to be taken and effective strategies and programs implemented to prevent the problem. Chief among the many solutions proposed has been the adoption of healthy dietary practices. This paper shall argue that the consumption of healthy foods is the most effective solution in fighting the obesity epidemic and as such, it should be endorsed by everyone. Obesity and Healthy Eating While obesity can be caused by differing reasons, the fact is that obesity is mostly limited to people who overindulge in unhealthy food and exhibit limited activity. This may point to lifestyle issues being one of the chief causes of the disease. As proof that nutrition plays a major role in obesity, there is a rise in obesity among school going children. This is against a backdrop of extensive documentation to the effect that food available in schools is of low nutritional value and unhealthy as it is mostly made up of snacks, fast foods and sodas. Fast foods are the biggest culprits in promoting unhealthy eating habits among youths. Health foods on the other hand are balanced and they do not lead to an excessive increase of the calorie count in an individual. Adoption of healthy dietary practices helps to alleviate obesity and reduces the risk of obesity even further. As a result of this, healthy eating is hailed as the biggest contributing factor to an individual’s well being and it is associated with an increased quality of life as well as longer life expectancy. Case against Healthy Eating Some skeptics of healthy eating argue that despite all the efforts currently in place emphasizing proper nutrition, obesity seems to be in fact growing. The effectiveness of healthy eating as a means to prevent obesity is therefore questioned due to lack of visible results. While it is true that the society is now more aware of the benefits of adopting a healthy lifestyle, this does not translate to adoption of the recommended proper nutrition by the individual. People are continuing to indulge in unhealthy eating habits despite being aware of alternative healthier diets. Healthy eating is therefore not failing to prevent obesity; rather, it is people who continue to ignore healthy eating who are making obesity rates rise. Discussion and conclusion Obesity is unequivocally linked to fatal conditions such as strokes and may also lead to diabetes. It would therefore not be an exaggeration to claim that obesity is a killer disease. This is a view that is shared by the CDC who place obesity as second only to smoking in the preventable causes of early death. Obesity also makes up a significant amount of the annual health care expenditure in the US. This being the case, all measures of preventing obesity should be taken up. This paper set out to argue that consumption of healthy food helps to prevent obesity. This paper has effectively demonstrated that unhealthy eating habits are the main cause o