Yatin Patel Noel English 101-132 December 2, 2010 The Future of America is Fat Childhood obesity is quickly becoming a major crisis for children across the nation and around the world. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Approximately 300,000 deaths a year in this country are currently associated with overweight and obesity” (“Satcher”). Also, statistics from the article show that, “Obesity incidences among American children have dangerously climbed from 5% in the 1980s to 15.3% in 2000” (“Fighting”). Schools are partly to blame for childhood obesity because of the high-fat, high-calorie, and sugary food they serve. We have a crisis on our hands with childhood obesity on the rise.
The United States has an epidemic of childhood obesity. The statistics show that children in the U.S are becoming obese and this problem has grown throughout the years. Parents are usually concerned about protecting their children from the flu and the common cold. Even though they are doing well in protecting their children from such illnesses, they should also try to inform themselves about childhood obesity and the health problems that obesity can bring. Childhood obesity is an epidemic in the United States.
Obesity in anyone can prove to be a life threatening condition, but calculating good eating habits, a healthy diet and proper exercise for our children can help prevent that child from becoming obese. Many studies have been done over the course of the last decade or so trying to understand why so many of our American children are being diagnosed with health issues that normally do not show up in most adults until their later years. A reason for the increase in serious health problems has been linked to the consumption of fast food. A study says that nearly one-third of all American children, both girls and boys between the ages of four through nineteen eat fast food on a regular basis. The study also says that kids are gaining weight up to 6 lbs per year on regular consumption of fast food.
[A Proposal for Childhood Obesity] [A Proposal for Childhood Obesity ] Natalie Caley [English 122] Childhood obesity and how we got there is the topic of interest. “Obesity is defined has having excess body fat (cdc.gov). And “over weight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water or a combination of these factors.”(cdc.gov). Childhood obesity is on the rise it has more than tripled in last thirty years. Childhood has both long and short term effect on one’s body and mental wellbeing.
Many countries are trying to do something to make their children’s life healthier by promoting healthy food and diets campaigns. Obesity is a worldwide disaster that ruins lives. Obesity is being fat or overweight and that affects their lives in negative ways. The primary reasons of obesity are actually parents; they’re the ones who decide what type of food their child eats and they specify the amount of food the child gets. However, the studies of the American academy of child and adolescent psychiatry showed that between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese.
If the kid has no medical reason for gaining weight then it seems acceptable to blame the parents. In the first place, the parents are the ones who buy the fast food for their children; parents are the ones who provide them with the money to buy unhealthy snacks. According to Weintraub, "it's the fault of the parents who let their kids eat unhealthy food and sit in front of the television of computer for hours at a time". Weintraub's point is that children are influenced specially by their parents because they are ones kids live almost all their life with. In consequence, kids are influenced in good ways but mostly on bad habits that their parents teach them.
Obesity is the most common medical condition-affecting children in the United States. The lack of sleep, genetic factors, parent’s influence, dietary habits, and physical inactivity cause children to be obese around the world. The first cause of their obesity is lack of sleep. According to Jeff Barnes, a study showed that children that lack sleep could be at risk of being obese. Barnes also stated that when you do not sleep, a hormone called
This is due to the fact some of the most delicious foods are the unhealthiest. Because, of a lot of the best foods being the fatty, fried foods that almost everybody loves. The meal programs in schools that are feeding around 32 million children countrywide are having trouble to incorporate the foods children need into good, plentiful meals (Vilslack). The Obama administration ruled fat, sugar, and sodium limits to the lunch line. Instead,
Advertising and Its Effects on Childhood Obesity It has been said many times before that children are our future. One of the most alarming statistics about our future is the ever-alarming rate of obesity and overweight children in the United States. “Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. The prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008. The prevalence of obesity among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years increased from 5.0% to 18.1%” (Childhood Obesity).
More women/ mothers started to attain more demanding careers and there would be no one at home to cook healthy fresh meals. Therefore, processed and packaged foods were more convenient and most ready to eat so that even young people could easily have access to this food. Instead of letting packaged and processed foods take control of households, parents should make more time to get home and cook dinner or perhaps make dinner time a family activity, where the whole family works together to prepare a home made meal. Another factor that has contributed to today’s obesity epidemic is the growing amount of advertisement of junk food. This media is advertising junk food everywhere from the television to the internet to the radio and of course the huge billboard on the sides of the highways.