Childhood Obesity in The United States

Over a half-century ago obesity, and overweight has become a silent monster that creeps from within. Americans have been preoccupied in the last fifty years with countless numbers of problems that it seems that we have forgotten about our very own waistline. But, what is the difference between overweight and obesity? According to the Center for Disease for Control and Prevention overweight means that a person has a body mass index or BMI between 25 through 29 and anything higher than a 30 is consider obese. In 2009 and 2010 the CDC stated that, “more than 35% of U.S. men and women were obese…”(Carroll, Flegal, Kit, Ogden p.2). The obesity epidemic has reached 1/3 of the United States adult population; as a result many have considered that the only way to manage this epidemic is by implying a fat tax. This tax will target people who fit a specific profile, if they tip the scale they must pay. But the weight is not only targeted at adults, obesity has targeted the most vulnerable people of our society, our children. According to the CDC obesity and overweight affects “17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19…”(p.1.) One day this generation of children will be adults and they should not be paying a tax because of their weight. Drastic measures need to be taken to treat childhood obesity and avoid a fat tax.

Food consumption is a common body function that everybody must fulfill. But why do we eat? According to Levine and Billington, the authors of “Why do we eat? A Neural Systems Approach,” we “eat for a variety of reasons, including energy needs, time of day, social setting, stress, boredom, palatability/reward, and food availability at little or no cost. Historically, studies of energy metabolism have focused ...

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...Sabrina Morrison a RN points out that, “teasing or negative verbal feedback is a risk factor for the development of body dissatisfaction and eating disturbances such as bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating disorders (Lunner et al., 2000)” (p. 203.) According to Morrison being bullied and teased will cause a child to develop bulimia, or anorexia. It is not a unknown fact that in severe cases where the persecution comes to such a cases that many children think of “…suicidal ideation and attempts associated with weight-biased teasing were two to three times higher among those teased then their nonteased peers. (Eisenberg et al., 2003)” (p. 203.) Sadly children are having suicidal thoughts because of their weight and how much they are bullied at school. However, many think that the obesity and overweight epidemic is a “problem” that has been overrated and exaggerated.