We have all been there, on the couch with remote in hand and flipping through the channels on your television. Suddenly stopping on a channel displaying a portly child no older than 5 years old, but still appears to be the size of a grossly overweight 8 year old. You can’t help but stop and feel woeful as you focus in on the story being told about this poor child that suffers from extreme levels of obesity, and the limits to daily activities which a normal child of such age group could participate in. The story progresses to show you the activities of the average day in the life of this child, most of which involve snacking on junk food and unhealthy meal portions and content. One meal usually contains more food than most people would consume over the course of many days. The amount of unhealthy junk food and fast food taken in by this child’s system during the course of a day is more than a doctor would be recommended for the average adult of the course of a month. The saddest part to this story is it’s not the child’s fault; they have no idea of the health risk that is being imposed on their bodies. This life style is all they know, and if this is the building foundation to their life, what chance do they have to live happy healthy productive lives? While this might be an extreme case of obesity, and by no means the average level of obesity that face our society, it defiantly represents a good example of the issues that obesity present in not just our children’s lives but also in adults lives as well! How many of you, remember learning about the food pyramid back in school? Now how many you were able to make the choices of what your meals consisted of at home? If your households were anything like mine, the choice of what was ... ... middle of paper ... ...cial limitations. The cost of eating healthy is especially important in today’s economy where many families are on a budget and can’t afford to endure the high price of healthy eating. Creating a program such as the ones stated above could really help to adjust the cost of eating healthy, by reducing farmers cost and increasing the availability of fresh organic food choices. Instilling healthier eating and lifestyles could greatly reduce the cost of health care and insurance cost across the board. This could create a healthy foundation for our kids to grow up with the knowledge of how to have healthier eating habits, and live longer more productive lives. This may not be the only step to creating a healthier society, but with proper action, could be one that leads to many in an effort to better ourselves as a country and build a better future for our children.
As the world strives for convenience and a fast-paced lifestyle, an epidemic of poor health is on the rise. With constant life struggles, fast food readily available, and little time for preparation, citizens of the United States are not paying attention to what they’re putting in their child’s mouths. The state of Mississippi has developed the highest percentages of childhood obesity in the United States. Although this percentage has decreased in recent years, the numbers are still astounding. The children of Mississippi are slowly being poisoned by their parent’s poor choices. Due to parent’s poor nutritional education and poor health habits, the children of Mississippi will continue on the destructive path of obesity
Hype words like ‘epidemic’ have been used to stress the relevance of obesity in today’s generation. The situation has been mainly accredited to poor parenting as well as the accessibility of high sugar and low quality food in developmental stages. However, this issue is not limited to cost and upbringing. It is crucial for parents to be aware of the media that exists encouraging children to partake in challenges similar to what is seen on Man v. Food.
It is apparent that living an unhealthy lifestyle, as well as eating poorly, negatively affects one’s health. From a young age it is quickly learned which foods are considered healthful as opposed to junk food. It is a parents responsibility to supervise the intake of their child's food, however there is a higher risk than ever before of childhood obesity.
The human body requires the intake of food in order to function properly. The foods that we decide to eat has an effect on the ability to use are mind, are strength, and even how prone we are to getting sick or hurt. Eating to much of the wrong foods, with little or no exercise can cause the silent but deadly epidemic of obesity in children and in teens. In the past, obesity was just known as a condition that only affected adults. In this generation the youths are becoming more prone to obesity. In 1995 an average of 18 million children all around the world was categorized as being overweight (Rabbitt, Aifric, and Imelda Coyne 731). In a Childhood Obesity Interventions article it says that 17% (12.5 million) of children in the United States is considered to be obese (Rabbitt, Aifric, and Imelda Coyne 731). This outrageous number of overweight children in the world is almost tripled in 2010, where 43 million children under 5 are considered to be overweight (Rabbitt, Aifric, and Imelda Coyne 731). Another staggering statistic is more than 60% percent of the children that are classified as overweight before they reach puberty, will be overweight as they become adults (Rabbitt, Aifric, and Imelda Coyne 731). This leads us to the most stifling fact of there being 2.8 million people in the world that die from being overweight or obese each year (Rabbitt, Aifric, and Imelda Coyne 731). These shocking statistics show how dangerous obesity really is, and should urge everyone to fight against this epidemic.
According to “Burger Battles” from the Weekly Reader, obesity is defined as a person whose weight is 20 percent higher than recommended for their height (Burger Battles 1). When this condition begins to affect children lives, it is then known as childhood obesity. Within the United States of America, around 15 percent of children are considered to be obese (Holguin 3). Increasing tremendously, this outbreak has actually tripled in the amount of obese teen and doubled in children up to the age of thirteen (Burger Battles 2). One of the factors that is usually overlooked in the cause for obesity is the role of television. Not only does it reduce the amount of physical activity, the advertisements and commercials are targeting innocent viewers. In a survey completed by Gary Ruskin of Commercial Alert, the average child watches nearly 19 hours and 40 minutes of television a week (Ruskin 2). With that amount of time spent watching television, advertisements for fast food will be entering the children’s minds.
Who holds the blame for the childhood obesity epidemic in America? Fast food companies for not disclosing health information concerning their products? Or parents for not teaching their children healthy eating and exercising habits? In Bronwyn McHugh’s article” The Childhood Obesity Epidemic,” he reported that over thirty percent of America’s youth are suffering from obesity (94). In the coming years, obesity problems in America will rise and health issues caused by obesity will become more apparent. Fast food companies cannot be held responsible for the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. Parents need to become more aware of diseases caused by obesity and take advantage of healthier food options and exercise plans for their children. In
In the documentary Killer at Large, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona remarked that “Obesity is a terror within. It’s destroying our society from within and unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11 or any other terrorist event that you can point out…” Carmona is indeed right, with the rapid increase of obese children, America is on the fast track to producing a generation with a life expectancy shorter than their peers. One of the main factor is the media representation of obesity (Greenstreet 2008). In today’s society parents are not only worrying about televisions influence on their kid’s behavior but their weight and health, too. According to study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, that researched the role of media in childhood obesity, stated the obesity increased by 2% for every hours of television in adolescent’s ages 12 to 17. The advertisement of food and beverages present a very strong influence on the children. Most of the products being advert...
Looking around, candy, soda water and junk food are in the hands of fellow classmates. Simply walking down the street countless unhealthy food advertisement are seen and influence our choices as they are intended to do. In America, one in three children, about 22 million children, are obese or overweight, and that number is only rising. The government must aid in the fight against childhood obesity and reform the influence of unhealthy food in children’s lives, increase the availability of beneficial foods, mandate physical education, and inform our children of healthy habits.
The graphic is of an overweight child’s organs that explains how they are affected by obesity, and data on the affected. All of the organs show aging and degeneration that otherwise would not occur. The bottom third of the graphic states that obesity since the 1980’s has tripled in ages 2 to 19, which should be of great concern to all parents. This increase in recent years shows that parents are not checked into their children’s eating habits or they just do not care. Even though they both are bad enough let’s take into account the former, why aren 't parents worried about their children 's lives? Above all, are these parents even caring for their children? Since nutrition and health are a very important part of a child’s development, wouldn 't it be safe to say that these children are being neglected. In the article we read about Mrs. Amador the mother of an obese child, she states that her husband and she figured “he would start losing weight as he got a little older and the girls started paying attention… My husband thought it was funny.” Ultimately, these habits can change, therefore, new trends over parenting help will arise. Books on “how to keep your child eating right” will sell, and as the amounts of obese children increase the bigger the effect it will have on
A parent's worst nightmare to bury their kids with no clue as to why. The terrifying moment that people will realize that change can be too late. With the path kids are taking many may not be alive to see their kids grow or to see their parents for much longer. In the online article, Childhood Obesity Facts research found that “In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese” (1). At this rate by 2030 more than or about of 50 percent of the people in America will be overweight or obese. This will eventually lead parents from generations to bury their kids and maybe even grandkids and all because of the decision made to eat and feed the fast food to children. Food that leads to no good, not to say people should quit on fast food because well it was constructed for a purpose. Yet to binge eat unhealthy food or have it on a daily basis will eventually have side effects that one won’t think it has at the moment. When in the 60s and 70s fast food was a deluxe that many would have every other week became an everyday meal because of how fast,cheap, and convenient it was. Now it's time to realize that no matter how much help is offered it's up to individuals to speak up on what some solutions to this problem are and to take action into changing habits that are no good, eventually leading them to worse than being overweight but being
Obesity is a modern epidemic in America and is starting to become our society’s “norm.” According to an article in Progress in Health Sciences, childhood obesity is the most frequent eating disorder (Koukourikos). There are several factors that contribute to the childhood obesity epidemic. Should we solely shun the parents of obese children for this? No, we should not. There is not one single person to blame, but several people, along with our society. Family, friends, and schools all play a very important role in teaching children about healthy food choices and exercise. Children may have a greater risk for obesity due to genetic factors. We need to constantly remind our children how important it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle so that
There are many causes and effects to childhood obesity. In the article" 'Extra Large, ‘Please," Alice Davies explains the growing problem of childhood obesity. At first, the writer uses an anecdote from her childhood of criticism. This anecdote forms an idea of the desires kids have and the difficulty of turning down delicious meals. Through the beginning of this article, Alice applies the past to bring forward the present cause. Furthermore, Davies inserts vivid details and obesity facts in order to show that it is a real problem in our nation. Undeniably, there are several different factors that are presented in this write-up. The lack of opportunities, electronic entertainment, and parental supervision stems from becoming obese. Currently, fast-food plays an importan...
The children range in age from 12-15 and their issues from simple obesity to needing gastric-bypass surgery. The children are fed fast food in school cafeterias, with government labeling of pizza, fries and tomato paste as vegetables. Stores have candies and snacks at children’s eye level, and at home they eat the standard offerings of processed foods. One of the other things this film shows is the complete lack of support for these families in the area of proper diet education. A couple of the parents talked about the doctors encouraging them to seek help with nutrition, the doctors did not have any useful advice on where to get this
A lot of children are overweight and obese too, unfortunately. Childhood obesity is especially sad because, for the most part, the parents are at fault. The child, especially when they’re young, have no control over what they eat and couldn’t try to be healthy, even if they wanted to. “In 2013, 42 million children under the age of 5 were overweight of obese.” (Obesity and
Parents are not teaching children how to eat healthy. They feed them cheeseburgers, chicken fingers, and fries. Kids are not being exposed to a regular diet of health fruits and vegetables. Now some people are just naturally overweight, but being “overweight” is not the same as being “obese.” Someone who is overweight has reached a maximum weight limit for their height. When someone goes beyond this maximum limit, then they are considered “obese” (Kiess 1). Research shows that “obesity is generally defined as the abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in adipose tissue” (Kiess 1). The increase in childhood obesity today is mainly the fault of the parent because they are unable to tell their children “no” when it comes to junk food (Kiess 104). Parents are the one buying all the food that comes into the house. They are the ones buying the sugary drinks and chips. They are the ones allowing the children to “have what they want.” Because parents are not teaching their children how to eat healthy, we will continue to see childhood obesity increase. Unfortunately, overweight children will be the ones who suffer because statistics show children who are overweight are more likely to become obes...