Childhood Obesity : Obesity And Obesity

Childhood Obesity

For three decades, the Healthy People (HP) initiative has in its agenda childhood obesity. The current Healthy People 2020 topic on nutrition and weight status has clearly defined the close relationship between “eating a healthful diet and maintaining a healthy body weight” (HP 2020, 2014). As cited by Pratt and Lamson (n.d.), “Childhood obesity has been identified as a nationwide epidemic that impacts children regardless of sex, age, race, and ethnic group. As children who are overweight or obese grow older, they are more likely to become obese as adults” (para. 1). Gallagher (2012) in his article cited a report from the Federal government that childhood obesity rates in the last 30 years have “tripled, and today one in three children in America is overweight or obese. The numbers are even higher in African-American and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40% of the children are overweight or obese” (para. 2). In addition, Insel, Ross, McMahon, and Bernstein (2014) cited “Hypertension, heart disease and stroke, diabetes, cancer, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, gout, and gallbladder disease” (p. 380) as some of the health risks of being overweight. Thus, Insel, et al. (2014) graphically described the grim situation with “Childhood and Teenage Obesity: The first generation that does not outlive its parents” (p. 377).

Childhood obesity has been viewed by Healthy People 2020 as a discrimination issue because obesity brings about stigmatization, peer rejection, and bullying (Gottesman, 2003, p. 210). As studies had shown, obese children will grow into an obese adult who will later be subject to unfair treatment because of their weight. Overweight and obese children are more likely to be the victims of ve...

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...yards into vegetable gardens.

Rationale For The Design Of The Brochure

The design of the brochure followed Gestalt’s three learning principles of simplicity, equilibrium, and regularity. First, the contents only covered the relevant information that the readers need to know; second, organization-wise, short words were used, with the most important information presented first, and each idea was presented in logical sequence; third, large, easily read print, e.g., Arial – 14 point font was used, and generous white spaces were allotted between segments of information; finally, the use of simple and relevant pictures were kept to a minimum that conveyed a single message in each visual. In conclusion, the design of the brochure was attractive enough to get the attention of the readers, and yet clearly conveyed the message on childhood obesity (Bastable, et al., 2011).