Persuasive Essay On Childhood Obesity

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Childhood obesity is a direct result of advertising by the food industry being directed towards children. America has a serious problem with children being overweight. This has not always been a problem within America. In recent years, the number of obese children in America has escalated. Most of them are not within the medical guidelines recommended for their specific age group. “Today over 30 percent of American Children are overweight or obese, a number that has tripled in the course of a single generation. Parents are calling for better school lunches and psychologists warn about the negative effects of bullying on overweight students, yet no one is talking about how this startling epidemic will affect the next generation over the course …show more content…

• It is wrong to assume children will outgrow their baby fat; and being fat as a child leads to chronic adult diseases.
• The impact of childhood obesity extends far beyond the physical, also affecting lifelong mental health and social functioning.
• Parents need to discuss diet and nutrition in the same breath as drugs and sex.(Jacob C. Warren)
Families that do not have sufficient income are forced to purchase unhealthy food. For example the lack of money may lead to the inability to afford healthy food. One of the reasons include bad food choices like potato chips and processed food instead of fruit which cost more than the average bag of chips. Children and parents select poor food choices that contribute to poor health that eventually may lead to diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease in children. Family that live in poverty tend to suffer more than families with higher incomes because they have more money to make better …show more content…

Children spend more time watching television than they spend outside playing. They also have many types of gadgets that occupy there time like PlayStation, tablets, I-phone, and computers. The most exercise now a days a child get is with the touch of a button. In earlier times, such as the mid-70s and 80s, there were no such thing as all the gadget that kids have to occupy there time today. Our parents enforced outside activity where we jumped rope, played hopscotch, tag, hide and seek, and going to the park. There is also a lack of exercise in the school system as well. Within some of the school systems, recess is not as common as it was back in the day. Teachers spend more time teaching technology to the children than letting them use the mobility of their limbs.
Children who suffer from childhood obesity often deal with emotional issues as well. For instance children that are diagnosed with childhood obesity may feel self-conscience about their weight. They tend to experience stress and depression which causes them to over eat. Bullying also plays a part in this problem. Children that are bullied seek food as a safety net or as a comfort. Certain foods like potato chips and candy are comfort food. In cases like this children with the condition of obesity feel so worthless that they begin to experience suicidal

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