Obesity in Children Health has always been very important issue for everyone. Having a healthy lifestyle can allow people to live better lives. With today’s society children are exposed to more unhealthy diets by parents and schools. Having a balanced and good diet in children can decrease the risk of diseases caused by unhealthy nutrition in children. Obesity is a big issue because it can lead to many bad diseases like diabetes, cancer, and heart diseases that these children can develop by being obese. In addition the lack of physical activity by children is increasing the number of obese children in the united states. Obesity in children is caused by physical inactivity, overeating, and high diet of sugar and fats.
To begin with, obesity
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The normal number of meals is considered to be 3 meals a day. These meals are breakfast, lunch and dinner but some children don’t have a stable eating time. In the article Overeating in Children and Teens by the website familydoctor.org they state that “some children and teens, overeating may be a sign of an eating problem and could include emotional eating or an eating disorder, such as binge eating disorder. This is very serious because allowing children to eat when ever they want could be affecting their health. In addition with the lack of exercise this could lead to them becoming overweight and more vulnerable to developing disease that are life threatening. Some of these overeating habits have names like emotional eating which a lot of children and teens do. In the article that state that “Emotional eating is eating for comfort, out of boredom, or in response to emotions rather than eating for nutrition or because you are hungry” (Familydoctor). This is not good for children because eating food that doesn’t have nutrition has no meaning and just contributes extra calories in the children’s …show more content…
Junk food is food that contains large amounts of sugars and fats. Most of these foods are processed foods and fast foods. Fast foods are one of the biggest junk foods of all times because they are high in fats. In the article “Fast Food Linked To Child Obesity” by Jaime Holguin he states that “Every day, nearly one-third of U.S. children aged 4 to 19 eat fast food, which likely packs on about six extra pounds per child per year and increases the risk of obesity”. This is very concerning because in our modern time it seems parents have put more importance in time than nutrition when feeding their children. In addition they say that “Fast-food lovers consumed more fats, sugars and carbohydrates and fewer fruits and non-starchy vegetables than youngsters who didn't eat fast food” (Holguin). Allowing children to consume these fast foods can have negative effects and brings no nutrition to their bodys which they really need to allow them to properly grow. In the same way chips and other processed foods contain a lot of fats and allow children to consume these in high amounts as snacks which is very bad for their health. Teaching children to make better eating habits should be a priority by parents to help them live better and healthier lives. Teaching them about healthier options decrease their chance of getting a disease related to
Child obesity became a very serious issue that is taking on the health of the nation 's children. It is everyone responsibility to work on preventing and reducing childhood obesity, from the parents who are suppose to care about their children’s health, to the public health representatives, who should care about a future healthy nation, and everyone in between. Every part of society should create a set of lifestyle changes in order to save our kids from obesity. There are many aspects, which have to be changed or improved, including parent’s nutrition education, children’s physical activity and kid’s nutrition in a school and home, food industry and etc.
The overall rate of obesity for children comes in at 17 percent, or about 12.5 million obese children in America today (Doheny 1). The number of children who are obese is growing at a fast rate. Most cases of childhood obesity are caused by eating too much and exercising too little. Extra weight puts children at a risk of serious health problems; such as, diabetes, heart disease, and asthma (Smith 1). Although obesity can be prevented, it has become a growing problem among children due to several factors that lead to health problems.
In order to impede the epidemic of childhood obesity, the actual causes of the problem need to be evaluated and dissected. Obesity in children is becoming a huge problem in American society. In the past three decades, the rate of overweight children has increased by 300%. This is an alarming rate that is only climbing higher. Every member in society should take steps to becoming healthier. This would help the present generations as well as future generations to come. The lifestyle of Americans keeps us too busy to be a healthy society.
To help out with my research on childhood obesity I am creating this annotated bibliography. I am researching the health issues related to childhood obesity as well as the long term effects.
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.
“In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.” (CDC) Childhood obesity is a problem that has inundated society for many decades. Almost anywhere that you go, you’ll see a magazine article or some sort of poster regarding childhood obesity. Childhood obesity can be defined as a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child’s health or well-being. Majority of adults care about their weight because self-image is a very important factor in their lives, but when it comes down to children, many pay their weight a very minimal amount of attention. Due to the superfluous rise in the number of obese children over the past couple of decades, doctors and physicians have become concerned about this trend. This concern is raised by the various diseases and health issues accompanying childhood obesity. Childhood obesity puts children at a greater risk for developing health issues and diseases of the heart.
Public health nursing focuses on promoting the health of a community. This position requires attention to measures such as conducting community assessments, identifying vulnerable populations, ethical practices, community education, epidemiology, and more. One such issue addressed by public health nursing is childhood obesity. Obesity has been, and continues to be, a major global health concern. As a public health nurse, identifying populations, assessing risks, and educating a community all contribute to finding a system that helps address this concern. With rates increasing, especially in adolescents and children, this health issue is a serious epidemic effecting the world.
Childhood obesity is on the rise in many countries today. There are numerous causes of obesity in America, and the majority of them can be eliminated simply by household teachings. In her book Fed Up! Winning the War Against Childhood Obesity, Susan Okie explains how childhood obesity is taking over, “The growing numbers of obese children in the United States and in many other countries are victims of an epidemic just as surely as if they were infected with a virus.” The leading causes of childhood obesity include lack of exercise, poor diet, and genetic factors.
The present public health problem has become a great public concern and the future of these children and future adults has also been brought to attention. For example, "as obese children are more than likely to become obese adults, they are at an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and several cancers" (Gollust, 2014). Research has also indicated that the current generation of children are on track to have shorter lives than their parents because of increasing rates of obesity (Gollust, 2014).
Childhood obesity is a serious problem among American children. Some doctors are even calling childhood obesity an epidemic because of the large percentage of children being diagnosed each year as either overweight or obese. “According to DASH sixteen to thirty-three percent of American children each year is being told they are obese.” (Childhood Obesity) There is only a small percentage, approximately one percent, of those children who are obese due to physical or health related issues; although, a condition that is this serious, like obesity, could have been prevented. With close monitoring and choosing a healthier lifestyle there would be no reason to have such a high obesity rate in the United States (Caryn). Unfortunately, for these children that are now considered to be obese, they could possibly be facing some serious health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancers. All of these diseases have been linked to obesity through research. These children never asked for this to happen to them; however, it has happened, and now they will either live their entire life being obese, or they will be forced to reverse what has already been done (Childhood Obesity).
Childhood Obesity is defined as “a child with excess body fat and shouldn’t be confused with the term “overweight” which is when an individual has excess body weight for a specific height” (CDC 2017). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), multiple factors can contribute to childhood obesity, including, “genetics, metabolism, eating behaviors, physical activity, their environment, and psychology” (2017). Using a Body Mass Index (BMI), it can be determined whether a person is considered overweight, obese, or neither. The BMI puts a person’s excess body fat into comparison with a percentile of preferred body masses of other people within the same age range. “Children who are placed at, or above the 95th percentile of children based off of their body mass, using the BMI, are considered to have obesity” (CDC 2017).
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...
This allows nurses and other healthcare staff uncomplicated utilization of the best evidence available, to address the worldwide obesity dilemma in children. Eating behaviors, physical activity and inactivity, ethnicity, family support and parental knowledge are factors associated with childhood obesity. These factors share a close relationship to the objectives listed by Health People 2020. These objectives are to reduce the proportion of children who are considered obese and to prevent inappropriate weight gain in children. Nurses are in a unique position as they interact with families across healthcare and community-based settings to advocate, educate, and support children and their families. One suggestion for future research would be to develop nursing interventions designed to promote a healthy weight among children and to conduct an experimental research study examining the effectiveness of the
United States has the highest number of obese children in the world. In fact, many schools in the US serves fast food for lunch to the students. As a result, the habit of eating fast food is growing exponentially in the US, making US children to be the number one in obesity in the world. Thus, foods rich in sodium, fat, sugar, or high in carbohydrates, must be avoided by children. These foods are popularly named as junk food, because of the quality of their content. The schools and parents definitely play a very important role in the health of children. They are the ones who decide what the children 's meals and routine. They may unite forces and come up with a good way to make the kinds eat healthier to be more effective against fast food in the school and at home. Otherwise, currently schools and parents are feeding kids with these types of bad food.
Junk food contains a high amount of unhealthy ingredients that affects our body in a bad way. Junk food also affects our brain negatively and obesity is also one of the effects of fast food on the humans body. In order to let young people and children stop eating fast food parents should help them with that. Eating junk food should be one day every week or also one day every month not more than that. There are many other reasons why junk food is bad but these three reasons are the most important one’s that people should be afraid of. Stop eating fast food from today and start a new healthy life. Our body needs to be clean and