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Are Children Eating And / Or Lazing Away Their Future?

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Are our children eating and/or lazing away their future? The Childhood obesity epidemic is putting today’s youth on course to be the first generation to live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. According to the National Centre for Health Statistics, Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period. In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese (Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality,…show more content…
Specifically, require served meals to meet a particular nutritional standard and designate nutritional standards for competitive foods sold. The aim of this paper is to: outline a proposed childhood obesity advocacy campaign, to increase awareness to help children who are not overweight from becoming overweight, and help overweight or obese children lose or stabilize their weight. This can be done by targeting the intervention at the School level where our children spend most of their time outside of the home.
Florida’s children and childhood obesity
The term “overweight is defined as a weight for length ratio. Obesity is defined as being at or above the 95th percentile at nine months” (Li, Strobino, Ahmed & Minkovitz, 2011, p. 310). According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2012, Florida’s childhood obesity rate stands at 13.1%. While some obesity is linked to genealogy, majority is linked to unhealthy dietary behaviours. For example, in the 2012 publication “Florida’s State Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Profile”, it was noted that in respect of fruit consumption, 67.2% ate fruits or drank 100% fruit juice less than two times per day, and 87.1% ate vegetables less than 3 times per day. In respect of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, 28.6% drank a can, bottle, or glass of soda at least one time per day. However, only 24.7% were physically active for a total of at least 60 minutes per day, or attended daily physical education
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