Argumentative Essay: The Issue Of Childhood Obesity

Have you ever thought about suing a fast food restaurant because of how unhealthy is making your body? Well in his essay “Don’t blame the eater” David Zinczenko talks about children that are trying to sue McDonalds for making them fat. Growing up with divorced parents and a mother who worked long hours, Zinczenko was left with no other choice but to turn to fast food restaurants in order to sustain himself. He describes how it’s easy for kids to put on weight and turn obese by eating junk food. He argues that fast food restaurants are to be blame for people, especially children and teenagers, for their obesity. Honestly it is the parents fault. Is not like McDonalds put a gun to an individual’s head and forced them to eat their food. In my opinion I would have to disagree with David Zinczenko, it is your own fault and a parents fault and not these fast food places. Children are a parent’s responsibility. As a parent you take ownership on what your children eat. I know some parents do work long hours and find it very convenient to stop at a fast food drive through to feed that to their kids and themselves, but there is many things parents can do to guarantee that their children eat healthy.

Childhood obesity has increased dramatically in the past few years. It is a result of an imbalance between how much a child eats and how much a child keeps their body active to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Common factors that are influencing childhood obesity would be the lack of self-control, environmental, and genetics. In order to combat these rising numbers of childhood obesity, people as a collective force must target problem areas within homes, schools, and their surrounding community by educating each other.

As indicated by the graphic above (U.S Department of Agriculture, 2017), each child and adults plate need to have the proportional foods in order to consume a healthy diet. However, with the availability and pricing of healthy

In the article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko argues that today’s fast food industry is to blame for obesity. Zinczenko says that when he was a child lunch and diner for him was a choice between “McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Kentucky, Fried Chicken, or Pizza Hut,” those are largely the only options for kids today. Lawsuits are being held against these big companies. Even though fast food restaurants are cheap and affordable, it’s very hard to find a healthy food that is cheap as fast food. On the other hand, it’s a person’s choice on whether choosing to eat at a fast food restaurant or buying himself a salad at the supermarket. Instead of getting a burger for three dollars, why not go to the grocery and get whole wheat bread, ham, and

Of course it is much easier to find a fast food restaurant with unhealthy food than it is a grocery store with healthy food, it is still up to the parents to teach the youth proper healthy eating and living.If people expect different results, they have to work for them.

Fast food has without a doubt changed the way people eat in America, and is partly to blame for diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. According to Murray (40) more than 300, 000 every year are related to obesity. Individuals should know what they are consuming and how it is prepared or made; they should spend their hard earned money on restaurants that make healthy food. So why is fast food unhealthy? Fast food may look tasty and appealing, however, they contain a myriad of hidden health hazards that are dangerous if consumed in large quantities and are a primary cause of obesity, particularly in children. The effects of eating fast food on a person’s health are: increase in blood pressure, a delay in the metabolic rate, increase in the levels of bad cholesterol, destabilization of blood sugar levels, and weakening of the immune system. Furthermore, the effects of fast food include obesity, nutritional deficiencies, and cardiac problems among other health hazards. No one is forcing individuals to eat fast food, but the fact is that fast food restaurants will change when consumers demand changes. Even if three percent of Americans complained about fast food, it would make a substantial drop in

Childhood obesity is a global health crisis and an epidemic that has drastically increased over the years. A comprehensive report from 2010, revealed forty-two million children below the age of five suffer from obesity worldwide, which is a 50% increase since 1980 (Garel, 2014; Moore, Wilkie, & Desrochers, 2017). Not only is the issue of childhood obesity a public health threat, but it is also a form of child abuse with potentially fatal consequences. However, many people do not consider childhood obesity to be a child abuse issue. As a result, this topic is hugely controversial and has attracted some heated public debate. Even more controversial is the argument that the state should intervene on behalf of morbidly obese children. People opposed to the idea that the state should interfere in such matters often argue that blame cannot be placed solely on parents when there could be other factors involved, such as an underlying medical condition or a genetic predisposition to obesity. Moreover, some argue that the 14th amendment gives parents the right to raise their children how they choose and state intervention in such cases is an overreach of government power, and there are better ways to address the problem without removing children from homes (Garel, 2014). Although there are undoubtedly other factors that contribute to the widespread prevalence of childhood obesity, studies have shown that parents are primarily to blame for the growing problem (Wolfson, Gollust, Niederdeppe, & Barry, 2015). Parents indeed have the right to raise their children how they wish, as long as their children are healthy and thriving. If a child is in harm's way or is not adequately taken care of, then by law, the state must intercede on behalf of the child. Nevertheless, parents are responsible for the health and well-being of their children. Therefore, this paper is intended to show that morbid childhood obesity is a severe and life-threatening form of child abuse worthy of state intervention when parents fail to comply with lifestyle changes and recommended medical treatments.

Childhood obesity has now reached an epidemic in several parts of the United States. As a result, children now have a higher risk to have numerous chronic and acute medical problems. Several of the long-lasting medical problems a child might face as a result of obesity could eventually result in death. In addition to chronic medical problems, childhood obesity has severe psychosocial effects on an individual such as low self-esteem and depression. Childhood obesity is a serious problem that is caused by a numerous amount of factors that can eventually lead to severe health complications.

By choosing to make the decision of what someone may be subjected to eat is considered a type of totalitarianism coming from the government. Cameron English, journalist for mic.com, describes totalitarianism as “in which the state holds total control over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life”. How someone may grocery shop for their household private life or what they may order out in a public restaurant would be controlled because of the authority the government has if they were to begin to enforce this issue. Looking back on history examples of totalitarianism begin with Nazi Germany and Soviet Communist. This society prides itself on never repeating what mistakes other governments have made, yet by attempting to control the choices people make when eating is in fact repeating those very same

You have the free choice of what you are going to eat or drink on a daily basis. You also have the free choice to exercise or not as you see fit. If someone chooses to eat unhealthy and not to exercise it can eventually cause harm to the body and sometimes death. Heart disease is the number one cause of deaths in the United States (The top 10 leading causes of death in the US: Medical News Today). It is preventable by eating right and exercising. You have the option to try to prevent it if you want. Fast food chains serve an enormous amount of unhealthy foods leading to potential heart problems. The option to eat at them is available if you wish to partake.

The percentage of children with obesity in the United States has more than tripled since the 1970s (“Healthy Schools.”). Childhood obesity is a medical condition that affects children and teenagers who contain excess body fat. This condition is very common today, having about 3 million cases per year (“Healthy Schools.”). A sign that a child is suffering from obesity is when their weight is well above the average for a child’s height and age. Today about one in five school children, ages 6-19, are obese (“Healthy Schools.”). I will be addressing the causes, health complications, treatments, controversy, and supporting obese students.

The issue that I chose to research about was obesity in children and why it is becoming more relevant and time continues. I chose a recent article from San Francisco Chronicle that explains a recent survey that was conducted and what their plan is to try to fix it. In this article, a national report was done comparing children and adult body mass indexes. “The 2016 National Survey of Children's Health found that 30 percent of Wisconsin children ages 10 to 17 are overweight or obese, while the state's adult rate of obesity is 31 percent” (2017). Because of these results, health officials are very concerned and are trying to fix the problem. Because of this concern, health prfessionals are trying to teach parents to start to fix the problem from home.by having parents provide a better diet and exercise routine for their children.

In my early years, my mother gave me a well-balanced; actually, to be honest, she didn't give it to me, but force fed it down my throat. While this was happening, around me, were friends with McDonalds, and diets that consisted of everything the child wanted to eat, not what they needed. Due to the lack of education and support, children are eating an unhealthy diet that does not help them grow properly and healthfully. Childhood obesity has become a massive issue. Child obesity is something that has been gaining more awareness as the years have gone on. This is something that could cause health complications for the child and need to be put to a stop. The Lack of education and parenting has ignited the issue of childhood obesity.

My name is Nicolas A. Pol. My team of four will be attempting to tackle the disastrous global issue of childhood obesity. My team and I have been attempting to solve this dilemma for the past couple of months. The research that we have done has given us the knowledge that childhood obesity is truly a disastrous epidemic and gave us some ideas to help those children that are suffering from obesity. One of my teammates, Sebastian Vera, uses the countries of USA, England, and France while using lenses of political, economical, and technological aspects to find the solution to stop making food a reward and withholding food for punishment. The problem with this solution is that it is hard to implement. One of my teammates, Lucas de Melo, used countries like USA, Greece, and Colombia and applied economical, environmental, and political lenses to find the solution that local, national, regional, and global governments should offer more initiatives in society to decrease the amount of children that are obese. His solution has a problem in that there are already similar initiatives in most parts of the world that are somewhat ineffective. My other teammate, Caio De Almeida, used the countries USA France, and Mexico and applied the economical, cultural, and scientific lenses and suggested that the solution is healthy eating and participating in athletic activities such as sports. His solution has a problem in that everyone knows this, but many do not eat well and

Bright, eye-catching colors, flashy logos, and happy, charismatic childhood icons don sugar-laden, fat-filled, nutritionally deficit food packages designed for young consumers. Disconcertingly, the waistbands of America’s youth continue to increase as does the bank accounts of the junk food industry moguls. Childhood obesity is on the rise as is the afflictions that accompany sizeable weight gain. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “children with obesity in the United States has more than tripled since the 1970s. Today about one in five school-aged children (ages 6-19) has obesity” (“Healthy Schools,” 2017). Furthermore, childhood obesity leaves children vulnerable to experience significant and devastatingly enduring effects; these effects occur both immediately and in the child’s distant future (“Healthy Schools,” 2017). Physical, social, and psychological plights are considerable threats faced by obese youth (“Healthy Schools,” 2017). While there are numerous contributors to this childhood misfortune, directed focus needs to be aimed at changing the junk food industry’s various advertising strategies and maneuvers, employed to increase the positive association, purchase, and consumption of their unhealthy food stuffs by targeting America’s juvenile population.