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. With the expansion in technology, children are hastily becoming more and more inactive. In the past century, kids would play outside from sunrise to sunset. Little did they realize, that playtime served …show more content…
To slow this epidemic of childhood obesity, physical activity needs to be put back in these children’s lives. The fast-paced lifestyle of Americans today results in unhealthy frozen T.V. dinners and take-out meals. In present day society, the role of woman and men are virtually equal. With this making both the mother and father of families busy, there is little time for home cooked meals. A hardy breakfast is replaced with sugary pop-tarts, hand packed lunches is replaced with money for fast food, and frozen T.V. trays take the place of a healthy dinner. These foods may all taste good, but they are not healthy. By giving children lunch money, the children are having the choice to buy whatever foods they please. It could be easily assumed that a child would choose a candy bar, chips, and a soda over a school lunch. Again, the children are not the only ones to be blamed here. The parents need to take time to guide their children towards what food is healthy and what food is unhealthy. By taking a little more time out of the day and making healthier food choices, the rate of childhood obesity could slow down, if not stop altogether. Fast food advertisement agencies take advantage of the ignorance of children to scam them into wanting unhealthy meals. Each year, the fast food industry spends over $3 million of advertising targeted towards children. Half of television advertisement is used during children’s shows and with cartoons. Out of all the factors
Obese children not only endure from unhealthy weight but also suffers with many chronic diseases later in life such as Asthma, type II diabetes, high cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases etc. Around 300,000 people die each year from health problems caused by obesity (Ogden et al, 2010). A systematic study shows that, 80% of obese adolescents will become obese adults, with increased vulnerability to type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease (Chen et al, 2014).
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.
Childhood obesity poses a serious threat to the health of our nation. This generation of kids and young adults is unlike their parents. Instead of playing outside all day every day until the street lights come on; however, this generation got sick with coach potato syndrome and it struck these kids all across the nation, and it happened fast because the “U.S. childhood obesity rates are 3x greater than in 1980” (Childhood obesity). Being overweight during childhood increases the risk of developing diseases such as high cholesterol, orthopedic problems, depression and type two diabetes. However, it does not get any easier as an adult because most overweight children will likely become overweight adults. So, due to the severe consequences and publicity associated with childhood obesity, health and physical education specialists across the nation have focused their attention on strategies and solutions for reducing obesity
Many people are concerned about the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States. American children everyday are surrounded by the idea of food. It has become more than the idea of three meals a day. It is the pressure to eat and snack all day, everyday.
At this time I will discuss about obesity, do you know what is obesity? Obesity is the buildup of excessive fats, obesity unlike the overweight. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2005, about more than 1.6 billion adults above 15 years of age are overweight and at least 400 million adults suffer from obesity.
Health has always been a topic of conversation in the United States. Of late, there has been more talk of the problem of childhood obesity. Over the past few decades there has been a pretty large increase of obese American children. Less exercise and less time playing outside combined with more eating of sugary, high calorie processed foods has caused a nationwide issue of overweight children. While there have been many initiatives to curb this epidemic like the First Lady’s get up and move campaign, it’s up to both parents and children to make changes in their lifestyle in order to lead a healthier life.
One in three children are obese or overweight. One study found that, “Among 17 developed nations, the United States had the highest rates of childhood obesity among children ages 15-19.” (National Academy of Science, 2013)
Have you noticed that the number of obese children you see has been growing in the last few decades? It is heart breaking to see obese children because as academic researchers you know that they are at risk for many health problems and are more likely to stay obese throughout adulthood. Childhood obesity is a severe problem that has become more prevalent in the last 30 years in the United States. Obesity in children has more than doubled since 1985(Childhood Obesity Facts). The causes of obesity growing, need to be known in order to stop it.
The past several decades have seen an escalating trend in the rate of childhood obesity not only in the United States where 25%-30% of children are affected, but also in many of the industrialized nations. Childhood obesity has continued to be a major issue in the public health care system. The economic cost of the medical expenses as well as the lost income resulting from the complications of obesity both in children and adults has been estimated at almost $100 billion (Barnes, 2011). Overweight children are more predisposed to the danger of becoming overweight in their adulthood unless they ensure healthier eating habits and exercise. It is worth noting that the current lifestyle in which many children
Obesity is a growing problem all around the world for far too many children. Obesity means a person has too much body fat. Body fat is measured by a person’s body mass index. When one is measuring a person’s body mass index, they are finding their height and body weight then comparing it to the recommendations made by doctors for each age and gender. After doctors calculate it, they then find a percentile rank to determine present and future health issues. Around the world, childhood obesity has become a growing problem; until the children and their parents realize how deadly obesity can be, more and more children are going to face the many health risks associated with obesity.
There was a time when chubby children were considered cute. It was assumed that their baby fat would melt away and a healthy adult would emerge. We now know that childhood obesity can be very harmful for our nations children. Not only can obesity cause health problems but also psychological problems. In observing the causes of childhood obesity, hopefully we can slow down the epidemic.
Childhood obesity has increased drastically over the past years and has become a high health risk to children. In fact, childhood obesity has doubled in numbers in the past thirty years (Childhood Obesity Facts). Obesity occurs when an individual becomes overweight and doctor’s diagnose a patient by using the body mass index or BMI scale. Obesity causes many diseases in children which cannot be cured without a doctor, in result, childhood obesity drives high health care costs. Since little effort has been put forward to prevent childhood obesity the existence of this disease has begun to skyrocket in numbers. The number of children who suffer from obesity have greatly increased over the years so, people have to come up with a solution to prevent obesity. However, it will take more than just one solution to prevent childhood obesity, it will take many. Without the prevention of obesity future generations could be in serious trouble with health issues. Childhood obesity should be prevented by showing the youth that healthy will benefit them in life, therefore, parents start by guiding children in the correct direction with their eating habits, limit their fast food intake, and fight the market for unhealthy foods so that children are not exposed to unhealthy options.
Within the past three years obesity among children has tripled. Childhood obesity is considered the number one health threat in America. Childhood obesity has become a major issue facing America. And today over “nine million” (Selicia 4, May) United States children are overweight and obese. Sadly “2 million” (Tanner 2005) of these children are at risk for type 2 diabetes. Obesity has become a burden to the United States economy and it is costing America “$147 billion” (Holden, 2010) a year.
They also spend a considerable amount of time talking on the phone to friends or reading books”. Therefore these type of activities replace any physical activity that children can participate in.
Obesity has become one of the number one factors affecting today’s youth. Numerous factors contribute to childhood obesity such as, poor lifestyle choices and the lack of exercise. In the article Harrison et al. (2011) indicates in order to understand why childhood obesity and overweight are on the rise, we first need to establish the factors that contribute to this dilemma. There is no doubt that nature and nurture contribute to childhood overweight and obesity; that is why researchers developed the Six-Cs Model to examine this problem of childhood obesity. The Six-Cs Model focuses on six categories: cell, child, clan, community, country, and culture. This ecological model helps researchers understand the factors of childhood overweight from a young age to adolescence (Harrison et al., 2011).