Childhood Obesity In America

Most Americans know that fast- food is very unhealthy and leads to many different health problems such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, and even mortality. I do not understand how people can blame the fast food industries for making themselves obese. When will people stand on their own two feet and take responsibility own health, obesity, and lack of health care management? From an early age, most people are taught by schools about the effects of the fast food industry and unhealthy eating. This allows people to make informed decision about the choices and health effects contributed to fast food. So I do not feel sorry for obese people, because they are the ones who made the poor choices to eat unhealthy. They knew the consequences before ordering that unhealthy meal.

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic levels in the United States as well as in many other industrialized nations. Childhood obesity, though, is not limited to affluent countries and is increasingly being found in developing nations as well. Although diet plays an important role in exacerbating the problem, the failure to make healthy choices in food selections is not the only problem. One of the unfortunate consequences of innovations in telecommunications and video game technologies has been an increasingly sedentary lifestyle for many American youths, a trend that has been further reinforced by participation in social media networks. In this environment, it is little wonder that many young people become overweight, but the implications of obesity in childhood have lifetime implications, making the need for studies of childhood obesity and the identification of evidence-based interventions a timely and relevant enterprise. To this end, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature concerning childhood obesity, the stakeholders that are involved and several potential evidence-based interventions that have proven effective in the past. Finally, a list of policy recommendations based on this analysis is followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

Childhood obesity is a growing problem in America. "the percentage of obese children doubling from 6.5% in 1980, to 17.0% in 2006. Weight, nutrition, and physical activity are the main components to a child’s overall health.”(1) “When parents become too busy to cook meals in their homes, children learn poor eating habits and develop into unhealthy eaters.”(1) They will take what they learned at home and apply it to anywhere else that they eat. For example a child that drinks milk at dinner and sits with their family at dinner when asked what they want to drink when they are at a friend’s home will ask for milk because the child would associate milk with dinner. Children cannot make healthy choices of their own they need to be guided so

America has the most Obesity health issue in the world 100 million American are either over weight or obese, but blaming fast food is completely wrong because every individual is responsible for his or her own actions taken. Fast food doesn’t beg people to come in and become over weight instead we choose to eat fast food when we have a desire. Although fast food do advertising, have a playground and giveaways like toys attracting kids to come buy a meal

Cookie Monster sang about cookies and sweets for over 30 years and some say that was a

However, this is not the case as fast food restaurants are vastly spread increasing chances of ordering meals from them instead of cooking at home. This, however, is not a concrete reason to blame fast foods for the heightened levels of obesity in America. There are cases where people do not reside near fast food restaurants but take the time to travel to purchase the fast foods. Thus, it is clear that locality of fast food restaurant is not to reproach for the high levels of obesity in America, but the people bear the blame. People choose to walk into restaurants and order fast foods regularly amid the danger surrounding their decision (Davies, and Hiram 42).

Obesity has been a problem for many Americans. People miss out on most of life because of obesity. They can’t move, they can hardly breathe, and some people even die early because of obesity. Obesity in adults is difficult enough. But, what could be worse than adult obesity? Well, childhood obesity definitely earns the top spot.

Improving the health of children today is an important area of concern for health professionals. One of the largest epidemics facing children is the increase in childhood obesity. Childhood obesity has reached epidemic levels in developed countries; this includes twenty five percent of children in the United States who are overweight and 11% who are obese (Dehghan, Akhtar-Danesh & Merchant, 2005, p. 1). Not only have these numbers increased in past decades they are plaguing all aspects of our country. In order to impact this epidemic many changes are needed to meet the needs of these children, especially the children who live in large cities. In Virginia the childhood obesity rate

In addition to the many different causes of obesity, fast food receives much of the blame.

Many kids prefer to stay inside to play video games. Children rather spend time on their phones and on social media. Many children would rather sit inside and binge watch on T.V. shows than go outside and be active in a sport or club. There might be a possibility of lack of parks so kids spend most of their time inside these days. Most kids that are not involved in sports are the ones who will have a higher chance of being obese. According to an article in Children’s Time Outdoors, by L. Larson and others (2011), kids today are spending a lot less time outdoors. The main cause of this is the rise of technology. A study was done and about 57% of parents claim that the reason their children don’t go outside is because they are using some type of electronic, such as video games, watching TV, or listening to music (Larson 2011). According to the article, “80 percent said it was uncomfortable to be outdoors due to bugs and heat. 62 percent said they did not have transportation to natural areas. 61 percent said there were not natural areas near their

Forty years ago in America childhood obesity was rarely a topic of conversation. A survey done in the early 1970s showed that 6.1% of children between the ages 12 and 19 were overweight. Eight years later the same survey was done and 17.4% were considered overweight (Iannelli). “Childhood obesity epidemic in America is now a confirmed fact since the number of overweight or obese children has more than tripled during the last 30 years” (Childhood Obesity Epidemic). “Over the last 20 years, the prevalence of obesity in children aged 6 to 11 years has tripled from 6.5% to 19.6%” (Childhood Obesity Epidemic). As a nation statistics should be alarming. Why are American children today so obese?

A lot of children prefer to eat high fat or sugary foods instead of eating meat, vegies and fruit. This can also be influenced from the parents, children see their parents eating a lot of something and will more then likely follow their actions as well, resulting in large weight gains.

Fast food corporations are responsible for the obesity epidemic due to their false health claims, along with the excessive marketing to children. Some people believe that customer demand is responsible for the obesity epidemic coming from the gradual increase of food portions. Critics of fast food corporations rebut that the expansion of fast food causes other problems besides obesity. Fast food corporations are responsible for the obesity epidemic due to heavy advertising directed at children, along with dubious health claims that certain fast food items are healthy. In Australia, the fast food industry is under attack by their government because fast food advertisements are heavily marketed to children, a population segment vulnerable to obesity (Tillett 1). Another example comes from a dubious claim by Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) stating that eating two fried chicken breasts is healthier than eating a

When people go to restaurants they like the food more because it is very oily and fatty and in fast food restaurants example McDonalds tastes good because they add the chickens skin and spices that makes the burger tastier which makes you the eater fattier and therefore affects his/her health.

So on the way to work they will buy dinner at a fast food restaurant. Places such as McDonalds's, Burger King, and Taco Bell have begun to appear on every street corner. Fast food restaurants made an appearance in America in the 1960's. They have not been around for very long and already the effects are destroying the health of the people in America. This is because people go to what to tastes good and these foods taste good to the kids. When their parents grew up a trip to grandmas for Sunday dinner was a treat and a variety from the meals at home. Today the treat is going out to a fast food restaurant. These foods are usually inexpensive, prepared for the person, and they taste good. The downside to these places is that their food is greasy and high in fat. Both of these are contributors to high blood pressure and high frequency of heart attacks among the American population.