Fast Food Personal Statement

Families across the nation are affected by this issue. Many parents have a lack of knowledge in regards to nutrition and activity, in hindsight the food industry impact families. The article The Childhood Obesity Epidemic discuss despite the government pushing for healthy food choice initiates, have to continue to maximize selling of their products that include junk food, therefore blame shifting towards the food industry (McHugh, 2016, p. 95).

Childhood obesity is the most common pediatric nutritional disorder in the United States (Balog, 2015). Most people believe that the solution to stopping childhood obesity relies entirely on education. Sadly, this is not true. While education is one of the main factors for solving this epidemic, there are many other factors that need to be resolved as well. One cannot rely on the simplistic idea that, once educated, Americans would make the healthiest choices. This is because Americans choose, buy, and consume their food based heavily on the taste, convenience, and economic motivations, not health reasons.

Childhood obesity has expanded tremendously within the past thirty years (CDC, 2015). It is not only a state, but also a nationwide issue. For many children, they depend on their school lunches to provide them the nutritious meals they cannot afford to have at home. As a community, we need to get our children into better shape. Not only will they become more astute, but they will also live healthier lifestyles, and have less health complications as they age. When you are overweight or obese, you are much more likely to develop health problems like heart disease, diabetes, or even a stroke. It is our responsibility as a community, state, and nation to offer nutritious meals and activities for our youth and future.

One of the causes of the amplified rate of obesity in children is because of their poor diet. Many children are eating more fast food, junk food, and over processed meals and are not eating enough healthy meals. This can easily lead a child to obesity. Nevertheless, with numerous parents’ having a low income and schedules that are crammed full, many are opting for fast food or cheaper grocery options as an alternative to making healthy meals with nutritional ingredients. Fast food and less hearty meals can also result in getting hungry quicker, making it necessary for children to have a snack or another meal in just a couple of hours. Furthermore, parents’ should recognize that their children need healthy meals instead of opting for less nutritional alternatives. Ensuring that their children are eating healthy and are not accumulating too many calories can help parents’ combat the increasing rate of obesity

Obesity has substantially increased in the American population, affecting both adults and children. According to the Mayo Clinic, the definition of obesity is defined as a condition of increased body weight that is caused by an excessive accumulation of fat. Many factors contribute to weight gain such as the two important ones, poor diet and physical inactivity. As people are exposed to high fat foods and have very low physical activity, it’s so easy for that person to become overweight or obese. As in today’s society children tend to overeat, many changes in a child’s life are the reason why there is an increase in overeating. The place where children should be fed healthy and should influence them to eat healthy is actually where the problem starts. School cafeterias have been known to serve food with large fat content and low nutrition. School cafeterias even supply students with soda and candy machines (Kempster, 2004). According to a study done by King et al. (1999) has shown that fruits and raw vegetables given in school cafeterias has decreased substantially. Instead they provide unhealthy meals for these children like, pizza, tater tots, and many other numerous high level fat foods. At school children should have the access to eat healthy, however they are exposed to fast food choices everyday, making it difficult to support healthy eating (Kuntzman, 2004). The lack of physical activity is another major factor in the cause of childhood obesity. Due to the increase

Nowadays, more children in the United States are struggling with obesity. According to the State of Obesity (2012), “5 percent of 6-to-11-years-olds were severely obese” (para. 2). Since we discovered such information, we decided to follow big idea number ten which states, “Primary education (six to eight years) must be designed to meet the unique development of children this age” (Couchenour & Chrisman, 2011, p. 276). We created an advocacy action plan called Nutritionists and Healthy Lunches (N.H.L). In this action plan, we advocate that elementary schools should hire at least two nutritionists. The nutritionists would go into each classroom at least once a week for about twenty minutes. During these

The way children are raised now will set them up for a life of healthy eating habits that will ultimately lead to breaking a pattern that is growing and has become a serious problem with children in this generation. According to pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Robert Lustig, at the University of California, San Francisco, it is the first time in recorded history we are seeing a decline in life expectancy, he states, “We know that people are dying younger…decline in mean life span of three months.”(University of California Television (UCTV), 2013). There are many causes and contributing factors to the increase of childhood obesity. According to the CDC the childhood obesity rate has doubled within the last 30 years alone. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015) The choices parents are making in the kitchen for their children, the lack of physical activity and the lack of regulation in the food industry are the leading cause of childhood obesity—a real threat to our existence.

“The rise of obesity has placed the health of an entire generation at risk” (Vilsack). With childhood obesity rates skyrocketing in the last decade, multiple culprits have been blamed as the source of the epidemic. Sometimes, the blame is all placed on genetics. Other times, people believe it is the responsibility of childcare centers of schools to teach healthy habits. While these accusations do hold some truth, the fact is that the obesity rates in America are increasing because children are not being taught the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods, or given an example of healthy nutritional habits during their most crucial years of learning. Although there are other factors that hold some influence, a child’s nutritional behavior is primarily determined by the home environment during his or her years of early childhood.

Our society is set up perfectly against our health. Unhealthy food options are more accessible than healthy options. Children are faced with endless fast food options and vending machines full of sugar-sweetened beverages and packaged foods. Portion sizes have increased substantially over the past 30 years. Over the course of 20 years the serving size of fries has gone from 2.4 ounces to 6.9 ounces.3 Families are eating out more frequently and restaurant meals are higher in calorie and fat than home cooked meals. Children are often times

The rate by which childhood obesity has grown is outrages. Now with a convenience store in almost every corner it is now easier for a child to buy unhealthy snacks. They overload in processed food because it is cheaper to buy than most healthy foods. It is cheaper to buy a burger from the dollar menu than it is to buy a salad, which are usually around five dollars. Thousands of children are being affected by this all over the world and it is frightening. Children with obesity often see themselves having other conditions that used to only

Obesity rates among children have risen over the last two decades (Gatto et al. 2012), with roughly one third of the youth population being overweight or obese. This is of concern due to the association between obesity and increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, asthma, psychological or psychiatric problems, dyslipidemia, and hypertension (Gatto et al. 2012; Contento et al. 2010). Additionally, high intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and energy-dense foods along with a low intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains has been linked to childhood obesity (Beasley et al. 2012). Studies have shown that most children in the United States do not meet the recommended intake of fruits and vegetables. For children two

Children in this day and age have terrible eating habits. Nutrition is no longer a necessity, it is more of a thing that is thrown aside and overlooked. Children eat candy or sweets all the time, while getting no exercise. Exercise is a major part of keeping a healthy body but it is not the only thing that is needed to be a healthy person. I will discuss some of these necessities to being or having a healthy child. In today’s society there are more and more children are becoming obese, if this trend isn’t stopped soon then there will be no more healthy children. Besides the children whose diet is controlled by sports there are very few other children who choose to eat healthy. These children sit on couches playing video games all day rather than doing sociable or healthy activities.

A healthy and balanced diet is important because a poor or inadequate diet puts people at risk for chronic diseases and has also contributed to the West’s burgeoning obesity rates. Research shows that in Canada, most children’s diets do not meet Canada’s Food Guide (CFG) recommendations. Recently there has been a growing interest in how food and diet is treated in the home, as this environment is arguable the most influential factor on children’s diets. If children are involved in food preparation and selection at home, parents have the opportunity to positively influence the child and teach them to make healthy, balanced food choices.

Eating habits can be understood as food preferences, food acceptance and rejection as well as the portion size of food consumed (VALERIU, 2016). Eating habit is developed since birth and throughout the life cycle. Multiple studies have studied on the factors that will influence children’s dietary behaviors (VALERIU, 2016), in order to improve the eating habits. Child obesity is becoming prevalent in society today (Birch & Fisher, 1998). Obese children have higher risk of getting detrimental diseases during their adulthood. Although pediatric treatment for child obesity has been proved successful in short run, but not in long run (Epstein, Myers, & Saelens, 1998). Therefore, numerous researchers started examining the factors affecting children’s

In today’s society, children are at higher risk for unhealthy food consumption. The increase in unhealthy food consumption has led children to become obese, and it has produced the need for parents and schools to add healthier options to our daily diets. Furthermore, the reason for childhood obesity is widely due to the lack of nutrition that children are getting. In addition to the lack of nutrition, children are also becoming obese because “children are consuming more calories than they burn” (Childhood Obesity: The Challenge). To stop this problem, we need to be cautious with the food we choose to give to children and even to us adults and only offer healthy options.