The Importance Of Healthy Eating And Reducing Child Obesity

To ensure the health of children in the United States, and to encourage school aged children to eat nutritious meals, President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act in 1946. Today, the National School Lunch Program(NSLP) is a federally assisted program that provides children from low income families free lunches in public and private schools. The meals are nutritionally balanced, based on the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans by the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and offered at a reduced rate or free to children whose families met the qualifications. (Dietary Guidelines for Americans )In 2012 the NSLP offered lunches to over 31 million children each school day. To qualify for the school lunch program, families must earn at or below $44,000 annually for a family of four, which was about 51% of school aged children in 2012. The poverty rate for a family of four in 2017 is $24,600. The NSLP will feed children whose families are almost twice the poverty rate (National School Lunch Program, 2017).

The NSLP is “a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. The program was established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946” (National). It was created after a study was conducted by congress into why so many young men did not meet the requirements of the WWII draft. It was found that there was a connection between physical deficiencies and malnutrition during adolescence. After the study was published, the government took it upon itself to regulate what children ate. Its focus has now been shifted from battling malnutrition to battling childhood obesity, yet there are plenty of statistics that denote childhood obesity is not caused entirely by poor food choices.

Childhood obesity is not just an issue in United States- it is an growing epidemic. Obesity epidemic in kids has increased by alarming rate just in last few decades. Nearly one in every five child is obese in the United States. If the pattern of obesity continued on most of America’s children will be living with diabetes, heart disease, and dying young due to obesity. The American Heart Association reported this year that childhood obesity is the top health concern among parents in the United States, beating out smoking and drug abuse. My own younger siblings suffer with child obesity. Their craving for fast food and very limited physical activity has made them overweight and currently they suffer from health problems. Is this the future of our young generation? How much contribution should a parent have in their child’s diet? Fast food has taken over American diet and it has lead to poor nutritional diet among American youth. Fast food companies spend billion of dollars every year on commercials, convincing youth to love and eat their product. It’s just not our eating habits that has lead our young generation into obesity, lack of physical workout has also played a major role in obesity epidemic. TV, computer, video games and other technology entertainment has contributed to children getting no exercise. Obesity in children can put them in high risks of developing chronic and serious illness. Unhealthy weight leads to having weaker lungs, poor blood quality, heart

“The National School Lunch Program, or NSLP, is a federally assisted meal program operating in over 101,000 public and non‐profit private schools and residential childcare institutions.” ("National school lunch," 2011) This government-run program is headed by the department of Food and Nutrition standards, a subgroup of the United States Department of Agriculture. “It provides nutritionally balanced, low‐cost or free lunches to more than 31 million children each school day in 2009.”

In other words the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010”. cost schools to much is more expensive then the other food/s plan that where in place before the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010”. was applied to the participating schools across the U.S. Also some of these schools not only can afford it, they also have to make serious cut them selves but even their own school districts have to make cut back to provided school with other necessary supply’s that their school can not afford

President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act into law in 1946 establishing the National School Lunch Program, to “safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities and other foods” (Ralston et al., 1998, p. 1). In fact, 30.3 million free or reduced-cost meals were provided to 99,000 public and private schools in 2014. Ninety-four percent of schools participated in the program which led to the sixty percent of children to participate at least once a week.

Over 100,000 schools have adopted the National School Lunch Program since its launch in 1946 by then president Harry Truman. It was orgininally designed to provide low cost, healthy lunches at a reduced cost and was relatively effective. Lately however, since first lady Michelle Obama fueled a massive overhaul of the program shortly after her husband took office stripping the meals of so-called "unhealthy content" and started to require the "School Lunch act to meet minimum nutritional standards..." This federal program has become too much about controlling what students eat vs. its content and it needs to be changed.

1 in 3 American children were overweight or obese. In 2010, Michelle Obama began a program, Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, for schools to have healthier lunches. It became a law for all schools to serve healthier lunches for kids in 2012 but some people are against it. We should follow the guidelines because kids are enjoying the healthy food being given, and childhood obesity is a huge problem.

Obesity has been a major health issue in the community for the past three decades, and has recently become a spreading concern for children (Black & Hager, 2013). Childhood obesity leads to many health and financial burdens in the future, and has become a public health priority. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2016), childhood obesity has doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. Black and Hager (2013) state that pediatric obesity is a major public health problem that effects a child’s mental and physical health. Having childhood obesity also increases the risk of developing adult obesity and many other chronic illnesses. Childhood obesity will be further explored in the following sections and will include: background, current surveillance methods, epidemiology analysis, screening and diagnosis, and the plan of action.

Child obesity is a serious public health issue in the United States and its increase has reached epidemic level. The prevalence of obesity among children has dramatically increased from 1970 to 2010 (Saydah, Bullard, Cheng, Ali, Gregg, Geiss, & Impertore, 2014). This issue should no longer be ignored because its consequences can affect all of us in different ways. Usually, when we see an obese child, we only think about his/her body appearance and we ignored all the health issues that can cause. Child obesity is a preventable disease that can lead many health complications if it is not treated.

Childhood obesity is a serious health concern that has been growing at an alarming rate in Canada. Childhood obesity occurs when a child is over the normal weight for their age group and height. Because obesity is such a widespread issue, it is important to identify methods that can be implemented to help address this problem. By looking at the necessity of health promotion with regards to childhood obesity, gathering information on how to assess those at risk and finally teaching those identified on how to improve their health, one can build a framework which will positively influence the behaviours of children who are obese.

Obesity is one of the several major public health issues that researchers attempt to find interventions for. Prevalence of obesity has been increasing throughout the years, especially in children. If prevalence and incidence of obesity continues to increase in children, long term illnesses start producing, which can hinder an individual’s life span. In addition to chronic illnesses being produced, obesity can also hinder the social and psychological wellbeing. As children are growing with obesity, they are experiencing the negative effects of their social life and psychological self, which can create chronic illnesses and prevent them from growing as an individual.

Federally-funded school meal programs, including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP), serve an average of 31.3 million lunches and 11.1 million breakfasts per day at a cost to the country of $11.1 billion in 2011 (Food & Nutrition Services, 2012). These federally-funded meals are an excellent opportunity for regulation of nutrition as well as education regarding healthy choices. Obesity is clearly a great threat to the health of our nation, and the federal government must step in to defend its citizens against this growing threat. Children are at the mercy of their families, their social conditions, and their schools, predisposing them to obesity through poor nutritional options and a lack of education; the federal government must intervene through regulation of school meals and snacks to protect children from the abundance of unhealthy options while also educating them and reducing childhood obesity.

Childhood obesity is a growing problem that needs to be resolved. Many people may say it is the Child’s fault, he is weak willed. This is just a common misconception; there are hundreds of different reasons for childhood obesity. I will just be scratching the surface of this paper. By the same token childhood obesity is a growing problem that needs to be resolved. We can achieve this by understanding some common misconceptions, understanding health problems, and understanding fitness.

Back in elementary school, lunch was one of my most anticipated parts of the day, and it wasn’t because I could finally socialize with my friends in peace. No, it was all because of the food that they served. Cheese sticks with marinara dipping sauce, popcorn chicken bowls, mac n’ cheese, corndogs, fruit-less jello, and even more. That all changed when Michelle Obama introduced her National School Lunch program. Ever since then, it’s just never been the same. I’ve always been a fan of the Obama family, but that was probably one of the worst things to ever happen since I’ve been in school. You would think that making school lunch a healthier option for students across the nation would be a good thing, but it was the complete opposite.