Childhood Obesity Debate
The question of whether childhood obesity is a problem or not will always stir up controversal opinions. The differing sides of the topic want to take action on the matter. Most of the people who are caused for the problem of rising childhood obesity is the fast food companies themselves. The government has countlessly tried to eliminate junk food from the schools, but does that really solve the problem? Junk food should not be banned in schools because children should have free choice of what to eat, and the school profits from the sales of junk food.
Children should have the right to choose what they eat or what not to eat. Parents and teachers should educate the children on healthy eating. It is not the junk foods fault for the obesity
in the children. “ Can one learn to make healthy choices if there are no alternatives?”. According to a recent study 35.5% of kids in school with junk food are overweight, while 34.85 of those in school without it were overweight.
If schools were to ban junk food, money would be lost. Schools lost money from having healthier lunch menus. This is because children would skip out on buying lunch,or bring in a packed lunch from home. Schools don't get fully refunded for the food they spend on non purchased meals. By banning junk food in school, people are choosing to ignore the real problem: the lack of public funding for gym classes and after school sports.
Many people see the problem as having one without any probably solutions. It has been demonstrated that spending too much time slumped on the couch watching tv, or playing video games is a much bigger contributor than eating junk food. Students and parents don't have to go buy a gym membership to lose the weight for their obesity. In fact public health experts agree that an important solution to help lower obesity is to get off the couch and go walk round the block a few times. If that happens then governments can spend less money on helping the obese when health problems arise. Obesity costs upwards of $150 billion a year. More than half of that is paid for by local governments.
Children should have the right to choose what they eat or what not to eat. Parents and teachers should educate the children on healthy eating. It is not the junk foods fault for the obesity
in the children. “ Can one learn to make healthy choices if there are no alternatives?”. According to a recent study 35.5% of kids in school with junk food are overweight, while 34.85 of those in school without it were overweight.
If schools were to ban junk food, money would be lost. Schools lost money from having healthier lunch menus. This is because children would skip out on buying lunch,or bring in a packed lunch from home. Schools don't get fully refunded for the food they spend on non purchased meals. By banning junk food in school, people are choosing to ignore the real problem: the lack of public funding for gym classes and after school sports.
Many people see the problem as having one without any probably solutions. It has been demonstrated that spending too much time slumped on the couch watching tv, or playing video games is a much bigger contributor than eating junk food. Students and parents don't have to go buy a gym membership to lose the weight for their obesity. In fact public health experts agree that an important solution to help lower obesity is to get off the couch and go walk round the block a few times. If that happens then governments can spend less money on helping the obese when health problems arise. Obesity costs upwards of $150 billion a year. More than half of that is paid for by local governments.