Childhood Obesity In America
Childhood Obesity
There are 5 issues that make a fist of a hand that can knock America out cold. They’re a lack of jobs, obesity, diabetes, homelessness, and education. Each of these factors have the ability to trigger one another, as mentioned before, without the proper level of education on how to control issues like obesity it can later lead to several types of deadly diseases. Because there is a lack of education by parents, a low amount of funds being spent on children by the government and the accessibility of unhealthy processed foods, the childhood obesity rate is high and out of control in the United States.
Without any sense of direction from parents and a lack of knowledge of what is being fed to kids today, obesity will continue …show more content…
to grow in the U.S. Obesity, is described as having an increased amount of fat in the body, that can also be called overweight. Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance” which is too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed. Not having an understanding of what causes obesity, how can we expect our people to help prevent the ongoing issue of childhood obesity? Because many of the people today are unaware of this ongoing issue, parents across the nation are not taking into consideration what their children are being fed at school. “Frozen burger patties from California 's Don Lee Farms serve schoolchildren in Fairfax County, Va., and are composed of 26 different ingredients, most of them unpronounceable for the average consumer" (Zhao). Just as well as parents expect their kids to do their homework, parents need to research on what these ingredients are and help make an improvement in their child’s future because the consumption of several of these unknown ingredients are a threat to their health. As a result kids are becoming more obese at a younger age and the government’s lack of support is not helping the cause, on contributing to it.
The government is not funding a lot of money for school’s lunch programs, schools only have a selected variety on what they can purchase for their students to eat.
This same factor has a ripple effect on the student because it also limits them on what various types of meals they can choose during lunch hour, a poor selection of unhealthy foods leads to poor dieting. “The reimbursement rate for a reduced-price lunch is $2.17 and 24 cents for a paid meal. When you factor in labor and other school costs, schools have less than $1 per day per student to spend on food for lunch”(C.P.F.). Limiting yourself to just $1 dollar to use towards food would be nearly impossible to survive off of, let alone to eat or choose a healthy meal. This not only limits student and young adults of what they are able to eat during lunch if they cannot afford to bring their own lunch, but it also gets them into the habit of making a poor choice in food. “Fewer than 15 percent of the two million American elementary school-aged children eat the recommended five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables" (Myrdal). If these poor eating habits continue or continue decrease, than the obesity will only continue to grow. In order for our young children of America to begin to change their unhealthy eating habits, parents and other leaders must promote healthy eating habits and explain the importance of proper dieting, which can start by cutting back on processed …show more content…
foods.
Although Obesity in America is a serious issue, many would argue that heart diseases might be a more severe problem. One reason that heart disease is a more serious problem than obesity, Heart disease kills the largest number of Americans per year, more all forms of cancer combined. (Kulas) Heart disease ranges from heart attacks to stroke which can be avoided by cutting back on smoking and eat a diet that is low in fat and sodium. (Kulas) The main causes of these diseases come from poor dieting which leads to obesity and being overweight. In conclusion, obesity is a problem that needs to be addressed.
The issue is that the childhood obesity rate has become a well-known epidemic.
Because most parents are not educated on what their kids are eating at lunch, kids are continuing to eat unhealthy.
“Frozen burger patties from California 's Don Lee Farms serve schoolchildren in Fairfax County, Va., and are composed of 26 different ingredients, most of them unpronounceable for the average consumer" (Zhao).We as adults must take note of what is being fed to our children during lunch because the regulations some of these schools have do not regulate some of these unknown substances. Our futures are at stake here, the young kids of today are our future and if we do not take some initiative and help them with this growing epidemic than there is no future to look forward to. Overweight children and adolescents are more likely to be overweight or obese adults and more likely to suffer early heart disease and death. (Gardener) If this problem is not solved when the kids are young, then they are not going to be healthy adults. In the United States, federal statistics estimate that 9 million adolescents (17 percent of the population) are overweight and 80 percent of overweight adolescents grow up to be obese adults. Childhood obesity rates have tripled since 1970. (Gardener) The epidemic of obesity can only be fixed if we educate the public. I also feel that this problem can be resolved by developing a new lunch program. It would be helpful if the federal government helped out. “The reimbursement rate for a reduced-price lunch is $2.17 and 24 cents for a paid meal.
When you factor in labor and other school costs, schools have less than $1 per day per student to spend on food for lunch”(C.P.F.). If the Government aided with funds and advertisement for eating healthy many of the parents would gain knowledge on how to teach their kids to have healthy eating habits. With Michelle Obamas support this will hopefully create more support and help get this project started. The White House officially kicked off First Lady Michelle Obama 's childhood obesity initiative, the Let 's Move campaign. The same day, a new foundation was launched to bring together public, private and non-profit sectors to address the epidemic of childhood obesity and support the goals of the First Lady’s campaign. This can easily aid the issue of obesity, with influential power of celebrities who many of the kids today look up to for a sense of direction or as a role model. My solution has enough power to persuade these kids to new healthy eating habits.
Simple steps such as replacing vending machines containing unhealthy foods and drinks and replacing them with healthier items or limiting the portions of the unhealthy foods can be a place to start (Green & Hargrove). An issue like this will not be reversed overnight, but we as leaders can start doing the little things right. For example, educating one another on the importance of dieting, demand and fight for more funds from the government to aid the school lunching funds and also ignore the convenience of unhealthy foods. So get out there and take a stance with the bigger people who are unaware of the ongoing issue, because you now have the knowledge to help prevent what is slowly weakening our nation’s younger population.
Works Cited
Chang, Hung Hoa, and Rodolfo Nayga. "The Influence of Soft Drinks and Fast Food
Consumption." Childhood Obesity and Unhapiness 11.3 (2010): 261-75. Academic Search Premier. Web. 09 Oct. 2013.
Elbel, B., J. Gyamfi, and R. Keersh. "Child and Adolescent Fast-food Choice and the Influence of Calorie Labeling." A Natural Experiement 35.4 (2011): 493-500. Academic Search Premier. Web. 09 Oct. 2013. .
Foundation, Chez P. "What You Need To Know About School Lunches." Welcome to the Lunch
Box! Chez Panisse Foundation, 01 Aug. 2008. Web. 28 Oct. 2013
Gardener, Amanda. "Overweight Kids Often Become Obese, Unhealthy Adults." US News.
U.S.News & World Report, 05 Dec. 2007. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
Green, Gregory, Brenda Hargrove, and Clarence Riley. "PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND
CHILDHOOD OBESITY." STRATEGIES AND SOLUTIONS FOR SCHOOLS AND PARENTS. 132.4 (2012): 915-20. Ebsco. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. .
Hooker, Neal H. "Childhood Obesity and Schools." Journal of School Health ns 80.2 (2010): 96-
103. Print.
Kulas, Michelle. "Top 10 Health Problems in America." LIVESTRONG.COM. N.p., 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 11
Dec. 2013.
Liu, Stampfer S., and Spiegelman Q. Sun. "Health Gains from Whole Grains." The Nutrition
Source. Harvard School and Public Health, 28 Oct. 2010. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
Myrdal, Amy. "American Kids Poor Food Choices:." American Kids Poor Food Choices:.
Dole Food Company, 16 May 2002. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
Ogden, Carroll. "Health Effects of Childhood Obesity." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 July 2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
Zhao, Emmeline. "26-Ingredient School Lunch Burger: What 's Inside It, And The Battle Against
Processed Foods." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02 Apr. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
There are 5 issues that make a fist of a hand that can knock America out cold. They’re a lack of jobs, obesity, diabetes, homelessness, and education. Each of these factors have the ability to trigger one another, as mentioned before, without the proper level of education on how to control issues like obesity it can later lead to several types of deadly diseases. Because there is a lack of education by parents, a low amount of funds being spent on children by the government and the accessibility of unhealthy processed foods, the childhood obesity rate is high and out of control in the United States.
Without any sense of direction from parents and a lack of knowledge of what is being fed to kids today, obesity will continue …show more content…
to grow in the U.S. Obesity, is described as having an increased amount of fat in the body, that can also be called overweight. Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance” which is too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed. Not having an understanding of what causes obesity, how can we expect our people to help prevent the ongoing issue of childhood obesity? Because many of the people today are unaware of this ongoing issue, parents across the nation are not taking into consideration what their children are being fed at school. “Frozen burger patties from California 's Don Lee Farms serve schoolchildren in Fairfax County, Va., and are composed of 26 different ingredients, most of them unpronounceable for the average consumer" (Zhao). Just as well as parents expect their kids to do their homework, parents need to research on what these ingredients are and help make an improvement in their child’s future because the consumption of several of these unknown ingredients are a threat to their health. As a result kids are becoming more obese at a younger age and the government’s lack of support is not helping the cause, on contributing to it.
The government is not funding a lot of money for school’s lunch programs, schools only have a selected variety on what they can purchase for their students to eat.
This same factor has a ripple effect on the student because it also limits them on what various types of meals they can choose during lunch hour, a poor selection of unhealthy foods leads to poor dieting. “The reimbursement rate for a reduced-price lunch is $2.17 and 24 cents for a paid meal. When you factor in labor and other school costs, schools have less than $1 per day per student to spend on food for lunch”(C.P.F.). Limiting yourself to just $1 dollar to use towards food would be nearly impossible to survive off of, let alone to eat or choose a healthy meal. This not only limits student and young adults of what they are able to eat during lunch if they cannot afford to bring their own lunch, but it also gets them into the habit of making a poor choice in food. “Fewer than 15 percent of the two million American elementary school-aged children eat the recommended five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables" (Myrdal). If these poor eating habits continue or continue decrease, than the obesity will only continue to grow. In order for our young children of America to begin to change their unhealthy eating habits, parents and other leaders must promote healthy eating habits and explain the importance of proper dieting, which can start by cutting back on processed …show more content…
foods.
Although Obesity in America is a serious issue, many would argue that heart diseases might be a more severe problem. One reason that heart disease is a more serious problem than obesity, Heart disease kills the largest number of Americans per year, more all forms of cancer combined. (Kulas) Heart disease ranges from heart attacks to stroke which can be avoided by cutting back on smoking and eat a diet that is low in fat and sodium. (Kulas) The main causes of these diseases come from poor dieting which leads to obesity and being overweight. In conclusion, obesity is a problem that needs to be addressed.
The issue is that the childhood obesity rate has become a well-known epidemic.
Because most parents are not educated on what their kids are eating at lunch, kids are continuing to eat unhealthy.
“Frozen burger patties from California 's Don Lee Farms serve schoolchildren in Fairfax County, Va., and are composed of 26 different ingredients, most of them unpronounceable for the average consumer" (Zhao).We as adults must take note of what is being fed to our children during lunch because the regulations some of these schools have do not regulate some of these unknown substances. Our futures are at stake here, the young kids of today are our future and if we do not take some initiative and help them with this growing epidemic than there is no future to look forward to. Overweight children and adolescents are more likely to be overweight or obese adults and more likely to suffer early heart disease and death. (Gardener) If this problem is not solved when the kids are young, then they are not going to be healthy adults. In the United States, federal statistics estimate that 9 million adolescents (17 percent of the population) are overweight and 80 percent of overweight adolescents grow up to be obese adults. Childhood obesity rates have tripled since 1970. (Gardener) The epidemic of obesity can only be fixed if we educate the public. I also feel that this problem can be resolved by developing a new lunch program. It would be helpful if the federal government helped out. “The reimbursement rate for a reduced-price lunch is $2.17 and 24 cents for a paid meal.
When you factor in labor and other school costs, schools have less than $1 per day per student to spend on food for lunch”(C.P.F.). If the Government aided with funds and advertisement for eating healthy many of the parents would gain knowledge on how to teach their kids to have healthy eating habits. With Michelle Obamas support this will hopefully create more support and help get this project started. The White House officially kicked off First Lady Michelle Obama 's childhood obesity initiative, the Let 's Move campaign. The same day, a new foundation was launched to bring together public, private and non-profit sectors to address the epidemic of childhood obesity and support the goals of the First Lady’s campaign. This can easily aid the issue of obesity, with influential power of celebrities who many of the kids today look up to for a sense of direction or as a role model. My solution has enough power to persuade these kids to new healthy eating habits.
Simple steps such as replacing vending machines containing unhealthy foods and drinks and replacing them with healthier items or limiting the portions of the unhealthy foods can be a place to start (Green & Hargrove). An issue like this will not be reversed overnight, but we as leaders can start doing the little things right. For example, educating one another on the importance of dieting, demand and fight for more funds from the government to aid the school lunching funds and also ignore the convenience of unhealthy foods. So get out there and take a stance with the bigger people who are unaware of the ongoing issue, because you now have the knowledge to help prevent what is slowly weakening our nation’s younger population.
Works Cited
Chang, Hung Hoa, and Rodolfo Nayga. "The Influence of Soft Drinks and Fast Food
Consumption." Childhood Obesity and Unhapiness 11.3 (2010): 261-75. Academic Search Premier. Web. 09 Oct. 2013.
Elbel, B., J. Gyamfi, and R. Keersh. "Child and Adolescent Fast-food Choice and the Influence of Calorie Labeling." A Natural Experiement 35.4 (2011): 493-500. Academic Search Premier. Web. 09 Oct. 2013. .
Foundation, Chez P. "What You Need To Know About School Lunches." Welcome to the Lunch
Box! Chez Panisse Foundation, 01 Aug. 2008. Web. 28 Oct. 2013
Gardener, Amanda. "Overweight Kids Often Become Obese, Unhealthy Adults." US News.
U.S.News & World Report, 05 Dec. 2007. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
Green, Gregory, Brenda Hargrove, and Clarence Riley. "PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND
CHILDHOOD OBESITY." STRATEGIES AND SOLUTIONS FOR SCHOOLS AND PARENTS. 132.4 (2012): 915-20. Ebsco. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. .
Hooker, Neal H. "Childhood Obesity and Schools." Journal of School Health ns 80.2 (2010): 96-
103. Print.
Kulas, Michelle. "Top 10 Health Problems in America." LIVESTRONG.COM. N.p., 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 11
Dec. 2013.
Liu, Stampfer S., and Spiegelman Q. Sun. "Health Gains from Whole Grains." The Nutrition
Source. Harvard School and Public Health, 28 Oct. 2010. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
Myrdal, Amy. "American Kids Poor Food Choices:." American Kids Poor Food Choices:.
Dole Food Company, 16 May 2002. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
Ogden, Carroll. "Health Effects of Childhood Obesity." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 July 2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
Zhao, Emmeline. "26-Ingredient School Lunch Burger: What 's Inside It, And The Battle Against
Processed Foods." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02 Apr. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.