Debate Paper - Childhood Obesity

Final Project: Debate Paper

Over the past few weeks I have had some close people to me have serious medical issues including death as a result of obesity. I have been going to the gym for the past few years to be as healthy as I can. I feel that health and fitness is a necessity to live a long healthy life. With this being said the subject of my debate is the following:
Should childhood obesity be an issue that is dealt with at a more serious level that includes parents and schools being proactive? Obesity is a condition that causes medical and psychological issues and can be prevented by proper diet and exercise to protect our American population from childhood and in the future. Children today are bullied more than ever due to the increase of obesity. Society sees a story in the news about crib recalls or toys made with a product that is deemed poisonous or dangerous and we immediately throw the toys out or take the cribs back. We care enough of our children to take away the dangerous products that could hurt our children; rather, we won’t do anything to take away the dangerous food products that could potentially hurt our children and their health. This is as a deadly issue as the recalled toys. We all may think we are doing the right thing in teaching our children the proper food to eat, or teach them right from wrong. We teach our children to buckle up in the car. We get them the necessary immunizations to make sure they don’t get sick. We wouldn’t let them play with fire or a loaded weapon. So how could we let them consume food that could give them health or medical problems in their future? Today, one in three teenagers are considered obese. This tops the major health topics of teens next to smoking and drug abuse. Yet when there is a story in the news about the rapid increase of childhood obesity or television programs such as “The Doctors” or “The Biggest Loser” we change the channel. Parents today seem to avoid this issue because it would have to mean they would need to change themselves and the way they eat and exercise. Not saying every parent feels this way, but there are parents out there who definitely show it. It seems something as news worthy as childhood obesity would get parents concerned enough to pay attention to the fact that we are hurting our children and their futures. According to the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, an estimated 17% of children ages 2-19 are obese (defined as having a Body Mass Index, BMI, at or above the 95th percentile for age and gender per the 2000 CDC growth charts). This rate has almost tripled over the past three decades Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Obese children are at risk for a range of social and physical health problems including low self-esteem, discrimination from others, joint problems, sleep apnea, and asthma Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Obese children, along with overweight children (defined as having a BMI between the 85th and 95th percentile), are more likely to develop diabetes and heart disease; in addition, they are likely to stay overweight or obese as adults, placing them at increased risk for serious chronic diseases U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011). Obesity’s impact also extends beyond the individual. Studies show that U.S. medical costs related to obesity have totaled more than $140 billion in the year of 2008. Costs are projected to rise $344 billion by 2018 if current trends continue. (Finkelstein, E. A., Trogdon, J. G., Cohen, J. W., Dietz, W. (2009) Thorpe, K. (2009). Research indicates that many factors may contribute to the growth in childhood obesity. For example, the rise in obesity is attributed to increased consumption of non-nutritious "junk" food and large portions; less time for families to prepare meals at home; soda consumption; less physical education at school; increase in sedentary activities, such as TV and computer use; exposure to advertisements for food; community development patterns that encourage driving and discourage walking, decreasing safe spaces for children to play outdoors. Anderson, P. M., & Butcher, K. F. (2006). If parents listened to the help and cries that children send to us about being ridiculed and mocked about, it would scare them enough to take a glance and then take action. To know that these medical problems can kill them or shorten their life span should be a grave concern for society to take notice and do something about it. The fact that one in every three children are overweight or obese is a staggering statistic that should be noticed. That is an alarming fact that doesn’t seem to affect parents like it should. One reason parents are afraid to look at this closely because it would actually affect the whole family. It would mean lifestyle changes for everyone. There is a large amount of things that can be done to help the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States. It all starts at home. If we had healthy eating habits that we could teach our children such as balanced meals and healthy snacks we would be on the right track. Making our children clean their plates is not a good idea, as it is teaching the children not to rely on their own bodies telling them they are hungry. We should not cater to picky eaters. We need to let our children know that they should be eating balanced meals. Rewarding children with snacks is a bad idea as well since it is teaching children to use food as an emotional crutch. This is easier for the children when the whole family is eating like this then they are being taught that this is the correct way to eat. Another big mistake parents make is the fact that children nowadays are not as physically active as they used to be. They would rather sit in the living room with their game stations or watching television. April 14, 2011 -- About three out of four children ages 5 to 10 get less than one hour of physical activity daily, according to a new survey. The survey of more than 1,600 U.S. parents was conducted by the YMCA of the USA, also known as Y-USA. It showed that that 74% of children between the ages of 5 and 10 do not get enough exercise daily, based on the 60 minutes of daily physical activity recommended in the government’s Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Only 15% of the parents in the survey indicated that overall physical health is the top concern for their children, even though rates of childhood obesity have been climbing.
The survey found that 52% of parents said they’d been forced to cut back, at least to some degree, on their children’s after-school activities, which are common ways for kids to get active playtime, in an effort to save money. There was other important findings from this survey including the following: 74% of parents would rather spend family time with their children watching television, 42% of parents say that advancing technological is a major distraction that includes social networks like facebook, video games, and smart phones get in the way of being active. 53% of parents spend leisure time with their kids playing video games, or otherwise on a computer. 58% of parents allow their kids ages 5 thru 10 to spend less than four days a week with outdoor activities. 42% of parents are more worried about their children’s financial security than their physical activity; 50% of parents say families interact with each other playing some form of a sport together less than once a week. 38% of parents cannot afford school activities due to the high cost and 38% say there is just not enough time in the day and are not willing to schedule activities to have a healthy lifestyle for their kids. 41% of parents would rather cut back on extracurricular activities for their kids to have more money for the family’s future. About 90% of parents say they provide a healthy home environment for their children, but 41% get 60 minutes of exercise less than one day a week. About 50% of children 5-10 are watching at least two hours of TV a day more than five days a week, and spending an hour in front of a computer three days a week. Childhood obesity is preventable. This is a condition that the parents can alter in a child’s life. The children deserve a healthy happy life, and if all it takes is for the parents to be concerned enough to be involved in what their children are eating and the activities they are doing then its attainable for any parent to participate with their children WebMD. A rebuttal for this argument is that this should be an issue that is dealt with privately. Each family should have a right to not exercise and eat the way they want. If someone is comfortable being overweight then that is their prerogative. Society should teach people to accept someone regardless of what they look like. Children in school should learn not to bully other kids because of weight, color, religion or their individuality. There are more important things about an individual other than their weight and looks. America should not be so shallow. In conclusion to this debate which is close to my heart I feel that this is not an issue about looks but life and death. It is so important to do what we can to be happy and healthy for ourselves and our family.

References
Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Data and statistics: Obesity rates among all children in the United States. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/data.html.
Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Basics about childhood obesity. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/basics.html.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011). Nutrition, physical activity, and obesity. Retrieved from: http://healthypeople.gov/2020/LHI/nutrition.aspx.
Finkelstein, E. A., Trogdon, J. G., Cohen, J. W., Dietz, W. (2009). Annual medical spending attributable to obesity: payer-and service-specific estimates. Health Affairs, 28(5), 822-831.
Thorpe, K. (2009). The Future Costs of Obesity: National and State Estimates of the Impact of Obesity on Direct Health Care Expenses. United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention. http://www.fightchronicdisease.org/sites/default/files/docs/CostofObesityReport-FINAL.pdf
Anderson, P. M., & Butcher, K. F. (2006). Childhood obesity: Trends and potential causes. The Future of Children, 16(1), 19-45. Retrieved from: http://www.futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/docs/16_01_02.pdf
Bill Hendrick (2011) WebMD Health News. Most Kids Don’t Get Enough Exercise http://www.webmd.com.pdf

References: Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Data and statistics: Obesity rates among all children in the United States. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/data.html. Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Basics about childhood obesity. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/basics.html. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011). Nutrition, physical activity, and obesity. Retrieved from: http://healthypeople.gov/2020/LHI/nutrition.aspx. Finkelstein, E. A., Trogdon, J. G., Cohen, J. W., Dietz, W. (2009). Annual medical spending attributable to obesity: payer-and service-specific estimates. Health Affairs, 28(5), 822-831. Thorpe, K. (2009). The Future Costs of Obesity: National and State Estimates of the Impact of Obesity on Direct Health Care Expenses. United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention. http://www.fightchronicdisease.org/sites/default/files/docs/CostofObesityReport-FINAL.pdf Anderson, P. M., & Butcher, K. F. (2006). Childhood obesity: Trends and potential causes. The Future of Children, 16(1), 19-45. Retrieved from: http://www.futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/docs/16_01_02.pdf Bill Hendrick (2011) WebMD Health News. Most Kids Don’t Get Enough Exercise http://www.webmd.com.pdf