Healthy 4 Life Research Paper
Introduction
Healthy 4 life is a program that was created in order to raise awareness for childhood obesity. The goal is to reduce childhood obesity by empowering students and educating them on the benefits of eating healthy and exercising regularly, in hope that they take what they have learned and be healthy for life. We decided to start this program because more than 50 percent of middle school children in Texas are either overweight or obese. This number will keep increasing if we do not take action now. We have identified some of the problems and plan to prevent them through our program. We hope that our program prepares these young kids for a better and healthier future. We must act now if we want to prevent the children from living …show more content…
an unhealthy lifestyle. The children are the future, we need to set them up to be successful.
Causes of Childhood Obesity
One reason why some of the young children are obese is because they are not taught how to eat healthily at an early age. Some other causes of childhood obesity include genetic factors and community environment. Many families living in food desert areas do not have access to good-quality fresh food. Children from low-income family are also affected because fast food tend to be more affordable than healthy food. Lack of physical activities and limited school resources can also cause children to become obese or overweight.
Influence from Household
Some parents are also at fault for childhood obesity if they take their children to fast food restaurants instead of cooking food for them at home.
People might do this because of the lack of time they have on their hands, so they tend to take the easy route. By doing this, it is harming the way the kids think, such as a burger from a fast food restaurant is better than a home-cooked meal. As parents and teachers, they need to help their children understand what unhealthy food do to their body over time.
A study that was recently conducted also proves how children are impacted by this issue by the way their parents raise them. Some parents teach their kids to eat everything on their plate in order to get a reward. This is teaching children to ignore their stomach telling them that they are full and eat everything on the plate. It is good to eat everything and not waste food, but overeating can cause stomachache and other sicknesses. For instance, the children are out to a restaurant and some of the portions that are served are large. They would try to finish the whole plate fearing that they will get in trouble if not since they are taught to finish everything. However, this could lead to overeating causing them to get sick afterward. It can also turn into a habit if this kind of behavior continues. Once you get into the habit of doing something, it is very difficult to get out of it. Therefore, children should learn to not waste their food and learn
to stop eating when they become full.
The parents are responsible for teaching the children the proper portions of food they should be eating. The chart displayed below is a chart that a lot of people do not follow because they are
Healthy 4 life is a program that was created in order to raise awareness for childhood obesity. The goal is to reduce childhood obesity by empowering students and educating them on the benefits of eating healthy and exercising regularly, in hope that they take what they have learned and be healthy for life. We decided to start this program because more than 50 percent of middle school children in Texas are either overweight or obese. This number will keep increasing if we do not take action now. We have identified some of the problems and plan to prevent them through our program. We hope that our program prepares these young kids for a better and healthier future. We must act now if we want to prevent the children from living …show more content…
an unhealthy lifestyle. The children are the future, we need to set them up to be successful.
Causes of Childhood Obesity
One reason why some of the young children are obese is because they are not taught how to eat healthily at an early age. Some other causes of childhood obesity include genetic factors and community environment. Many families living in food desert areas do not have access to good-quality fresh food. Children from low-income family are also affected because fast food tend to be more affordable than healthy food. Lack of physical activities and limited school resources can also cause children to become obese or overweight.
Influence from Household
Some parents are also at fault for childhood obesity if they take their children to fast food restaurants instead of cooking food for them at home.
People might do this because of the lack of time they have on their hands, so they tend to take the easy route. By doing this, it is harming the way the kids think, such as a burger from a fast food restaurant is better than a home-cooked meal. As parents and teachers, they need to help their children understand what unhealthy food do to their body over time.
A study that was recently conducted also proves how children are impacted by this issue by the way their parents raise them. Some parents teach their kids to eat everything on their plate in order to get a reward. This is teaching children to ignore their stomach telling them that they are full and eat everything on the plate. It is good to eat everything and not waste food, but overeating can cause stomachache and other sicknesses. For instance, the children are out to a restaurant and some of the portions that are served are large. They would try to finish the whole plate fearing that they will get in trouble if not since they are taught to finish everything. However, this could lead to overeating causing them to get sick afterward. It can also turn into a habit if this kind of behavior continues. Once you get into the habit of doing something, it is very difficult to get out of it. Therefore, children should learn to not waste their food and learn
to stop eating when they become full.
The parents are responsible for teaching the children the proper portions of food they should be eating. The chart displayed below is a chart that a lot of people do not follow because they are