Running Head: CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Preventing Childhood Obesity Jeanne Garvin ENG 122 Instructor Shelley Lawyer January 4, 2011

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Preventing Childhood Obesity INTRODUCTION Childhood obesity is a serious health issue in this country and is rising at extreme rates. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2009), overweight schoolaged children havetripled in the last three decades. Children that are overweight are more likely to have numerous health issues; such as, heart disease, asthma, and type II diabetes, which at one time was only found in adults. This is why it is so important to keep our children from becoming overweight and help obese children lose weight. Childhood obesity has become an epidemic around the world and should not be taken lightly. While the reason for the increase is not clear, and heredity may play a role, there are many contributing factors. Parents/caregivers, schools, the government and the media are major influences, which are responsible for this increase of obesity in children. This paper discusses the causes ofchildhood obesity, and focuses on parents/caregivers, schools, the media and the federal government and explains how they allmust work together in fighting this serious problem that can prevent our future generations from having obese related health issues. The majority ofrelevant information used in this paper came from websites and articles that address the childhood obesity problems our nation is facing today and how we, as a group, can prevent and overcome this serious epidemic, if we work together. METHODS The most useful information obtained in this paper came from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the CDC website, Their mission is to create expertise, information, and tools needed for people to protect their health. This is accomplished through promoting health, preventing disease, injury and disability. Their site also offers

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suggestions for any new health related threats (CDC, 2010, para. 2). For this obvious reason, this website provided extremely useful information that is included in this paper. The growing concern for obesity as a public health concern for children and adults has led to an effort to combat this disease. RESULTS There was a time, years ago; that children would play tag, ride bikes, and do other outdoor activities that helped them from becoming obese. However; today, the majority of children come home from school, grab any high-fat snack available, and sit in front of the television set or in front of a computer screen, playing video games, with no parental guidance. With todays bad economy, both parents are required to work in order to pay the household bills. This leaves the majority of our children home alone after school has ended.Furthermore, schools today offer high-calorie, fatty foods to their lunch programs. Not to mention, vending machines in every lunchroom across America, filled with high-fat foods, which give our children the opportunity to snack anytime they feel the need. Our society, as a whole, is more overweight than ever before. This is caused by poor eating habits and poor exercise habits. These bad examples are passed down to our children. Genetics plays a part in some cases of obese children; however, it is mostly an issue of habits that children pick up from their parents. A study by the US Department of Health and Human Services (2010, para. 12) states that A child born with both parents overweight have an 80% chance of being overweight, themselves. Families share behaviors, such as, eating and physical activities. When kids see parents eating in an unhealthy manner, they get use to the eating pattern and follow in the footsteps of their parents. Overweight parents also cook high-calorie

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foods, and eat out more than those parents who are thin. For this reason, their children not only eat fatty, high-calorie foods during their childhood, they also pick up a high-fat style of eating and cooking as they grow into adults.These examples influence childrens body weight. Encouraging children to eat healthy from the start influences their food choices as they grow older. Their eating habits develop into eating healthy foods, and this makes them more likely to continue choosing healthier foods as they grow into adults. Once children develop bad eating habits, its harder to change them. Getting children active is part of the solution. Parents should encourage their children to get physically active. However, with both parents having to work and leaving their children alone at home, its not an easy task to accomplish. There are several ways to encourage our children to exercise, and it is the responsibility of parents to help maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle for their children. One way is to encourage a family walking time after dinner each evening. When children are young, they love nothing more than spending quality time with their parents. Rather than allowing kids to lounge in front of the television after dinner, head outside for a family walk or bike ride. This will influence children into having fun, rather than thinking of it as a chore.If going outside is not an option, consider indoor activities, such as, dancing or a fun kid-oriented exercise video. One of the most important things a parent can do for their childrens health is to set a good example. It is very difficult to encourage kids to play outside and remain active when they see their parents lounging around on the couch all evening. Participate in a variety of activities with your children, so they can see you running, going to the gym, and playing a sport. Children are most influenced by their parents, for this reason, it is very important to lead by example.

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There are plenty of suggestions parents can do to positively affect their childs eating habits. One option in helping fight childhood obesity is limiting certain high-calorie foods, while encouraging more healthy choices. This is a great way to promote a nutritional diet that does not seem completely restrictive. This can be accomplished by replacing processed sweets with naturally sweetened foods; such as, fruits. Also, limit the amount of sodas they consume. These drinks have no nutritional value to the childs diet and overload them with caffeine. Another option is to implement nonfood rewards when a child has earned it; such as, good grades on their report card. This can be done by rewarding them with a new cd or any other nonfood item. Also, if families eat together each evening, the parents can view what their children are eating, and modify the daily meals with healthy foods. There are numerous viewpoints on childhood obesity. One opinion, which this paperagrees with, is the CDC (2009), recommending that children exercise at least sixty minutes a day. They state that children who are physically active will produce numerous health benefits than those who arent. Another opinion came from The Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (Peninsula, 2010). Their view is that obesity leads to inactivity, not the other way around. According to their 11 year study on children, they state that physical activity has no impact on obesity in children. This paper proves that to be insane and so far off, that its almost funny. However, their study does back up their claims. The majority of schools offer fast-food lunch programs high in calories and fat. Limiting childrens participation in unhealthy school lunch programs is a necessity that will help prevent childhood obesity. Schools have become the focus of childhood obesity prevention efforts, with an emphasis on the food and beverages they serve. Good nutrition throughout the day plays an important part at school and enables the children to make healthy choices when eating. On any

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given day in the United States, more the 54 million children attend school where they will consume over 50% of their daily calories (Healthy Eating, 2006). This has led to efforts to improve the healthy quality of the food served at schools. Rather than providing drinks with littlenutritional value they will be substituted with healthier options, such as water and unsweetened juices in order to promote a balanced diet. In addition to drinks, there has been an effort to improve the quality of food offered in schools. Removing these unhealthy items will help the fight of ending obesity in children.Providing healthy meals at school is a very important part of preventing childhood obesity. Parents should stick together and speak with their school

boards about improving their lunch programs. School districts should remove high-fat snacks from their vending machines from all of their schools and start offering healthy snack choices for children. Some schools have started making this happen; however, there is still much to be done. The federal government must increase the level of funding for school lunches, in order to have a greater impact in the fight against obesity among the youth. According to the Washington D.C. based Food Research and Action Center (Sevilla, 2006), the federal government currently provides $6.8 billion to subsidized school districts participating in the National School Lunch Program. This reduced amount has resulted in fewer healthy food options, which is due to increased vending and ala carte menus that exist to provide revenue to cover expenses for the schools. Furthermore, the need for school districts to retain their student customer base has minimized the actions taken to improve the health content of food items found in schools. Minor changes have occurred, including substitution of whole-wheat pizza for regular pizza, and to bake instead of fry chicken nuggets. Schools have decided to make these improvements because the children like these items and if these foods were eliminated, school cafeterias would risk reduce revenue from sales, and this is an option schools cannot afford because of the reduced

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funding provided by the government. By reducing funding for the National School Lunch Program, the federal government has created a conflict between schools ability to provide children with healthy meals and meals that will sell. The federal government and the schools must make a joint effort to boost the healthiness of the food currently being served in our schools. Without the help from the government, the schools are limited in their ability to combat the childhood obesity epidemic we have in this country. Our first lady, Michelle Obama, announced earlier this year of a very ambitious program to end the American plague of childhood obesity in a single generation. According to Ms. Obama (2010), one in three kids is overweight or obese and were spending $150 billion dollars a year treating obesity-related illnesses. The first lady has set a goal to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight. President Obama also plans to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act, and is proposing a $10 billion budget increase. This would equal $1 billion a year for 10 years. He is thinking this will help provide nutritious school lunches to those who qualify, and will help fight the obesity disease children have today. CONCLUSION and DISCUSSION One of the reasons children are making unhealthy food choices is the environment they live in. One solution is a collective approach involving everyone from parents, teachers, lawmakers, fast-food operators and even advertisers. The pressures of promoting the consumption of large portions or high-fat, high-sugar foods are everywhere, that, coupled with less physical activity, especially in schools where physical education classes have been cut, makes the problem larger than just a family issue.

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If our country works together, we can overcomechildhood obesity. The increasing number of overweight parents, technology, unsupervised children, and unhealthy school lunches, and inactivity are the reason for the increasing number of obese children in the United States. Each of these factors can be helped and prevented. This problem is going to continue to rise over the years if this country doesnt work together to fight this epidemic. Our nations children depend on us, as the adults, for guidance. It is our responsibility to guide our childrens eating habits and prevent them from being overweight and developing heart disease, diabetes and numerous other health issues. In order for our nation to have healthy children, we must address this situation seriously and immediately.This country must unite and work together for the sake and well-being of our children. This is necessary in order for this nation to have healthy, functional adults to lead our country for future generations.

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References Center for Disease Control and Prevention, (2010).About CDC.Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/about/organization/cio.htm Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (2009).Overweight and Obesity.Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/causes.html Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (2009).Tips for Parents Ideas to help Children Maintain a Healthy Weight.Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/children/index.html\ Ferrin, L. (2010, February). Michelle Obama: Lets Move Initiative Battles Childhood Obesity. ABC Good Morning America. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/michelle-obama-childhood-obesityinitiative/story?id=9781473 Healthy eating to prevent childhood obesity. (2006, March). American Teacher, 90(6), 17. Retrieved December 27, 2010, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1009858661). Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, (2010).Inactivity No Contributor to Childhood Obesity Epidemic. Retrieved from http://www.pcmd.ac.uk/news.php?id=139 Stevilla, F. (2006). Childhood Obesity, The Greatest Health Risk for Americas Children.Retrieved from http://pdfcast.org/pdf/childhood-obesity United States Department of Health and Human Services, (2010).Childhood Obesity: Beginning the Dialogue on Reversing the Epidemic. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/2010/03/t20100304i.html

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United States Department of Health and Human Services, (2004).Combating the Epidemic of Childhood Obesity.Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t041005b.html