Eng 122 - Childhood Obesity

Childhood Obesity

Cassie Galvan

English 122

Amy Hartmann

July 3, 2011

Childhood Obesity

Nearly one in three children and teens in the United States is already overweight or obese. In the past 20 years, childhood obesity rates have doubled and are now at epidemic rates (Fighting, 2005). Today, nearly 25 million children are overweight or obese (Fighting, 2005). There are so many questions to be answered and problems to be solved. Will schools actually start stepping up and helping parents with this problem? What should be done to help the children of the future? In this paper the researcher will show, through research, changing eating habits and life style can reverse childhood obesity.

The cause of obesity occurs when the input of energy (food) is more than the output of energy (activity). For example, 3,500 calories equals one pound, so if a child consumes just 100 calories (the equivalent of 8 ounces of a soft drink) above daily requirements will typically result in a 10-pound weight gain over one year (Obesity, 2011).

Habits, bad or good, start at a very young age. A good way to ensure that a child does not become overweight, is to make healthy habits while they are young, so it becomes second nature to him or her when he or she gets older. Instead of feeding a child cookies and cake, give them fruit or raw vegetables with a good healthy dip. Children love food that is colorful so if a parent puts some apples slices with peanut butter in front of them nine out of ten times, that child is going to eat it. Also, find ways to add healthy foods into foods your child already likes. You can put blueberries in pancakes, chopped fruit on cereal, or small pieces of broccoli in macaroni and cheese (Fighting, 2005).

Parents can be dieticians to prevent children from childhood obesity (Dwyer, et. al., 2008). Paul (2007) states parents can serves as role models to shape children's eating habits and food preferences. That means parent's eating habits and food preference can influence how their children eat and what they like to eat. According to the perspective of Dwyer et. al. (2008), when children are young, they learn by examples. If parents present poor eating habits, children might start to think this kind of eating is appropriate, and then children might follow. In contrast, if some parents display balanced healthy diet, their children will learn the healthy way to display balanced eating habits. The behavior and patterns displayed within their homes are often the behaviors and patterns the children will themselves display later in life. To prevent or decrease childhood obesity, Dwyer et. al. (2007) suggests parents to prepare well balanced food, decrease the amount of snack foods available for children, set ground rules for eating, not allow children to simply say that they do not like a certain food, make children try different foods, and keep food in the house that is healthy.

Parents also can be personal trainers and coordinators to regulate their children's physical activities (Lisette, 2005). Some researchers have suggested that childhood obesity is largely the result of a decline in regular physical activity. Today, children spend much time on playing computer games, surfing on the internet, online chatting and watching TV instead of taking part in outdoor games and physical activities. This kind of behavior is looked as sedentary behavior (McCaffrey, et.al., 2007), which increases the chance of developing childhood obesity. Some researchers explain that if parents are limited in exercise and outdoor activities, their children can be influenced to be limited in exercise as well (Dwyer, et.al., 2008). Help your child find ways to do 30 to 60 minutes of exercise on most days of the week. Try to get your child to walk to school, take the stairs whenever possible and do jumping jacks and sit-ups first thing in the morning (Fighting, 2009). In addition, parents should encourage their children to participate in a variety of physical activities, particularly those that they enjoy a lot. In the study of Dietz & Gortmaker (2001), parents can reduce the amount of time their children spent on watching television, and playing with computer, which can be an effective way to reduce weight and prevent childhood obesity.

There are many solutions to avoid a child from becoming obese. Instead of setting a child in front of a television, tell him or her to go outside and play with other children. After dinner, go on walks with the family so that your children are seeing you get exercise as well. Setting a good example for your child is the best help you can give him or her, it motivates them to want to do more. The biggest thing a parent can