Obesity in Youth of America

Obesity in the Youth of America

Everyone knows that obesity rates in America are at an all time high. According to a study over 9 million children 6-19 are overweight or obese. Not only has this number tripled, but in the past three decades obesity has more than doubled in both children and adolescents (buzzle.com). These days one half of U.S. kids get regular exercise and to make matters worse, a quarter don't exercise at all. The conveniences of modern technology make it easy to sit around and eat tasty, yet unhealthy snacks while watching TV, playing video games and going on the computer. f we don't fix the obesity problem these children are going to have some serious health risks - NAME SOME- when they grow older and pass this habits down to future generations. If we don't instill good exercise and eating habits when they are young how are they suppose to know better when they are adults? These children need to learn that exercise can be fun and how to make better food choice options. So how does that happen? Schools across the country need to create a new and exciting physical education curriculum and new cafeteria menus with healthier options to keep students active and healthy in order to prevent skyrocketing obesity rates.

When planning this new menu the school administration need to guidelines for calories, serving size, and acceptable amounts of fat, sodium, sugar and chemical additives to make sure the students are getting a healthy amount in these areas. The school needs to decide how far these food options will extend. For example they want to ban junk food from then vending machines, at the concession stands during games, or the selling of them for fundraisers. They may also just want to keep the vending machines and the selling of fundraising candy off-limits during school hour. The students should have input in what healthy food options are served. This way the school knows what foods will go over well. If they get a say in the foods they like the students will be happier and more willing to eat it. TRANSITION

As for the physical education curriculum, unpopular PE offerings should be replaced with activities the students in which they can continue to enjoy into their adulthood. A school district in Texas "said goodbye" to all the usual physical education activities and started having the students engage in more fun activities such as swimming, step-aerobics, skating, even fishing. The teachers there know believe that P.E. teachers are critical to school success just like any other core class. (cqreacher.com). By replacing boring P.E. units, students will actually want to participate in gym class

We all know the health of our youth in this country is at risk, but nothing is ever done about it. School boards may claim they don't have enough money to fund a better education program. Although it was would awesome to get new equipment to have the kids interact with, fun games have been and can be created that do not involve a lot of equipment. A favorite game of the majority