Molly Anderson
Professor Meyer
Econ 3180
13 March 2018
Childhood Obesity
Childhood obesity is quickly growing throughout U.S. In just two decades, the frequency of overweight United States children ages 6 to 11 has doubled. Obesity has been related to several disorders and conditions in adolescences, such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Today two-thirds of adults and nearly one-third of children struggle with overweight and obesity. Obesity is not just an appearance concern, it is a condition of excess body fat that can increase the risk of other diseases and health problems. Whether someone is obese or not it depends on their Body Mass Index(BMI). There is no single cause to overweight and obesity, or no single approach that can help prevent or treat overweight and obesity. However, over the years, people have gathered more information about this disease and why people are obese. The leading cause is the fact that people are not eating a healthy diet and are not exercising enough. A healthy diet is not just about having more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, it is also about maintaining a balanced diet, moderation, and portion control.
Obesity has so many effects on children and can mess their lives up dramatically. Childhood obesity influences the child psychologically as well. Overweight children tend to have lower self-respect and therefore pick on other overweight children to compensate for it. They also tend to be more nervous and have poor social knowledge as well. In some cases, their overweight can affect how they function at school and their nervousness may cause some to want to act out in class, while others become more socially detached. Children need to be supported by their parents and peers to lose weight and maintain a healthy way of living. They should be reminded that their lives do mean something and that there's still punishment of time to make a change in their lives for the better. The earlier children can understand this, the more they are to want to make a change. Parents and caretakers need to be extra helpful particularly at the time where the child is beginning to make small changes at a time.
The environment that we live in and the culture we exercise also play a role in obesity. When large portions of food are energy that is consumed into the body, sometimes not enough energy is burned out. When everyone around us is eating the same portion, the same unhealthy food, and doing similar activities, it is hard to just listen to your body and think how much it really needs. This leads to overeating, an inactive lifestyle, and mindless eating. When parents are obese, the children are more likely to be obese in the future. This is because children adopt their parents’ behavior. A child is more likely to have symptoms of obesity if his/her parents are overweight, eating high calories food, unhealthy diet, and inactive. Genetics and DNA have been found to be a contributing part in the causes of childhood obesi...
