In today’s society, a lot of kids no longer get involved in any type of physical activity, because of technology. There is also a big unavailability of healthy foods for families that are struggling with low income. Children also struggle with obesity because of issues from within such as low self-esteem and confidence issues which could often lead to eating disorders, which then would lead to obesity in some cases. Childhood obesity is an issue that many people have to deal with. There are many causes and effects of childhood obesity, but there are also many different solutions for this ongoing issue.
Physical activity is something that is good for everyone, and if children were to start at a young it could possibly encourage good habits for later in life. The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools suggests that “one of the leading causes of this epidemic (childhood obesity) is a marked decline in physical activity and athletic participation”. Children tend to fascinate by playing video games, watching TV, or simply just browsing the internet are just a few of the things taking over children’s free time during which they could be physically active. Therefore, schools should make it mandatory for some sort of physical activity to take place in the classrooms all across the country, this will help reduce the lack of activity for children which then would be one step closer to preventing childhood obesity. Another way to help increase physical activity in children is to put limits on the amount of screen time they have. New technology is a big reason why children don’t get as much physical activity as they used to so in order to stop this there should be limits on the amount of screen time a child has per day. If this were to happen more kids would engage in physical activity just by going outside and playing around because they know their electronic time is up.
Food is a big aspect of the obesity epidemic, especially the unavailability of more healthy foods. Healthy foods tend to be unavailable to some people because they are simply too expensive for them to afford. Typically fast foods are very cheap and sometimes it is the only thing a family can afford so they have to get it. Another reason why people tend to lean towards fast food more than healthy food is because of the appeal. Many people don’t want to eat healthy food because it doesn’t look as good as fast food. With that being said healthy foods also aren’t a trend because they aren’t convenient enough for some people. People would much rather spend a few minutes in the drive-thru at a fast food restaurant than in the kitchen at home slaving over the stove. All of these things have solutions to them, in order for people to be able to afford them the prices could be lowered slightly. If healthy foods were cheaper more parents would be able to afford them for their family. Stores could also offer more coupons for healthier foods to help increase the number of people that actually buy the foods. The second solution for the unavailability of healthy foods would be to simply make them more appealing. There are even websites that allow you to order the food and all the ingredients can be sent to your house to make the food and it will look just like it did on the TV screen. Finally, a way to make healthy foods more available is to make them more convenient. There are so many fast food restaurants that serve unhealthy foods, but there aren’t any places that focus solely on healthy foods. Spending hours in the kitchen cooking after a long day at work is not something that many people want to do, so they typically go pick up food from a fast food restaurant.
There are so many causes of childhood obesity, more than just the stereotypical ones like not getting enough exercise and not eating properly. A child could become obese from other things such as eating disorders and confidence issues. Being insecure and self-conscious about your weight can cause a person to become depressed which could then lead to bad eating habits and after that comes obesity. In order to prevent a child from feeling this way you just need to give them a little affirmation, this helps a child feel much better about themself. Once a child has become secure and confident with themselves then they can achieve any goal they wish to, which might be losing weight or starting to develop better eating habits to avoid obesity. This not only could help reduce the number of children that are obese but it could also help reduce the number of children that are bullied in school because of their weight. Bullying can deteriorate a child’s self-confidence a lot which was also be a contributing factor to depression and bad eating habits. So a solution for childhood obesity would be just to encourage a child and make them feel good about themselves and let them know that they can accomplish anything.
Childhood obesity is an issue that more people need to take seriously in order to prevent the issue. The solutions listed above are just a few ways that we can try and solve childhood obesity. Children don’t have enough knowledge on the issue to where they can be held accountable for their actions, it is unfair that they have to inherit the physical issues and health issues that their parents did. Childhood obesity is able to be avoided if parents implement the proper diet and an adequate amount of physical activity in their child’s life. There are many causes and effects of childhood obesity, but there are also many different solutions for this issue and if everyone learns of ways to prevent this issue, we could end the ongoing epidemic. Typically if a person is obese as a child it usually tends to lead into adulthood as well. This is why it is so important to keep kids from becoming overweight and to help obese kids lose weight. Due to the number of parents that are obese increasing, new technology, the lack of supervision at home after school, and unhealthy school lunches can be to blame for the number of obese children increasing in society.
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Childhood Obesity Trends and Potential Causes: Critical Essay.
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