Childhood Obesity & Physical Activity

Goal

My goal is to demonstrate an understanding of the responsibilities involved in developing and maintaining nutritional health and well-being in children, as well as promoting children's healthy eating habits.

Childhood Obesity & Physical Activity

The rate of obese children is increasing daily. Still Children have fewer weight-related health and medical problems than adults they are at high risk of becoming overweight adolescents and adults, placing them at risk of...

• Developing chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes later in life.
• They are also more prone to develop stress, sadness, and low self-esteem.

PROBLEMS:

• Children aren't learning how to be healthy and make the right food choices.
• Obesity is causing self-esteem issues in children as well as mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression.
• Massive amounts of money are being spent on obesity due to the fact that fast food is a cheaper and quicker option.

Children are being raised to think that their academic studies are far more important than nutrition and physical activity. At Mother Teresa Grade 10 Foods and Nutrition is an open class and Phys-Ed is simply an elective they must only complete 1 credit of. Young children are told to follow the Canadian Food Guide by their teachers although they get home and their parents feed them what is quick, cheap and easy. When buying snacks they go for unhealthy options simply because they are cheaper options. Parents aren't taking the time to buy healthy food and putting together healthy meals for their children, possibly because they are so busy with work and even driving their child to extra-curriculars. Sports aren't as effective for children when all they eat is fast food to go along with it. Parents MUST understand how important it is to promote a healthy lifestyle for their children because in the future their unhealthy choices can cause their child's death.

There are various reasons for this epidemic and many people to blame.

The media is so quick to tell children that being fat is UGLY instead of UNHEALTHY. The media is also quick to advertise their unhealthy chocolate, etc to make money. Instead of exposing children to this we should expose them to more physical activity and healthy food choices. We may not ever be able to stop our nasty society but we can surely help if we educate and raise our children to make the proper food choices and to get involved in physical activity from the start.

The most common causes are...

• genetic factors
• lack of physical activity
• unhealthy eating patterns
• Influences by media
• Influences by technology
• Uneducated
• or a combination of these factors.

Only in rare cases is being overweight caused by a medical condition such as a hormonal problem. A physical exam and some blood tests can rule out the possibility of a medical condition as the cause for obesity.

Although weight problems run in families, not all children with a family history of obesity will be overweight. Children whose parents or brothers or sisters are overweight may be at an increased risk of becoming overweight themselves, this can be linked to shared family behaviors such as eating and activity habits.

Statistics

CANADA IS FACING AN OBESITY EPIDEMIC!

• Currently, one in four children and youth in Canada are overweight or obese.

• Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.
• In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.
• Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese in the US.
• Since 1980, obesity prevalence among children and adolescents has almost tripled.
• There are significant racial and ethnic disparities in obesity prevalence among U.S. children and adolescents. In 2007—2008, Hispanic boys, aged 2 to 19 years,were significantly more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white boys, and non-Hispanic black girls were significantly more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white girls.

Obese children are being diagnosed with a range of health conditions including type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

In my opinion any parent who lets this happen to their child is abusing them and they may not even know it.

Thank You!

What? How? Who? Where? When?

• Obesity occurs worldwide, mainly of where food is an easy resource.

• Obesity begins in children and the lifestyle they are influenced by.

• Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed- and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.

• Obesity affects humans (and even animals) of all ages, sexes, and racial/ethnic groups. Occasionally some more than the other.

• Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors.

VS

• Obesity is defined as having excess body fat.

Children are being raised in homes where their parents lazy decisions are keeping them from being healthy. This is not fair for children. Kids do not grow up knowing how to cook healthy meals, have proper portions and know how much physical activity they need. Children choose what tastes best, they cannot tell the difference of what is good or not good for them. Their parents must influence this knowledge on top of their teacher's lessons. Parents need to enforce this material or it can lead to their child's disease or even mental illness. We all know the effects obesity has on your body, but what about the brain? Children are being so influenced by the MEDIA and so little by their PARENTS. If a child grows up obese this can lead to major problems such as anxiety and depression. When a child gets depressed how are they supposed to have the mental capacity to push themselves to get fit, especially without the support and encouragement of their parents.

As much as we wish we could blame technology, it's up to the parents to regulate the use of technology and the rate of physical activity their child gets. Technology is a multi-billion dollar industry that will not go away any time soon, but if parents do not stop this rate in their future generations obesity will stay a multi-billion dollar industry too.

Gabrielle Melanson

Mrs. Brandao

HFN 10/20

Tuesday April 1st, 2014

Being physically active is a huge issue children face today. They grow up learning that technology is more fun than actually getting outdoors and being active. Parents would prefer to spend thousands on video games, televisions, etc than to get them involved in sports. Unfortunately, in many cases parents just simply can't afford to put their children in a group sport as well. Although if that is the case their are substitutions, such as family runs, etc... Children do not decide these rituals on their own, it is something parents must raise their children to understand. Getting children involved in physical activity is a perfect way for them to relieve anger and stress as well as to develop confidence and meet new people.

A child's total diet and activity level play an important role in determining a child's weight.

Today, many children spend a lot time being inactive. For example, the average child spends approximately four hours each day watching television.

As computers and video games become increasingly popular, the number of hours of inactivity may increase.

This is an easy explanation for why the obese rate has increased. As technology advances, parents are allowing their children to spend more time using these devices rather than to go outside and play like most adults did when they were children because technology was not available.