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Childhood Obesity Epidemic Analysis

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Childhood Obesity Even though America is an advance developed country, we are facing a major epidemic in obesity with children. American has one of the highest percent of children obesity in the world. “Obese”, from the Latin word “obesus”, means “grown fat by eating”. The term’s origin clearly and correctly suggest that overeating is a major cause of the obesity epidemic.” Sharron Dalton, 45). Obesity may cause several major health problems and could have an effect on youth’s daily activities. How serious is obesity in our society? There are many factors that cause obesity in children such as genetics, behavior and eating habits. Leading so many drawbacks of being overweight. Obesity will continue to increase if there are no action from …show more content…
Government may need to intervene to disclose the unhealthy products, like grease and fat associate and calories associated with each item on the menu. Your family may have a genetic makeup that make you susceptible to being overweight. Or you may be raised in a household that may only have unhealthy food. This is shown the number of children being overweight:
Data from 2015-2016 show that nearly 1 in 5 school age children and young people (6 to 19 years) in the United States has obesity. The prevalence of obesity among U.S. youth was 17.0% in 2011–2014. Overall, the prevalence of obesity among preschool-aged children (2–5 years) (8.9%) was lower than among school-aged children (6–11 years) (17.5%) and adolescents (12–19 years) (20.5%). The same pattern was seen in both males and females (Childhood Obesity Facts, Healthy …show more content…
Our children spend lots of time getting educated in school. Therefore, addressing obesity should an important responsibility of our school system. Our school should be concerned about obesity and provide alternative solutions. Kids spend more than 6 hours at school so their school can be a huge influence on children’s behavior. Educators should encourage a healthier school cafeteria menu. Cafeteria should reduce fat and sugar intakes. Be aware of calories intake. Make sure the students have a good healthy balance meal. Forcing students to eat healthy can be a challenge because students may end up not eating anything at all if they don’t like healthy foods. Starvation is obviously not healthy either. Schools should look for healthy food alternative that have some sweet taste but is still healthy for students. Like sweet and sour salads, yogurt and smoothies without lots of sugar. Eventually the children eating habits will become healthier and they will acquire the taste for eating healthy food. According to Overcoming Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence by Schumacher and Queen, principals should encourage classroom teachers, school nurses, physical education teachers, coaches, and the food service director to post positive, attractive nutrition and exercise messages in the classrooms, nursing station, gymnasium, and

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