Child Obesity vs A Healthy Diet

The Prevention of Obesity

CNN reports that of adults and their fitness the highest percentage of adults meeting the guidelines, with 32.5% doing so (Moulite). Obesity is excess amounts of body fat on someones body. There is more than just having excess body fat to be defined as obese; high blood pressure, high body mass index, high triglycerides, and many more. Without the correct lifestyle obesity can cause major health issues from cancer to diabetes. Obesity is a preventable disease through a healthy diet and good exercise.

There are stipulations that can possibly prohibit being obese harder than it is for others. Obesity is a preventable disease that can be easily avoid or fixed with the correct lifestyle.

Parents have total control of what their kids are feed for the first part of their life. If parents instill good eating habits from a young age kids will continue those habit for the majority of their life. There are five major habits that parents can display to greatly reduce the chances of their kids becoming obese in their lifetime.

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Parents need to manage their weight to provide a good role model for their kids to show them that being obese is avoidable and should not be a way of life. The second habit is exercising regularly, this will help maintain a slim body and also instill the habit in their kids that exercising is a good activity. Eating a nutritious diet is the third habit because the if from a young age they are eating healthy then the chances of them continuing to eat healthy is greatly improved.

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A healthy diet is a very important habit to have because in a world where fast food restaurants are every five feet, parents need to be the good role model to show their kids the proper food to eat. The fourth habit is not consuming more than moderate amounts of alcohol, her kids' risk of obesity was between 11% and 20% lower (Healy). The fifth habit is not smoking, this is a horrible habit to have and causes many diseases that can be prevented by just not smoking. Healy stated that the children of mothers who didn't smoke were 31% less likely to be obese than were the children of moms who did smoke. The mothers that practiced all five of the habits had children that were 75% less likely to become obese than the children of mothers that did not practice any of these habits. With these habits the culture that kids today are growing up in is very different then it was for our parents. For our parents there wasn't as much technology to keep kids inside and playing video games all day. When they were younger they were outside playing almost everyday doing something with their friends. Now days too many kids are sitting at home playing video games or watching tv all day, which is taking away from their time to be active.

Kids need to be active for at least an hour every day and when technology is all they know from when they can first learn, they need a good role model to show them that being active and playing outside is a good habit to have in their life. From a young age kids need to be taught that being active is good for them, this could be taught through prizes for a certain amount of time playing outside or even going outside with them and playing with them to show that it even their parents go outside to play too. With all of the habit that the parents can have their is stuff out of their control, the fast food industry's marketing is very much aimed at children. Fast food restaurants are all over the U.S. with almost fifty thousand of them, most cities have more than one. The restaurants are geared for kids with their playhouses and their characters. Fast food restaurants are aiming their marketing at kids because they want a lifelong customer by getting kids hooked on their food from a young age. The amount of fast food restaurants in an area make them a fast and easy option for a family to get without spending a lot of money.

They abundance of them in an area also guaranteed to have the style of food anyone is craving at any given time. This is a problem for to many people, these quick and easy options are being used to often and this unhealthy food is causing people to become obese because if they are in such a rush to need to get fast food then they probably do not get enough exercise. Kids today are at a higher chance of obesity due to all of the heavy marketing aimed at them and the abundance of technology for them to use, it is up to their parents to teach them the proper habits to have in life to help prevent them from becoming obese. The lack of exercise adults has lead to high obesity rates in many states. For an adult to be considered to be exercising enough, they need to vigorous exercise for seventy-five minutes or hundred and fifty minutes of moderate exercise per week. All of the states combine, the average percentage of adults that exercised in the U.S. was twenty-three percent.

The states with the highest percentages of exercise were actual the northern states like Colorado, New Hampshire,and Massachusetts because they had the most amount of leisure time to go exercise. The southern states like Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, all had below average amounts of adults that exercise in their states. The northern state adults have more time due to the lack of activities during the winter to participate in, leaving the gym as a great option for them to leave the house for a few hours. Where as the southern state adults have their kids sporting events year round and have yard chores to always take care off, these take away from the time they could be spending at the gym like the northern state adults. Although the northern state adults have to go to a place to exercise they are still more willing to go out of their way to exercise than the southern state adults that could just walk out of their house and go for a run, swim in their pool, or go for a bike ride year round.

Although there are more than 35,000 fitness and health clubs in the U.S., there is still a need for more and help at them to teach adults how to exercise to see the most benefit for themselves and the proper way to fuel their bodies for the exercise. But these numbers all support the perception each state normally has for itself. Southern state adults are assumed to be heavy drinker and eat deep fried food all the time. Not only is drinking a horrible habit but can also gain a lot of weight from it. On top of the drinking the fried food is even worse for them. When people picture the south, they imagine fried chicken and other types of meats they like that are fried. All of the deep frying has an excess amounts of added sodium and fat that are great sources of becoming obese. The south is not know for going for runs and lifting weights, they are known for hunting and fishing which are not activites known for having very much physical activity involved in them. The northern states are known for more home cooked meals with veggies on the plate. Although a good home cooked meal is still healthier than fried food, it is not the best choice for people to have. Every meal of the day should have fruit or veggies with the main dish.

The northern states are not really known for any real type of activities that involve exercising, there is no northern type of activity. Obesity is a disease that can be easily prevented by just choosing to eat the right type of food and getting enough exercise. This is more effortlessly reached by more adults in northern states that in the southern states. The issues related to obesity are preventable by similily avoiding being obese. There is more than one reason that you should want to avoid being obese; the cost of being obese, the related diseases, and the life expectancy. There is a mighty check that comes with being obese from the medical expenses to the cost of feeding yourself.

In the U.S only there is over $330 billion spent on just diabetes alone, the majority of these cases are from type 2 diabetes.

  • Type 2 diabetes is strongly associated with obesity, making the majority of that $330 billion from being obese.
  • Type 2 diabetes no a disease that you are both with you get is from a few things but becoming obese is the leading way, that affects the way the body processes blood sugar.
  • Type 2 diabetes is a very common disease that affects almost 10% of the U.S. population.

People that have diabetes need insulin to properly processes the glucose, insulin can cost up to $900 a month. From low income families that is not a monthly bill they can afford to pay. Not only is their a bill for the medical expenses of diabetes but there will be day that they will have to miss work whether it is to go to the doctors or because they are sick in bed there will be days off of work. High blood pressure is also related to obesity, affecting more than 100 million people in the U.S. and more than a billion people overall in the world. Beta blockers is a popular way to help control high blood pressure but it does not fix the problem. Beta blockers can cost up to $600 a year which is not a lot every month but with the cost of many other medications this will add up. Although this health issue will not be as demanding as diabetes is with the missing days of work but it will still have a sizable bill attached to it.

Another health issue related to obesity is heart disease, affecting more than 84 million americans. Heart disease is a heart condition that has diseased blood vessels, blood clots, and structural problems. The most common type of heart disease is coronary artery disease which is a damaged main blood vessel to the heart. The best way to fix this issue is to exercise and eat a health diet that will get you in shape. While you are getting in shape, it is not a fast process, there is medication to help but is not a long term option.

  • If the issue can not wait for the person to get in shape then there is always the option to get a bypass surgery but the issue with doing the surgery as the first option is that it is a ricky surgery and many people do not make it through the procedure.
  • The surgery is also a very costly expense to have will the average bill for it being, $17,500 and that is assuming it is only a single bypass and not a double or triple.

The sad part is that the people that need a double or triple bypass could have avoided that whole surgery by just exercising and eating a healthy diet. A gym membership and buying moe fruits and veggies would have been a lot cheaper than the surgery. With all of these issues the lifespan of most obese people is a lot lower than the national average. The average age at death in the U.S. is 79 years old and for the obese the average age at death is 69, that is a whole 10 years less. Obviously this is an average to there are obese people that do live longer lives than the average but there are also ones that do not make it to the averages age, wouldn't you like to increase your chances of living a longer life by avoiding being obese.

Obesity related diseases are just as avoidable as lung cancers is from smoking, all people need to learn is that obesity is not a healthy thing just like smoking is not. Many people did not live a long healthy life during the sixties and seventies because of their bad habit of smoking, the bad habits nowadays is overeating and binge watching the television for hours. Just like smoking, if the overeating and binge watching of tv were to end then people would live a healthier life that they would be able to avoid the diseases related to obesity. Also like smoking this is not a fast fix for many people, this is an issue that will take years of changing people's mindsets and lifestyles about the issue. Many people are fine becoming obese knowing that they can live for a long time while being obese and have a good life, but people need to learn that they will have a better life if they were to be in shape and have a life without any health problems until they are older. Obesity is a disease that most people are fine habing and do nothing to fix it for many years, when it can be prevented altogether and the diseases related to obesity.

The United States is not the only country with an obesity problem. Some of the countries that are suffering due to poverty are also suffering from obesity. This is because of the food that is being sent to these poor countries are horrible sources of nutrients and high in fats and sodium. Not only are countries in poverty becoming obese, so are developing countries. Developing countries are transitioning from home cooked meals to more fast food and processed foods that not good sources of nutrients like the home cooking was. With both of these types of countries their reason for high obesity rates is due to the westernization of more countries.

The issue with more westernized countries is that the U.S. is already struggling from obesity so when more countries are trying to be more like the U.S. they are also suffering from the same issues as the U.S. is. As those developing countries obesity rates continue to rise it is in large part to the diet they keep. Taylor said that "On anybody's plate, rice takes up between 50-70 percent of the space", which is a problem because grains should not take up that much space on people's plates. They do not have the education or distribution system to educate their citizens that they need to eat a more balanced diet with fruit and veggies. Some of those countries issues are not the citizens fault but the governments because they are forcing the countries to westernize but not giving them the information to help their citizens prevent diseases like obesity. Since many of these countries are still developing or are in poverty they do not have the accessibility to gyms and supermarkets. The uneasiness to go to the gym makes it difficult for the people to get into shape and maintain it if there is not a place to go. Same with the supermarket, people can not just run to the store to get all of the fruit and veggies they need for the week. Without having open access to food for a balanced diet then the people of those countries will continue to struggle from issues like obesity.

Not only with the gym and supermarkets, but medication for these diseases will be hard to come by as well as the doctors to prescribe them and possibly do the surgery on people. These are all issues that these countries have and they need to start with informing their citizens of the dangers of obesity and other related diseases as well as start to help make resources to prevent these more accessible. Obesity does not only affect one race of people it can affect everyone, so this is a world issue not just one countries. Obesity is a major problem that people overlook and that is in need of change. To many people are obese and are either fine with it or do nothing to change their lifestyle to make a change.

The world needs to become educated on the issues with being obese to show them that is not a good thing to be. With that, we also need to teach them how to overcome obesity and the diseases that are related to it. People will have to change their mindset from allowing obesity to be a regular problem, to wanting to be in shape and eating the proper food. This will also change people's lifestyles, they will not always be allowed to watch tv for hours and snack the whole time. People will have to start going to the gym, working out, going for a run, and balancing their diets. This change will not happen overnight, people will need to work for this change for years and slowly over time bring more people into the change. Some of the change may need to be with the government enforcing new regulation on the food and drinks we are able to consume but are not healthy for us at all. Although the government can only do so much to change the culture our society has about the acceptability of obesity but it will help start the change. But at the end of the day, the people will need to want the change for our culture to change our obesity rates.

Works Cited

  1. "As Rich Children Slim Down, Poor Ones are Getting Fatter." Economist, Jun. 2018, pp. 29. SIRS Issues Researcher
  2. Healy, Melissa. "Reducing Obesity Starts with Mom." Los Angeles Times, 08 Jul. 2018, pp. B.2. SIRS Issues Researcher
  3. Ludwig, David S., and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "The Toll of America's Obesity." New York Times, 10 Aug 2018. elibrary Maritza.
  4. "Just 23% of US Adults Get enough Exercise, CDC Reports." CNN Wire Service, 27 Jun. 2018. SIRS Issues Researcher
  5. "Preventing and Treating Childhood Obesity." World Book Inc, Chicago, 2009.
  6. Stern, Judith S., and Alexandra Kazaks. "Obesity As an Epidemic." Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society, ABC-CLIO, 2018, Accessed 19 Nov. 2018.
  7. Taylor, Michael. "Obesity among Asia-Pacific Children is a Growing Health Crisis.." Reuters Media, 09 Apr. 2018. SIRS Issues Researcher,
Updated: Aug 11, 2021
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Child Obesity vs A Healthy Diet. (2019, Aug 20). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/child-obesity-vs-a-healthy-diet-essay

Child Obesity vs A Healthy Diet essay
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