The Obesity Epidemic in the United States - Essay Example

The Obesity Epidemic in the United States For the past years, obesity has been among the factors that causes most deaths in the United States. Specifically, childhood and adolescent obesity has raised concern in the U.S. Nearly, two third of young people are obese or overweight. As the problem continues to increase at a high rate, the American health sector has established the need to understand the major causes and the possible solutions. Development of fast food industries has been a major cause of obesity in that it has given children more chances to gain weights especially when parents are busy working. The adverts made in the media encourage children and growing teenagers to take fast food. The exhaustion caused by the busy school lives pushes children to eat fast food as a way to release stress. It is therefore important for guardians and parents to pay attention to the psychological needs or changes of children. Obesity epidemic in the United States has been a growing concern in the United States, especially for the kids as well as the growing teenagers. The possible solutions to this problem include changing the unhealthy eating habits of children and using adverts that encourage them to eat a balanced meal. Schools should embrace physical education and the society should encourage children and teenagers to do physical activities. It is a well-documented fact that, development of fast food industries is potential threat of increasing obesity in children and teenagers (Juettner 10). The development of this industry has laid a strong ground where children and teenagers can access the meal easier without any hassle. In this era, it has been difficult to balance work and parenting. Most parents end up ignoring their major responsibilities of taking care of their children in expense of working hard to earn a living. When fast foods industries are more available and accessible, they encourage most children and teenagers to take it and as a result, gain weights. In the 21st century, most parents have encouraged their children to take fast food since they are busy working and do not have enough time to prepare healthy meals for the children. In response to this subject, Langwith (20) conducted his research and underlined how to deter this problem. Langwith believed that parents should understand they have a role to play in improving their children well-being. Specifically, they should prepare a balanced a balanced meal for their children. Parents should work to change the unhealthy eating habits of children. In cases where both parents are busy working, they should employ someone to take care of the children. Parents should ensure that children or those taking care of them understand the hazards of overweight, and this would help them start eating a healthier meal on their own. Parents and guardians should ensure that kids are not skipping breakfast. In most cases, some kids may not be used to take breakfast because they wake up late. Therefore, when they fail to take heavy breakfast, they are more likely to get hungry while they are in school. As a result, most end up taking some junk food from the vending machines, which are more available and accessible. It is unhealthy for children to skip breakfast. Therefore, parents should prepare a healthy breakfast to keep their children and teenagers fully energized until lunchtime. Hospitals should also create awareness to parents on the importance of giving their children healthier meals. The attracting ads made by fast food industries. Almost every single fast food industry comes up with several new ads aimed to their young customers. For example, interesting toys come along with the meals which always become a trend in school; cute packaging and sweet ingredients which always which always caught children’s eye. This problem attracts most children to fast food and as a result, ends up living unhealthy lifestyle. It is crucial to note that; media plays a crucial role in communicating or passing information. Experts believe that, media plays a crucial role in shaping one’s behavior or response to purchase a commodity or service (Jimerson 34). An appealing ad is more likely to attract the viewers and create a strong buying power. In some cases, media fails to recognize that it has a role to play in the community especially on creating awareness or emphasizing on taking the best diet. However, media has not fully embraced this aspect instead it goes ahead to advertise fast foods in the most appealing way. In so doing, they create a message that it is good to take fast food, thus encourage people to live unhealthy lifestyle. Psychologists believe that children learn fast than any other age group (Currie-McGhee 12). This is because their mind is flesh and not involved with life challenges and stress. Based on this research, it is evident that children are more likely to respond to what they see in the media than any other age group. Therefore, media should present their ad in such a way that they promote a healthy community. It is crucial to note that, when a child sees such an advert, he or she desires to imitate the ideal picture. With this concern, it is important for the media to avoid attracting fast food with attractive ads that reveal the importance of taking the food. Instead, they should educate the viewers on the dangers that emerge from taking fast food. Teenagers should understand the dangers that emerge from taking fast food. Media should create a strong platform where guardians, parents, children, and teenagers understand the dangers of taking fast food. Instead of presenting an attractive picture of a well-packaged lunch box with fast food, the ad would present a picture that portrays the effects that emerge from taking fast food. Schools have reduced the amount of physical education and embraced unhealthy food. Schools are putting more attention on their students’ academic studies; they gradually reduced the physical education chances of the students without noticing it. Most children rely on the school physical activities to keep fit, so when the schools cut off the P.E. classes, they will get less chance to exercise which will made them overweight. Exercises are crucial in improving our well-being. Schools should start to pay more attention to the children’s health conditions and reopen some physical education classes; they do not need to provide P.E. classes every day, but 2-3 times a week. Schools can also provide some after-school exercise clubs, which can help the children keep fit, and also give the parents some extra time to pick up their kids if they were busy working. Parents should accompany their children to do activities that are more physical. Although parents can be busy during the weekdays, they still can have sometime in the weekend to do some exercises with their children (Jimerson 33). Schools are more likely to provide students with convenient and unhealthy food in the cafeteria because of the large amount of students. Most of the students choose to eat at the cafeteria instead of bringing their own meals from home, which make it easier for them to eat more junk food rather than the healthy meals. Also, schools prefer to fill the vending machines with candies and chips, which is a major problem that causes students to be overweight. It is important for parents to avoid their kids skipping breakfast. Some kids are not used to eat breakfast because they wake up late, but they are likely to get hungry while they are in school, so they normally buy some junk food from the vending machines. It is an unhealthy habit to skip breakfast, so the parents should prepare them a healthy breakfast, which can keep them full of energy until the lunchtime. Moreover, parents can give them some vegetables and fruits to eat before lunch, which can be much healthier than the junk foods. Exhaustion caused by the busy school lives is another factor that has contributed to high rate of obesity. Most of people are having more stress nowadays because of the pressure from lives; there is no exception for kids. Kids are likely to be stressed out because of the competition between each other, or even the stress from their parents. When kids are stressed, most of them tend to choose eating as a way to vent, also kids like junk food, so they are easily getting overweight by this way. It is important for parents or guardians to pay attention to the psychological changes of children. Often, children can be under pressure since they are still too young to face challenges of life. With this in mind, it is important for parents to have some talk with them and in this way, they get familiar with their kids affair. This can be very helpful for the children since they will always know that they have someone they can count on and do not need to rely on eating junk food to vent their stress. In essence, the society can legislate this by enacting laws that emphasize on effective patenting. The government and those in children organizations should hold seminars that influence parents on how to foster effective parenting. Seminars and conferences would help create awareness on various topics on parenting such as stress management on kids and best nutrition for children and teenagers. Creating such awareness would be vital in the community since many people would comprehend how to help their children manage stress. Many would also understand the importance of implementing a balanced diet for their kids. At large, the society can solve this issue by educating one another on best parenting skills. It would also be vital for friends to be there for one another regardless of the exhaustion caused by the busy school or career lives. Being accountable to one another would help one to pick things that a child may be undergoing and in turn offer solutions on how to manage the issue. Hospitals should teach parents about effective parenting and best nutrition to give their children. This would minimize cases of irresponsibility and lack of knowledge to tackle life problems. From the ongoing discussion, it is evident that teenage and childhood obesity can be extremely harmful for a child’s life and cause many diseases. In most cases, children may develop poor self image because they are obese and not in good shape. Because of their body image, teenagers and kids may be hurt physically by their friends especially when joking with their body image. Childhood obesity can hurt a child emotionally and psychologically, and it may continue to the adult life of the kid. Our society should pay close attention to this problem, and solve the problem since children are the future of our society, and we should take good care of them. The government, NGOS, and hospitals should create awareness to parents on effective parenting and encourage many to give their children balanced meals. The initiatives made by the mentioned agencies would minimize high mortality rate attributed by obesity. Parents have also a role to play in their children rearing. They should pay adequate attention to their children needs psychologically, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Parents should understand how to help their children cope with day-to-day life challenges. This would minimize cases of children taking fast food. Thus far, this essay has fully researched on how childhood obesity is a major problem in the United States and further mentioned some practical solutions. Works Cited Currie-McGhee, L K. Childhood Obesity. Detroit, MI: Lucent Books, 2012. Print. Jimerson, Moan N. Childhood Obesity. Farmington Hills, MI: Lucent Books, 2009. Print. Juettner, Fernandes B. Childhood Obesity. San Diego, CA: ReferencePoint Press, 2010. Print. Langwith, Jacqueline. Childhood Obesity. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Print. Read More