Living in a Fast Food Nation - Essay Example

 Living in a Fast Food Nation Obesity is defined as an excess of body fat which frequently results in a significant impairment of health. It results when the size or number of fat cells in a person's body increases. Obesity is a huge issue in schools in America. A lot of children are facing obesity at a very early age due to poor eating habits and lack of exercise in schools resulting in their becoming excessively fat. Around 9 million school children in the age group of above six years to fifteen years have been classified as obese in the USA, as seen in many statistical reports. (Paxson, Christina) Obesity among school children may be attributed to poor quality of life in school, as the children do not give enough attention to a healthy life. Obesity is a very alarming issue among most young children and this paper aims to understand the causes for concern with an attempt to provide an insight into whether or not solutions to counter this issue are available at a young age. Most children all around the world spend most of their time in school, and therefore, it is pertinent for the school’s administration and authorities to understand the problem of obesity and address the issues, as fast as possible, in order to reduce the complexities which comes along with obesity in old age. According to research by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania of health figures, “About 16 percent of urban students qualified as obese, according to the study, which is in line with national average for children ages 6-19. In rural school districts, however, 20 percent of students were considered obese. More alarmingly, researchers found that during the years of the survey, between 1999 and 2001, the number of obese students in rural school districts rose about 5 percent, more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts” (Paxson, Christina). Childhood obesity must be countered, because in their older years, it is extremely dangerous in young children, as it might lead to adult obesity. This problem is often associated with a number of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and fatty liver and can even lead to death in the near future because obesity has been known as one of the leading causes of death worldwide. (Barness LA, Opitz JM, Gilbert-Barness E). The main problem related to this is that once a child has obesity, his or her life expectancy also tends to go down about six or seven years. Obesity causes high blood pressure, as well as high blood cholesterol levels, and tends to worsen the health of an individual. A child may also be prone to breathing problems, and this reduces his ability to be able to carry out any physical activity whatsoever. More and more children are now prone to obesity and the problem never ceases to go down with time. Parents are getting tense and worried for their children, and are looking for solutions which could cater to this problem in the most effective and efficient manner. Thus, one of the main acts which needs to be initiated by schools is to foster an exercise module which incorporates physical fitness among the students of the school inside the school premises at regular intervals and throughout the week, so that the students do not fall prone to ill health during their academic calendar. One of the primary problems which exist in schools is the availability of vending machines in schools, which cater to the needs of the students at any time. The vending machines consist of low nutrient fast food which is easily consumable by the children. The vending machines have been selling high fatty foods, and more than three-fourths of high schools in the country sell high sugar fruit drinks and allow most of their students to simply purchase food and beverages from their vending machines. (Barness LA, Opitz JM, Gilbert-Barness E). It has thus become imperative for school teachers to make physical exercise a must in schools for children since they spend most of their childhood and adolescence in these institutions. The need is to have a basic mechanism which shall allow them to take part in physical training drills and play sports on a regular basis, thus compensating for the fatty foods and low quality food they consume in schools, which is freely available. Children should be made to walk everyday and have a period dedicated simply to physical exercises in order to keep fit. Furthermore, schools should also do away with vending machines designed to offer fatty foods to the students since these foods are the cause of ill health. Instead, schools should offer healthy meals that provide nutrition to children in order to safeguard the children from the perils of obesity. Students in the school canteen have been consuming low energy foods which are high in fats, thereby causing high levels of obesity. Therefore in the light of all these developments and observations it has been argued that the food quality levels in schools have to be improved, otherwise the students will keep on eating high fatty foods which are low on nutrition and becoming obese on such diet (Shamlian Janet). Parents need to be urged in order to send lunch packs from home that do not contain high sugar and fatty foods and instead be served lunches which are healthy in nature. Coupled with this, they must undergo physical exercises every day. They may have a gym period or a games period dedicated to playing and exercising which will help to burn the fat muscles in their body and keep them healthy and fit. Most parents should agree to these terms in order to keep their children fit as well. (Story Mary, Marilyn S. Nanney, and Marlene B. Schwartz) However, some children might not have a capacity to work out or undergo physical exercises due to their body structures or fitness levels and thus their parents might be averse to the entire idea of the same. They might say that their children go to school in order to learn and do well at academics and not work out. Physical exercise may prove to be very strenuous for some children. It needs to be done in a very controlled manner and unless there are proper trainers to ensure the efficacy, the entire exercise will not be fruitful. This is because if a child exercises too much after eating, then he or she might fall sick, and the parents might blame the school for not providing enough carbohydrates. Children might also feel sleepy during class hours if they exercise too much and might not be able to concentrate well, which will cause problems in their academic schedule. Obesity is a very dangerous problem even though it might not appear to be so, on the face of it. This is because fat cells accumulate in the body of a child and when he or she grows older, they refuse to burn, causing the child other problems such as heart diseases and various body problems. The main solution to the entire issue is to educate children in schools as well as at home in order to make them understand the ill effects of obesity. Teachers must talk to the children in school and explain to them the growing problem of obesity, and how children must cooperate with them in order to work things out, because after all, it is for the good of children. Eating healthy should become a daily part of every child’s living so that they are able to lead a proper lifestyle. In such a manner, all schools across the country need to introduce various activities and campaigns in order to fight this problem, and help children to lead a fit and healthy lifestyle to prepare them for the future. Physical exercises and healthy eating are merely one part of taking care of obesity. The school can always think of more suggestions and implement them, with regard to having on campus health checkups and regular obesity fighting programs. Works Cited Paxson, Christina. (2011) “Fighting Obesity in Public Schools.” Future of Children Policy Brief, Brookings. Web. 8 Nov. 2011. Shamlian, Janet. (2006) “Schools help parents fight childhood obesity.” MSNBC Nightly News. Web. 8 Nov. 2011. Barness LA, Opitz JM, Gilbert-Barness E (December 2007). "Obesity: genetic, molecular, and environmental aspects". Am. J. Med. Genet.  Story, Mary, Marilyn S. Nanney, and Marlene B. Schwartz. "Schools And Obesity Prevention: Creating School Environments And Policies To Promote Healthy Eating And Physical Activity." Milbank Quarterly 87.1 (2009): 71-100. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. Read More