Importance of Healthier Food in Fighting Childhood Obesity in USA - Research Paper Example

Importance of Healthier Food in Fighting Childhood Obesity in USA Undoubtedly, obesity rates in the United s have increased dramatically over the past years and have been increasingly pointed out as a major health issue in that, it has the highest rate of obesity, and this means that obesity is an epidemic in the United States. Americans between the age of 20 and 75 year, one in three are obese (Smith 3). Obesity refers to excess body fat (Dehghan, Akhtar-Danesh and Merchant 2); however, it can as well be understood in relation to metabolic complications, and physical and psychosocial problems among others (Moreno, Iris and Wolfgang 22). Childhood obesity is a very common nutritional disease in many developed countries, and it has been proved that obese people have reduced lifespan. Some of the causes of childhood obesity in the US include physical inactivity and excessive consumption of fast food. More so, consumption of genetically modified food has been associated with increasing cases of obesity in the United States. Some children refuse to take healthy food like vegetables and fruits and they instead prefer unhealthy snacks. Some of them drink soft drinks and eat sweats in between and this prevents them from eating healthy food prepared at home. Obesity among children exposes them to adverse health problems such as heart problems, diabetes and high cholesterol levels, which have been known to affect only adult. Childhood obesity also increases the risk of psychosocial problem among children such as low self-esteem, bullying, teasing and are underestimated by their peers. This paper focuses on the importance of healthy food in combating childhood obesity in the United States. One major cause of childhood obesity in US is excessive consumption of calories, for instance, many children take many too much calories, and they do not engage in physical activities to burn them since they engage in minimal physical exercises. Most children in US and other developed countries do not take the right and healthy food. Children consume a lot of calories but participate less in physical activities. Continuous consumption of fast food and living sedentary lifestyles like watching television, and playing indoor games put them at risk of obesity (Motycka and Lisa 34). Parents are too busy to prepare healthy and nutritional meals to allow their children carry packed lunch instead of consuming fast food. Generally, Americans are getting fatter, and this has been suggested to be as a result of more processed food in their diets and frequent fast food consumption, but lately, genetically modified foods have been suspected to be the number one cause of obesity. Apart from unhealthy foods, production and consumption of genetically modified food in the U.S also contribute significantly to increasing cases of obesity. Notably, glyphosate is the most common agricultural chemical used in the U.S to spray many American crops, researchers argue that, glyphosate in food makes individuals fat and sick, and that this chemical could be the main cause of obesity in America. This implies that, the rates of obesity increase rapidly due to increasing heavy use of this herbicide. Therefore, avoiding genetically modified foods is the most appropriate way to safeguard health today and maintaining the necessary weight. When children continuously consume unhealthy food, they set a different metabolism in their bodies and this will in turn affect their health (“Childhood Obesity”). A healthy diet is the key to assisting children to stay in shape and free from of obesity. Children should be courteous with what they eat and they need to understand the importance of eating healthy and nutritious food. Many children in the U.S are addicted to unhealthy diets based on the kind of food they choose. For instance, most of them like burger and they will choose it over healthy food (“Breaking the Wall of Childhood Obesity…”). Therefore, these children need to understand how to differentiate between healthy food options and unhealthy ones because as they learn about different food options, they become fully aware of a healthy diet and so it becomes easier to embrace it. In addition, they need to understand proper nutrition to be able to make better food choices. Most importantly, parents should lead by example to get their children eat healthier and expose them to healthy foods at home (Jordan 226). Encouraging children to find a healthful recipe is also useful, as this will enable them choose or prepare healthy food in future and deal with obesity accordingly. Agreeably, many children in USA eat unhealthy foods that are high in food and sugar because most of them eat meals at fast-food restaurants. In the cases, they consume too many snacks between meals and drink sugary drinks but they forget to engage in active physical activity. Parents should ensure that their children balance the calories they eat and avoid drinks with calories. Children should develop healthy eating habits to be able to effectively deal with some health problems including obesity. Parents should ensure that they give their children nutritious meals and snacks containing appropriate calories. More so, they can encourage their children to adopt healthy eating habits by providing plenty vegetables and fruits; taking lean meat, fish, lentils and beans for protein; taking food with low fat and limit food with unsaturated fat; serving reasonably sized portions; and drinking lots of water (Motycka and Lisa 36). Additionally, it is necessary for children to understand the benefits of being physically active in order to overcome diseases such as obesity and other health complications. They should also reduce sedentary time mainly by limiting the screen time, as this will help reduce cases of overweight and obesity. Easy accessibility of fast foods expose individuals especially children to certain illnesses like obesity. Obesity has become the number cause of increasing mortality rate in the world since it associated with diseases such as hypertension, diabetes type 2, psychological disorders, and cardiovascular diseases among others (Moreno, Iris and Wolfgang 1) and in America, it causes approximately 300 000 deaths annually (Flegal, Williamson, Pamuk and Rosenberg 1486). Excessive consumption of fast food has increased among children and this in turn has led to the rising cases of obesity epidemic. Unhealthy eating habits among school children are common and so there is need to promote health practices in various schools. Normally, school children are faced with health problems due to poor dietary behaviors like excessive intake of calories and inadequate consumption of healthy diet like fruits and vegetables. However, only few of them use dietary practices to help them lose weight and be fit. Some people prefer buying fast food because they do not have to spend much of their time to prepare as opposed to traditional food. Fast foods are very easy to prepare and they enable individuals to save time. Cooking healthy meals is time consuming and needs much effort. Excessive consumption of fast food has been proved to unhealthy and causes serious health conditions. Fast foods contain high saturated fats that are very harmful when consumed in abundance. Fast foods are unhealthier as compared to prepared meals at home because they contain larger portions of salt, fats as well as calories and so those who are addicted to such food are more likely to gain weight and become obese. Fast food increases the risk of developing insulin resistance which in turn leads to health complications such as diabetes and heart diseases. These kinds of food contain excess calories, high in sodium from common salt and other additives. Fast foods are also deficient in dietary and important nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. This is because most fast foods are fried, large amounts of vitamins is lost in the frying process. Some researchers believe that most fast foods have some nutritional value but low in vitamins and minerals with high fat. However, other factors such as physical inactivity and advertising agencies also contribute to increasing childhood obesity in America. When fighting obesity, it is necessary to consider various factors contributing to this problem and not focus on a particular factor. The intervention by schools and parents is necessary because children spend time in school and with their parents. The advertising agencies are also to blame for the rapid increase in childhood obesity in the US because some of these agencies do advertise unhealthy food and companies producing fast food such as McDonald and Coca-Cola among others. They do not capture the consequences of unhealthy food consumption (Wootan). More so, most fast food industries collaborate with movies aimed at children to advertise and promote their products (Jordan 230). Generally, children need to eat healthily in order to get the appropriate nutrition, and exercise on a regular basis. Lack of physical activity participation in children is caused by environmental factors such as lack of enough space to undertake different exercises like cycling, running among others. Furthermore, parents do not create time to help their children engage in physical activities. More so, physical inactivity contributes largely in increasing cases of obesity because they spend most of their time playing video games and watching television. They spend less time exercising, but they do spend many hours watching and playing video games, this way, they are more likely to become overweight as opposed to those who spend less time playing video games and watching. Childhood obesity is common in America because many American children perceive physical activities as irrelevant and in most cases they fail to engage in physical exercises (Wootan). To successfully address childhood obesity in America, it is necessary to promote nutrition education and instruct various restaurants to include the calorie content of all menu items. Americans consume about a third of their calories on foods outside their homestead particularly in restaurants and so the recent established rule requires calorie counts on menus and menu boards in the same size as price (Mantel 804). More so, the federal government requires special labels particularly on the food produced with genetically modified ingredients. Accordingly, in order to limit exposure to consumption of glyphosate in food, protect digestive health, and maintain a healthy weight, it is necessary to consume organic foods that are free from hazardous chemical and additives. More so, food should be labeled to ensure that they do not contain even the smallest amount of glyphosate. People should avoid taking food containing glyphosate like wheat, soy, corn, non-organic meat, and other processed food among others. Furthermore, the government should restrict food marketing to children especially from companies such as Cadbury and Coca-Cola, as a way of preventing childhood obesity in America (Mantel 805). Therefore, in the fight of eradicating childhood obesity in the us, parents, schools as well as politician should work together to ensure that children adopt healthy diets and avoid eating junk food that put their lives at risk (“Breaking the Wall of Childhood Obesity…”). In conclusion, childhood obesity is a serious health problem that affects American children and significantly contributes to increasing death toll among children. The leading cause of childhood obesity in the U.S is excessive consumption of fast food and physical inactivity. That is, many children are addicted to unhealthy diets and most of them prefer eating food with high calories but they do not create time to engage in physical activities and other extra-curriculum activities to burn these calories. Obesity makes their health at risk as they are prone to various health complications such as diabetes and high blood pressure among others. Eating healthily is the key to eradicating childhood obesity in the society and so parents should ensure that children do not take junk food and stay on the healthy diet with nutritional value. Children need to be aware of how they will benefit from healthy diet and so they should clearly understand what a healthy diet entails and adopt it. More so, they need to know the difference between healthy and unhealthy food and be able to make better food choices. Nevertheless, they should be active and avoid playing indoor games and watching television most of the time. Schools should implements related programs such as physical education and include in the curriculum to encourage children to actively engage in physical activities while in school. In addition, parents should ensure that they give their children packed lunch so that they cannot buy fast food as they lunch. Works Cited Breaking the Wall of Childhood Obesity: What Parents, Politics, and Vegetables Can Do. New York, N.Y: Films Media Group, 2009. Internet resource. Childhood Obesity. New York, N.Y: Films Media Group, 2011. Internet resource. Dehghan, Mahshid, Akhtar-Danesh Noori, and Merchant Anwar T. Childhood Obesity, Prevalence and Prevention. Nutrition Journal. 2005, 4:24, 1-8. Flegal, Katherine M, Williamson, David F., Pamuk Elsie R. and Rosenberg, Harry M. Estimating Deaths Attributable To Obesity in the United States. American Journal of Public Health 94.9 (2004): 1486-1489. Jordan, Amy B. Overweight and Obesity in Americas Children: Causes, Consequences, Solutions. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2008 615: 225. Mantel, Barbara. Preventing Obesity. CQ Researcher. 2010. Vol. 20, No. 34, pp. 797-820. Moreno, Aznar L, Iris Pigeot, and Wolfgang Ahrens. Epidemiology of Obesity in Children and Adolescents: Prevalence and Etiology. New York: Springer, 2011. Internet resource. Motycka, Carol, and Lisa D. Inge. The Growing Problem of Childhood Obesity. Drug Topics 151.17 (2007): 33-42.  Smith, Clinton J. Understanding Childhood Obesity. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999. Print. Wootan, Margo. Childhood Obesity. Albany, N.Y.: School of Public Health, University at Albany, 2004. Print. Read More