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Prevention and control of obesity
Kids good eating habits
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According to an article entitled, The Child in the Garden: An Evaluative Review of the Benefits of School Gardens, by Dorothy Blair, “Anonymous prepackaged food arrives at supermarkets from energy-intensive, polluting, and often obesity-promoting industrial food-manufacturing systems.” This is the main reason that I am interested in food based education programs because I am a mother of three school aged children and as a mom it is difficult for me to encourage healthy eating habits when everything is against me. Television commercials are constantly advertising sugary foods, radios promote candy, and grocery stores encourage more candy sales at checkout lines. On top of that they are packaged in a way that is appealing to young children. For example, I was at the grocery store and saw a box of cereal with the characters of Frozen as did my daughter. Since Frozen is my daughter’s favorite movie she wanted me to buy it for her. I looked at the nutrition content and it was just another sugary cereal. As a mother this is a hard decision because I know the only reason she wants it is because of the packaging. If I say no than she becomes upset and if I say yes than I am not providing healthy food choices. This is the …show more content…
As a mother of three school aged children and majoring in health care management, I would definitely try my best to influence this area. I volunteer in my children’s classrooms and see the growing problem with childhood obesity. Whenever there is a school party there is an abundance of cookies, candy, juice, etc. and very rarely is there any fruit or vegetables. This growing trend of childhood obesity needs to stop. We need to reprogram ourselves and put a social value on healthy foods so that we can prevent obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Healthy nutrition is the answer to these problems and as a society we need to effort and value into our children’s
Just like the kid that buys a sugary cereal just because it has Spongebob Squarepants on it, or like the person that goes to Disneyland to have fun but at end of that day, they can buy a churro. Parents also need to take a action in this too, just because you kid gives you a temper tantrum doesn’t mean that you need to buy them the candy they want in order for them to stop crying, and parents should also be informed of the things that their kids are consuming at their schools. Food companies should market or promote the TINY WORDS on the back of their product that informs all of the substances they used to make the product, to the consumer. Just like they would promote their food products to get consumers. Think about these following questions: What will you do to be informed of the chemicals used on the products you and your family consumes? Is it worth buying just because it has your favorite characters, movie, or games on
of Philip Morris, said “People could point to these things and say, ‘They’ve got too much sugar, they’ve got too much salt […] well, that’s what the consumer wants, and we’re not putting a gun to their head to eat it. That’s what they want.” (Moss 267) However, consumers are being unconsciously forced to fund food industries that produce junk food. Companies devote much of their time and effort into manipulating us to purchase their products. For instance, Kraft’s first Lunchables campaign aimed for an audience of mothers who had far too much to do to make time to put together their own lunch for their kids. Then, they steered their advertisements to target an even more vulnerable pool of people; kids. This reeled in even more consumers because it allowed kids to be in control of what they wanted to eat, as Bob Eckert, the C.E.O. of Kraft in 1999, said, “Lunchables aren’t about lunch. It’s about kids being able to put together what they want to eat, anytime, anywhere” (Moss 268). While parents are innocently purchasing Lunchables to save time or to satisfy the wishes of their children, companies are formulating more deceiving marketing plans, further studying the psychology of customers, and conducting an excessive quantity of charts and graphs to produce a new and addictive
Unhealthy foods are what make the money for schools and that is why they serve them for students. (Schlafy) Schools feel like they need the extra money in the budget, even though it is at the student’s expense. Data shows that nearly 60% of all middle schools in the US serve soda from vending machines. (Schlafy) Soda is very high in sugar and is not at all good for children, but it is still sold in school vending machines. The ways food in schools is now are way too high in fats and sugars. This is not good for the children and very bad in the long run. Elementary schoolchildren have an estimated $15 billion of their own money that they can use to buy whatever they want in schools, and parents have almost another $160 billion to give students for food money. (Schlafy) Big businesses see this as a big source of profit and therefore encourage children to buy their products, and want them to be offered in school because of th4e likelihood of children buying the business’s product. All in all, obesity in the US is greatly influenced by the foods offered in schools
Food To Students." Points Of View: Junk Food In Schools (2013): 2. Points of View
In order to impede the epidemic of childhood obesity, the actual causes of the problem need to be evaluated and dissected. Obesity in children is becoming a huge problem in American society. In the past three decades, the rate of overweight children has increased by 300%. This is an alarming rate that is only climbing higher. Every member in society should take steps to becoming healthier. This would help the present generations as well as future generations to come. The lifestyle of Americans keeps us too busy to be a healthy society.
Through the manufacturing and industrialization of foods many foods are made into frozen meals which are a lot easier to prepare. Pre-packaged frozen food that interviewee would eat she thought was semi healthy because it included a vegetable and meat or pasta. The price of the frozen food is something that she mentioned as well, these are a lot cheaper than buying fresh fruits and vegetables. The main ingredients that she found she used seemed to be a lot less healthy than what her mother would make her family for dinner. A lot of the main ingredients in meals prepared by her are pre-cooked or frozen foods such as vegetables and fruits which seem to lose their nutritional value (Scrinis, 2008). With living in a farming community, she tries to eat vegetables and fruits that are grown locally which helps to add some nutritional content to her food. One thing that the interviewee talked about during the interview was about the amount of packaging that is used today to help protect food to last longer on grocery store shelves. With grocery stores being so accessible and convenient it pushes a lot of people away from unpackaged and local foods. Interviewee believes that with grocery stores being so convenient and needing to provide food for multiple people the quality has decreased drastically. With having so much low quality food that is easily accessible it is pushing people’s health down which can be visibly seen according to the
...onsibility when marketing products to children. Today’s children have a higher rate of obesity and a higher rate of diabetes. The grocery industry has had an industry standard of placing items targeted to children on the lower shelves in the isles. In many cases these target items have been high sugar and high sodium foods that are not healthy for these inactive sedentary kids. The industry today is recognizing this issue and although this practice still continues the companies are addressing some complaints by offering more child friendly packaging on healthy foods. Some new packaging depicts healthy combinations of foods and encourages children of reading age to participate in outdoor activities and exercise. As customers realize the negative effects these foods have on their children they will demand a more responsible response from the businesses they frequent.
We need to get the word out to help parents make sure their children are being active and they are providing them with enough fruits and vegetables in their diets. Parents should also eat right and to exercise with their families and children this will make a huge difference and impact in their children lives. Parents need to lead by example and teach their children a healthy lifestyle this is something the kids will grow up with and continue to do daily in their lives and into adulthood. This will also impact these kids when they are adults with their own families and start a path of teaching their families and kids and a new generation of healthy habits. Healthcare providers can do their best to notice signs of overweight children and start educating the parents before it becomes worse.
Harris, Jennifer L., Jennifer L. Pomeranz, Tim Lobstein, and Kelly D. Brownell. " A Crisis in the Marketplace: How Food Marketing Contributes to Childhood Obesity and What Can Be Done." Columbia.edu. N.p., 31 Oct. 2008. Web. The Web.
The United States needs to do something to change the amount of childhood obesity in the nation. If the government requires children to take classes that require physical activity, abolishes school vending machines, and teaches children about healthy eating, then the amount of children that are obese in the United States will decrease significantly. Obesity is defined as the increase of body fat over time to the point where it can impact health in a negative manner and decrease life expectancy. Since the 1980’s, obesity has increased dramatically in the United States. Children have been greatly impacted in the increase of obesity. This is a major problem as someday these obese children could possibly turn into obese adults. If the population of obese adults and children keeps increasing, than not only will our country have a lot of severely unhealthy people but the cost of health care will increase dramatically.
Nestle, discloses information on public policy, how the food industry is one of the largest and most powerful industries, making profits of $1.3 trillion dollars on an annual basis. The article covered information on school food as well as strategies for change. Change can only come with cooperation and unity. In the meantime, children can be introduced to healthy foods and taught about the consequences of junk food (processed foods). Nestle, M. (2002).
There should be a class for them free of charge and explain nutrition labels to them. Maybe be offered in community centers, hospitals, clinics or many other places. By offering these opportunities we could start changing things little by little. As well, for the kids in school PE should also be a mandatory class not just get the credits and be done with PE. Also, have mandatory cooking classes to show them how to prepare a healthy meal and then they can show their parents on how to prepare a healthy meal. This could be one of many bonding times with your child. We don’t require much from them, but when we start to notice them gain weight we start questioning where we went wrong. We start to see kids be declared “obese, diabetic, high cholesterol and many more” at such an adolescent age. As mentioned in “Stop Being afraid of the Food Industry,” “I regularly see children as young as five years old with high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and elevated liver enzymes.” (Maria, 303) The age of this is where we decide to be a concern and start watching what they eat. This could be a little too late when it could’ve been avoidable to being with. Partially they may not know much about how to be healthy. Kids are being detected obese as young as eight. Which is a lot sooner than in the past. In the 1960s, it would be in adults where you would start seeing
Have you ever considered what is in the food you are feeding your children? Most foods that are bought at the neighborhood grocery stores are considered global foods which are packed with additives and chemicals making them far less nutritious than local produce from the community farmer‘s market. After much research, I have concluded that it is better to buy produce which is grown locally rather than produce which is sourced globally (from other countries). I think this is important because most people, like myself, buy global foods and do not realize how much better local foods are for the local economy, the global environment, and our personal nutrition. Nutrition is vital to the healthy of everyone especially children, so with the purchase of local fresh produce, it can ease the worry in parents of what children as well as ourselves are ingesting.
McGinnis, J. Michael., Jennifer Appleton. Gootman, and Vivica I. Kraak. Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity? Washington, D.C.: National Academies, 2006. Print.
I want to investigate how schools and parents can work together to support healthy eating for young children. Many schools already have healthy eating initiatives in place, however, there is still a high percentage of children with obesity. I firmly believe that if schools and parents have a close partnership in promoting healthy eating young children will have consistency both in the school and home environment. Healthy eating is an area that I feel passionate about due to the effects poor nutrition can have on the child both in the short term and in the long term. During my second school placement, I witnessed a healthy eating initiative that was extremely successful both with the staff and the students. This has influenced my enthusiasm to promote healthy eating in the early years by including parents in order to combat the serious issue of childhood