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Teenage obesity problem
Childhood obesity social issues
Childhood obesity social issues
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Many people are faced with great obstacles in their lives but have found ways to conquer and benefit from them. I struggled with obesity for many years. It has been one of the most difficult life challenges which helped mode the person I am today. My struggle with obesity began early in life. I wasn’t your average kid. At age nine, I was 160 lbs. standing 5 ½ feet tall. I was the biggest and tallest student in the 4th grade. I was often teased by others, which made me unhappy and gluttonous. My parents were very concerned about my health. The last thing I wanted was to find out I had some life-threatening illness, do to my inability to stop gobbling everything in sight. I decided to make a change in my life. I change my eating
Obesity in children across America has become an increasing public health concern. Obesity has been identified as an epidemic that is plaguing our children in the United States. In some countries around the world children are dying of starvation everyday. How can this happen when here in America the opposite is a major problem? This is not to say that in America there are no hungry or starving children. It has been proven that our children suffer from obesity, and “children who are overweight or obese as preschoolers are five times as likely as normal-weight children to be overweight or obese as adults” (“Hope”). Obesity not only can cause a child to become more prone to having health problems down the road, but it can also make them feel insecure about themselves. There needs to be action taken in schools as well as in homes to help prevent this growing epidemic.
I’m actually kind of shocked I could write about recovery because it is a topic with a special meaning to myself. But, I found it easier to write about my own experience with a negative event this time, and I believe it is because I grew as a writer. I saw the value the personal testimony adds to a piece, and thus I could add my own story.
Growing up my parents ran a little lake on the outskirts of my hometown of Shelbina here in northeast Missouri. I was the "tough" one out of my family by the time I was in the ninth grade I could use two weed eaters at the same time and pick up the back end of a golf cart. At 5'3 and wearing size 16 I was big girl and was often made fun of by my peers. I wanted to be something other than the "fat girl" at school. So I became stronger than an ox and used that to my advantage. My high school coach seen me one day bench pressing a picnic table and begged me to join the weightlifting program. I excelled at the class and became known as "Pipes" I went from being the chunky girl to being the girl that was respected for my bench pressing and squats. My coach believed in me and that was all I needed to continue to do my best. That year I made a C average except for weightlifting where I got an A and earned the respect from my peers and my coach.
This weekend I was paired up with a nurse from the floating pull. It was a very interesting experience. For the first time since the beginning of the semester I can say that I was faced with a lot of critical thinking situations. I spend the day running around reminding my nurse of things he forgot or task we had to finish. It was already 2:00 pm and I still hadn’t performed an assessment on a patient, at this point I remember what Mrs. McAdams had said before “ we are in the hospital to help but our main priority is to learn and practice our skills” so I made the critical-thinking decision to tell my nurse that I needed to at least complete an assessment and since we were about to discharged a patient I could performed a final assessment on him before going home. I performed my assessment, had time to document and helped my nurse with the discharged. This weekend was a very challenging clinical for me but I also learned a lot. I learned to managed my time better, be proactive in my clinical experience and I also found my voice.
Obesity is a huge problem that needs to be resolved because it affects all people, unlike most issues. People of every gender, every age, and every race are at risk of being obese. Obesity rates in America have nearly doubled within the last twenty years. Something must be done not only to prevent obesity rates continuous rising, but also to dramatically increase the percentage of obese people in America altogether.
About 2.8 billion adults every year die of obesity (Diet). Rachel Epstein wrote the book “Eating Habits and Disorders” which talks about obesity being a disease. Obesity is a condition with extra body fat which often starts to form in childhood (Epstein 25). While obesity for some adults can be life-threatening (Epstein 25). It can also form psychosocial problems (Epstein 25). Being obese causes a risk in diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, kidney trouble and more (Epstein 25). Being obese during pregnancy can cause many problems for the mom, and for the baby (Epstein 25). Any of these things could cause many problems either in the future, or in the present (Epstein 25). The worse the eating habits, the harder it is to cure (Epstein 25). The government needs to do more about obesity because obesity rates are rising, many kids are being victims of obesity and they don’t even know it, also Medical Care is taking a big part with the growing obesity rates.
Over the last 8 years I have been in the positions to learn many different skills and ways of approaching various situations. My interest in as an Exercise Physiologist intern with Henry Ford Health Systems I assisted in cardiac rehabilitation and exercise stress testing in addition to providing patients' education for proper physical activity and event lifestyle modification as a weight management consultant. Since finishing the internship I have been a practicing personal trainer since 2007 working with many types of clients from the everyday working mother keeping in shape to the athlete trying to reach the next level of competition. Recently, I finished a summer internship with the Central Michigan University Strength and Conditioning Department.
Frail, boney, and hardly able to move, my junior year of high school was dominated by an eating disorder, trapping me in a prison of self-destruction.
Growing up, I struggled with being overweight, even though I was active. As a young boy growing up on a farm somewhere in Northwest Missouri, I worked very hard doing chores the normal urbanized American would not do. My father would have me do chores every day, yet I was still overweight. Reflecting back to what what could have made me that way; many ideas began to appear in my head, so my research on nutrition began. There were many things that were argued to cause childhood obesity, however the most logical and sensible outcome that came from my research was that environmental, political, cultural, and other such factors were not to blame for my obese childhood, but nutrition was. This statement correlated with my very active childhood. My Father assigned me to do many difficult and strenuous tasks so you could say I worked up an appetite. However, this factor combined with my Mother’s inability to cook a small meal, you can imagine the amount of food I consumed on a daily basis. Not to mention the sheer fact of how much I consumed because the food tasted amazing. Mom would always say: “You have bigger eyes then your stomach”, meaning I would get more then what I needed or what I was able to eat without being uncomfortable. I would get helpings upon helpings of food, and since we did not have the money for the food to be wasted, I was forced to finish my plate. I would get in trouble if I wasted food, which is a big thing for our family.
Americans need to accept that obesity is a disease, a disease that nearly 40 percent of all American adults have. Obesity is not simply an issue of being overweight, obesity is an issue of killing your body slowly, your organs, your lungs and all other bodily functions suffer when you develop obesity. When we encourage a climate in America where obesity is seen as the norm we encourage a toxic environment of allowing a disease to run rampid. And, In 2018 obesity has become an epidemic in America. An epidemic that American schools and the government should be addressing, as well as the American public as a whole.
Christmas eve ended with me crying on our living room floor because my mom wanted me to eat just one of her famous sugar cookies. Her cookies had always been one of my favorite Christmas traditions, but this year when I looked at the cookies, all I could see were calories and guilt. They smelled and looked delicious, but just the thought of taking one bite filled me with anxiety and fear. I consider this the moment I realized my eating disorder had completely taken over my life. I had become obsessed with calories and weight as a way to feel in control of my life and gain confidence. In reality, my eating disorder had slowly stripped me of my independence, health, and happiness. After that Christmas, I finally decided to seek help after months of struggling, and at the age of 17, I began an intensive outpatient treatment program.
Since I was a child, I have struggled with my weight. I went through my childhood being
To some child and teen obesity is one of the worst problems facing America today. This is a problem because this is our next generation. Being obese and starting at a young age could lead to continuing down that road and a lifetime of problems. Some may ask things like so what’s so wrong with being a bigger or heavy set person or even obese. Well a lot of things could be. For starters when you’re young we all know the world isn’t perfect and people are mean so kids are bullied for being heavier set. That is by no means a problem I'm just stating that is a outcome of it. Next though a problem is is sets a bad example and lead for kids. Being obese is a hard walk through life in so many different ways. It is more expensive, less fun, and more dangerous.
Adding exercises into one’s daily routines can change their whole lifestyle. Many people look at exercise as being something just for people who want to lose weight or to become muscle bound, but there are a great deal of benefits that can be received from exercising regularly. Of course gaining muscle and losing fat are the two most popular reasons that usually attract people to the gym, but they make up a small part of the potential benefits that can be achieved with exercise. There are several ways in which I have benefited in my life from exercising regularly, besides just making me bigger and stronger. It has made me become more organized, helped me make better decisions, and motivated me to take on new challenges in life.
Those who are overweight and obese not only impact themselves but they also impact their peers and fellow citizens. The responsibility of American’s to help those who are suffering from obesity is absent. This is understandable, considering we are not responsible for the actions of others. However, change arrives when other’s no longer stand idly by watching suffering. Those who suffer from addictions or psychiatric abnormalities experience greater success in getting back on...