Combating Childhood Obesity in the United States

How Can We Prevent Childhood Obesity in America?

Over the years we have been fighting with the issue of obesity among children in the United States. Nearly one in three kids and adolescents are overweight or obese in the United States. Obesity in children has more than tripled from 1971 to 2011and is the number one cause for concern amongst parents in the United States. It is important to prevent obesity during childhood because habits that are formed during youth usually carry on into adulthood. Being obese describes children with a body mass index at or above the 95th percentile for their age and gender. An overweight child would be described as having a body mass index at or above the 85th percentile but below the 95th percentile. Children

There are many reasons why parents are not focusing on the health of their children and those reasons are the cause for failure in fighting childhood obesity. With most of the families in the United States needing a two family income it has become easier to feed our children unhealthy, fast food instead of a healthy home cooked meal. Schedules with work, school, and extracurricular activities make it difficult to get everyone in the same place at the same time to enjoy a healthier meal. Fast food restaurants make it convenient and environmental influences have made it a much easier choice for busy families. Lack of political support and funding in the efforts to restrict commercial access to children have caused us to fail on preventing childhood obesity. We need to join in the efforts to fight against obesity in children because it is causing our children to grow into unhealthy adults and causing disease and death to come at an earlier rate. Childhood obesity prevention and treatment must be understood by the state, community, and family in order to make a

Although there is not only one reason related to childhood obesity setting a good example for our children can have a large affect on the life style they choose. Within the family setting we need to make sure that as the adults in the household we create time to ensure that our children have a balance between energy intake and energy expenditure. We also need to ensure that the food intake of our children is at a reasonable amount for their size and the food they are eating is healthy. As for the government the focus should be regulating food and beverage companies from focusing on children and restricting the amount and types of advertising they are allowed to do. More funding from the government would make it easier to involve more communities in the fight against obesity. And if communities can come together and work as a team it would help the families that need assistance because of busy schedules or being a single parent family. We should do what is in the best interest of our children and the future of our