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Fast food and childhood obesity in America
A paper on the impact of fast food on teenagers
Negative impact of child obesity and the effect on their physical development
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Recommended: Fast food and childhood obesity in America
Junk food has often been associated with the rise of childhood obesity problems in Australia. Over the past 3 decades, the nutritional values of food consumed by young children in Australia have declined dramatically and reached a critical rate (Tran 2005). Nevertheless, the direct cause of health disorders remains questioned by concerned public. Several experts claim that moderate consumption of junk food can actually contribute to healthy eating diets. On top of that, school principals voice out their concerns about losing the source of income by not selling junk food. Despites concerns on junk food, the eating choices among the children should be further argued due to the excessive amounts they consume (Family Journal 2005). Therefore, sale of junk food in school canteens should not be prohibited as the ban is futile and affects the amount of profits earned by school canteens while junk food can be part of healthy diets as well.
The sale of junk food in school canteens should not be forbidden as it fails to address the issue of over-consumption among children. Statistics in 2003 illustrate a slight more than 50% of Australian children having high intake of foods that contain sugar and calorie at their home (Australian Nutrition Journal 2004). This clearly indicates that restricting students buying junk food from school canteens would not help change children diets because their eating habits are determined by their family background. In fact, children are given the freedom of food choices by their parents. To avoid consumption of junk food, it is certainly vital for parents to inculcate healthy eating habits among their children. As suggested by sports nutritionist, Adrian Cook, family education is more efficient in curbing ...
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...s on the gradual change from junk food to healthy foods in Cook High School from 2001 to 2003 in which the profits drop 25% annually (School News 2005). Hence, schools should continue selling junk food as it has become an important source of income that financially supports the development of education in schools.
In conclusion, the sale of junk food in school canteens should not be prohibited due to the fact that the ban is ineffective to curb the overweight issues among Australian children. With reasonable consumption of junk food, it can be a form of a healthy diet besides generating lucrative profits for the benefits of education and school canteens. To prevent obesity and dental issues from deteriorating, healthy eating choices are a key to concern and should be cultivated adequately among the children by all parties, particularly parents and schools.
We must do something about fast food products, to stop from affecting children and leading them to obesity. Is what reflect David Barboza’s article “If You Pitch It, They Will Eat.” School’s, Parent’s, Policy Makers, etc… Should take the lead in this action, by reducing many unhealthy food products from school’s, store’s, and place’s close to home.
Schools with enormous food courts where students can buy meals and drinks from commonly known franchises, such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola, are the schools with the most health problems. Fast-food franchises are showing up everywhere, but do these businesses belong in high schools? No! Schools are here to enlighten students for life after school. If high schools promote bad eating habits by placing fast-food franchises in their cafeterias, then how can students eat right and healthy beyond high school.
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
It is apparent that living an unhealthy lifestyle, as well as eating poorly, negatively affects one’s health. From a young age it is quickly learned which foods are considered healthful as opposed to junk food. It is a parents responsibility to supervise the intake of their child's food, however there is a higher risk than ever before of childhood obesity.
"All Food Sales in Schools Should Offer Healthier Options." Should Junk Food Be Sold in Schools? Ed. Norah Piehl. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.
First of all, an increasing amount of kids are becoming overweight because their schools pressure them to eat sugary, fatty, and high-calorie foods. Not only do many schools promote consumption of harmful foods, many schools also actively serve them in school lunches. In 1963, 4% of kids were obese; currently, approximately 17% of kids are obese. Some might argue that kids themselves are the reason for the increase, because school lunches also provide healthier foods. Unfortunately, most kids do not have much of a choice - healthier foods are priced much higher than their unhealthy counterpart, consequently many parents do not want their kids to buy the more expensive, yet healthier product. In my 3½ years ...
Our society nowadays is rather different from the society that existed previously. Throughout the history, the habits of people have dramatically changed as well as the lifestyle did. The development of new technologies that we are able to witness in our days is changing how we live and how we perceive the environment around us. With regards to this, it would not be a surprise that our eating habits and how we view the food have also changed with the flow of the time and that the junk food is gaining larger popularity. With the growth of the junk food consumption, people become concerned with the quality of the food they eat and with the effects that it has on their health. Speaking about the influence of junk food on the health, many researchers
Many cafeteria workers and staff members in 49 states have said many students do not want the governments new school lunches. Almost 7 out of 17 schools with have been seen with students throwing away some or all their fruits or vegetables, even the cafeteria workers are suffering under these new standards. About 60.3 percent of school districts want flexibility to be given to all schools to improve their ability to provide and give good nutrition without harm to any instructions and school district operations. Schools should know by now what is good for students and what is not, but they should not go overboard with the wheat and whole grain items. Another example that shows that schools should be responsible for providing a nutritious lunch is knowing that there are a variety of ways to make healthy foods taste good for school students. Healthy tasty food that will risk diabetes and obesity .One of the biggest reasons people do not eat healthy foods is because they feel it as if it will not taste good. The problem is, if your health food does not taste good, you are eating the wrong health food. Just because something is good for you does not mean it has to taste nasty, boring, or completely gross. There are plenty of ideas out there for eating healthy without making sacrifices on taste. “It is silly that people are worried about kids throwing things out. There are many ways to make
To conclude, unhealthy foods in the cafeteria and the vending machines are the worst examples for the kids to maintain the healthy eating habits. Us Parents have to step in to make changes for our kids because in doing so would determine what kind of foods our kids are consuming. We do know for facts they are not getting the proper nutrients while in school, although they do spend in average of eight to 12 hours in schools. We, the parents, can start to make a difference, by attending the school meetings and being active in our kids functions in schools.
Parents are not teaching children how to eat healthy. They feed them cheeseburgers, chicken fingers, and fries. Kids are not being exposed to a regular diet of health fruits and vegetables. Now some people are just naturally overweight, but being “overweight” is not the same as being “obese.” Someone who is overweight has reached a maximum weight limit for their height. When someone goes beyond this maximum limit, then they are considered “obese” (Kiess 1). Research shows that “obesity is generally defined as the abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in adipose tissue” (Kiess 1). The increase in childhood obesity today is mainly the fault of the parent because they are unable to tell their children “no” when it comes to junk food (Kiess 104). Parents are the one buying all the food that comes into the house. They are the ones buying the sugary drinks and chips. They are the ones allowing the children to “have what they want.” Because parents are not teaching their children how to eat healthy, we will continue to see childhood obesity increase. Unfortunately, overweight children will be the ones who suffer because statistics show children who are overweight are more likely to become obes...
Childhood obesity is a health problem that is becoming increasingly prevalent in society’s youth. For a number of years, children across the nation have become accustomed to occasionally participating in physical activities and regularly snacking on sugary treats. In result of these tendencies, approximately one third of American children are currently overweight or obese (Goodwin). These grim statistics effectively represent all the lack of adult interference, in regards to health, has done to the youth of America. The habits of over consuming foods and under participating in physical activities are all too common in the children of today. Children cannot solve this issue alone, though. These young people need to essentially be given the opportunities to make positive health decisions and learn about good, nutritional values.
We all know it is no secret that junk food makes you fat, but studies have shown that over the past ten years, obesity has doubled to 8.5 percent among six year olds and trebled to an astonishing 15 percent among 15 year olds. If we do not do anything about it then this generation of children could be the first to live shorter lives than their parents. (Dame Suzi Leather, the Daily Mail 1, page 2)
The ‘Hungry for Success’ (2002) initiative was implemented in all schools in Scotland in 2003, with an aim to improve school meals. As children “become more independent they are increasingly responsible for making their own food choices as parental influence decreases” (Wardley et al., 1997:75). The objective of the initiative was to ensure that all pupils were encouraged to make informed decisions when eating within school. Healthier food choices were readily available to all children, therefore allowing children to choose healthier options. School menus were reviewed in order to provide better nutrition and children were offered salads and free fruit was available to all infants (Scottish Executive, 2005). In addition to this initiative, ‘Towards a Healthy Weight Action Plan for Scotland’ (2006) proposed to develop programmes to support healthy eating in the primary school and in addition, introduced a ban on junk food in schools and in lunch boxes. This ensured that all pupils did not have the opportunity to make poor choices and instead, pupils opted for healthier foods (NHS,
A recent study has illuminated “the increasing prevalence of obesity during the past two decades correlates strongly with the increasing popularity of dining out” (Pinkowish). These findings make it imperative that we return to our traditional home cooked meals. The risk of obesity is far too great for anything to be worth it. For example, “obesity may lead to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain kinds of cancer or even a higher risk of premature death” (Wood). These are serious conditions caused by obesity. Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death and diabetes has many other side effects from the ailment. Another shocking statistic is that “25 percent of U.S. 4- to 8-year-olds will, on a typical day, eat fast food” (Wood). This rate is too high and there is no excuse for it. Our youth needs to be properly educated in food choices, and the parents of these children need to be aware of all the harmful effects of fast food. If habits are formed at an early age, then there is potential that no one will break these patterns. The rate at which obesity is increasing is largely preventable if we just cut back on fast food and make healthier home meals. The choice is