Childhood Obesity

United States
November 22, 2008 6:26pm CST
One of my discussions earlier I had to do a debate on in my class was talking about childhood obesity. Various researches show that over 50 % of the United States is either overweight or obese. First a couple of facts: overweight is when your below 10 % of your body fat, but obese is when your more than that 10%. 50 % of the children in the United States is obese, plus another 20 % is overweight that means only 30 % of the world is average or petite. Furthermore, with such a large number of anorexic people today petite's make up another 15 % leaving only 15 % of the United States not being obese, overweight, or petite, but average! What do you think of this? WHat are our children, our future so large, or so small? As a parent, what are we doing wrong? As an example, what do we adults need to do? How can we fix this crisis? What would you do? I suggested in class to start making a monthly limit for fast food stops in a month. I understand there will always be those cases where you need to just stop by and get a quick bite before you head home, but this "case" is happening everyday! Also, have you seen how much food is put into a child's meal. Just going to McDonald's and getting a child's menu is like four big chicken nuggets, that is a lot more than a child needs. I know mothers will be like, " I want my children to not go hungry, but they wont. A child needs less than half of the calorie count an adult needs. Did you know this? A child will naturally (survival instinct) eat whatever is put in front of them. How about the obese or overweight people of today who are adults what advice would you give children? Of those who are petite what would you say to the children of the world? To see if your overweight, obese, average, or petite go to www.google.com and type in BMI Calculator. Even I admit I am obese, I have started to watch the amount I eat, and even if the food is calling me back, I am starting to withhold. I have started to exercise also. What can you do?
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