Yue Wang
Eng191
Final project
Childhood obesity
“Hi kid, how come you are so fat?” to some people this sounds like a funny question, but maybe the girl or boy has come running home in tears after hearing that kinds of questions. How do you feel about this? Recent data indicates that there has been a significant increase in overweight in children (4~12 years of age) during 1986~2008(Raymond 213). It highlights the facts that not only are children in the age groups getting fatter; they are getting fatter faster than ever before. So it is easy for people to associate with childhood obesity.
Childhood obesity means “excessive body fat” (Rowland 130). It also means the fat-storing ability is hardly appropriate for children, and it causes fat deposition (Rowland 131). And most overweight children may become overweight adults; they are more in danger to a variety of diseases and further social discrimination. That tells us to recognize how important it is to keep children’s weight at the right level (Clinton
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If people want to help children to solve the obesity problem, first they should know why he or she is overweight. There are some common reasons for this. The first reason is parents. As we know, overweight runs in family, it must a hereditary problem. 75% percent of the instances in which parents are overweight, the children are overweight (Wolff 16). Only 9% of the cases in which neither of the parents are overweight, are the kids overweight (Dalton Dalton
How to prevent our children from being overweight is also an important matter. There are three methods for children to prevent obesity. The first method is forming a good eating behavior. Obesity is attributed to both sharing genes and eating behaviors. If children form a good eating behavior, like eating more vegetables than fast-food, it will strongly decrease the risk of childhood obesity (Hayman 221). The second method is doing some physical activities. Extensive experience has demonstrated that physical activities can be effective in reducing the fat load, increasing cardiovascular efficiency, allowing more economical locomotion or decreasing the oxygen cost of ventilation (Hayman 224). Third method is making children get enough sleep. Children from seven to eighteen need at least nine hours of sleep at night. Younger children need more. If the children get enough sleep, they will have enough energy to do some physical activities and keep healthy. And a recent study indicates that “less sleep, more body fat” (Dalton
There are three important prevention periods: fetal period, infancy period and childhood period. For people to know this three kinds of periods will give children a lot of help. In the fetal period, the first important thing is prevent the fetus being overweight. If a pregnant woman’s weight increases too fast, it will cause the baby to be overweight. So it will increase the chance of obesity for this baby in the future. Therefore, a pregnant woman should do some appropriate activities and have regular physical examination (Smith 125). In the infancy period, experts encourage breast feeding. Research indicates that the probability of the obesity occurred in the children who were breastfed much less than the children who were artificial. The reason may be that the breast children can be better controlled in the intake of meals and the intervals, which avoid the excessive intake of calorie (Dele 56). In the childhood period, parents should develop their children’s good eating habits and exercise habits. In addition, parents should help the children to measure their weight regularly and adjust it when there is an indication that the children’s weight is rising too fast (Dele 58).
Obesity is an important problem in both and medicine and public health. If people don’t take care and treat the overweight children in time, it means these children will have a high risk of some diseases when they become adults. There are 3 common ways to treat these overweight children. The first way is exercise therapy; being active will not only make children lose weight but also make them stronger. And exercise therapy and diet therapy need to match each other. Only if combined with them, the exercise therapy will have a significant result (Berg 74). The second way is psychotherapy. This kind of therapy needs parents’ help. Parents should tell children the correct eating behavior, encourage them to take part in sports and most importantly, encourage children to overcome inferiority complex. Sometimes, the psychotherapy is more efficient than diet therapy and drug therapy (Berg 76). The third way is drug therapy. If exercise therapy and psychotherapy both fail, parents should think about drug therapy. This kind of treatment should be evaluated by the physician. The children follow the physician’s request and take medicines. But some experts do not recommend this method (Jana 150). They prefer the first two than the last. So take good care of your children and treat them in time.
Good behavior is related to weight control. And the following behaviors hold the key to losing weight and developing an adequate, sensible diet. The first important behavior is eating a good breakfast (Wolff 87). In many ways, breakfast is the most important meal of the whole day. It provides your body with fuel when a child most likely to need it. The second behavior is controlling snacks, controlling of snacks is essential for children. Not only do they contain loads of empty calories, but also blunt your child’s appetite, so that children are less willing to eat nutritious food which you serve at the meal-times (Wolff 58). The third behavior is eating slowly. Eating slowly, being aware of the food, savoring its taste, texture, and aroma are critically important in restoring the act of eating to a manageable physical function (Wolff 87). The fourth behavior is getting enough exercise. It has some benefits: it helps muscle tone, it impose general health, and it helps the self-image of the child who’s gotten used to seeing himself or herself as a sluggish, lump of flesh (Wolff 58).
Every movement, every activity burns up calories. The more vigorous the activity, the more calories consumed. Calorie reduction is the only practical and effective means of losing weight. There are a few of most effective and least burdensome exercises. The first is running; running offers several advantages as a way for those of all ages to enjoy regular exercise and improve physical fitness. Therefore, running is particularly valuable for its preventive health effects of controlling weight and maintaining cardiovascular fitness (Rowland 279). The second is walking. This is one of the best all-around; no stress exercises because it helps the heart, lungs and legs to gain strength. So, let it become a habit (Wolff 49). The third is bicycling, like walking, it is a balanced exercise. Bicycling is also a good family activity. It does not cost much to outfit Mom and Dad with a couple of second hand bikes, setting the stage for nightly cycle tours or weekend bike trips (Wolff 50). The fourth is sports. Children should develop an interest in non team sports. These sports allow your child to play with others at his or her own level of ability and they are easier to carry on into adulthood. They include tennis, badminton, water-skiing and snow-skiing (Wolff 52). Above all, a good exercise program will help the slimming process and have health payoffs.
With the knowledge about why children are overweight, the importance of good nutrition and exercise, and the most important behaviors related to eating and weight, people can design a program to fit a child. The first step is record your children’s weight. Write down your child’s weight on the first day. Each following day put a dot on the position matching the day of the week and the amount of weight your child has gained or lost (Wolff 124). The second step is to decide on a weight goal for your child. Do not try to transform a very fat child into a very thin one-settle for an average weight (Wolff 125). The third step is choosing the first behavior to change. There are many reasons for children overweight, and your child doesn’t need correct his or her bad behaviors all at once. So, parents should choose one behavior to change. Concentrating on that one for two weeks and then add a second (Wolff 131). The last step is continuing all the steps until all the behaviors are changed. Continue on the schedule, do not try to speed it up, be sure to keep on weighing your child and writing it in the calendar forms (Wolff 140). In short, if you follow through with your program, you can be sure that “happy day” will arrive.
Improving childhood health is still far from the top of the long wish list of schools. If schools want to become part of the solution and make obesity prevention a high priority, they should take several actions. The first action is ceasing junk food on campus and offering healthier alternatives. Now, many schools have banned junk food, nourishing snacks should be available at reasonable providing. And this action has won lots of parents’ praise has been effective (Dalton Dalton Dalton
Today, childhood obesity has become one of the most serious problems in the world. Parents, schools, community and society all should try their best to care about the overweight children from all aspects. With theirs help I believe these children will be moving closer to the day when they no longer have to endure the painful question, “ hi kid, how come you are so fat?”
Works cited
1 Berg, Francie M. Underage & overweight: America's childhood obesity crisis-- what every family needs to know. New York : Hatherleigh Press, 2004
2 Clinton, Smith J. Understanding childhood obesity. Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 1999
3 Dalton, Sharron. Our overweight children. Berkeley: University of California press, 2004
5 Hayman, Laura L. Heath and Behavior in Childhood and Adolescence. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2002
6 Institute of Medicine (U.S.), Preventing childhood obesity health in the balance. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2005
8 Rowland,Thomas W. Exercise and Children’s Health. Illinois: Human Kinetics Books, 1990
9 Wolff, Jurgen M., Dewey Lipe. Help for the overweight child. New York: Stein and Day, 1978
