Childhood Obesity -

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) December 9, 2009 --

An increasing number of health organizations and health care professionals are raising the alarm concerning a new epidemic among young people today – childhood obesity. It used to be that we would think of children as active individuals who spent a great deal of time outdoors playing with friends and obese children were considered the exception. New technologies, especially computer and video games, enable kids an teends to spend a great deal more time indoors and less time being physically active. In fact, the majority of tends today spend at least four hours a day watching television. They also snack on the multitude of products most of which contain high levels of sugar (especially white refined sugar) and transfats.

It’s clear that a number of other factors are involved. Kids and teens today are bombarded with various body images, most of them unrealistic – actors, models, and body builders are just three of the images they see on a regular basis. However, they often don’t realize that these people are able to spend millions of dollars on private chefs and trainers. The responsibility falls to parents tot communicate and educate their kids early on about nutritious foods, the importance of exercise and empower them to develop a healthy body image.

Another factor is the influence of television. Children who watch excessive amounts of television are exposed to a regular flow of advertisements for foods that contain little, or no nutritious value, such as chocolate bars, candy, ice cream, pizza, soft drinks and myriads of others. The more they see these advertisements, the more likely they are to be influence by them and develop a desire for non-nutritious foods. As a result, parents must be diligent about the kinds of foods they keep in the home and what they allow their children to eat. It is not inappropriate for a child to eat some occasional chocolate, but there is a big difference between that and allowing your child to eat sugar-based snacks several times a day every day. Television is also influential in that it is a sedentary habit which too many North American children have developed an affinity for. In this technological age parents are buying their children so many computer-related devices that they would rather sit in front of a console or download tunes from the Internet than get out and be physical.

While there is an increasing recognition that children are at risk for higher levels of obesity, the ability to change this pattern is going to be difficult. The ways in which society functions is very different from any previous age in history. Children not only enjoy using these technological wonder that they see advertised everywhere, they need to have them. The use of the Internet is almost universal, as is the cell-phone, video games technology and more. There needs to be a much higher level of motivation in order to entice kids to spend time outdoors. Teachers and parents cannot simply tell them to go outdoors. They need to have a reason. Otherwise it's more fun to sit in the house, turn on the computer and play some sort of game or surf the Internet.

Some of the ways society can turn this situation around is to continue incorporating physical fitness into the school curriculum. In doing so, however, schools must make it appealing to participate. They can create programs where kids play games such as dodgeball, baseball, basketball, tennis and other popular sports. This will be viewed as far more interesting to kids as climbing ropes, doing calisthenics and other exercises they simply do not like. In the classroom there can be the use of E-learning and interactive programs to teach kids about fitness, nutrition and exercise. These programs are educational but also a great deal of fun.

Childhood obesity is a serious problem and society must tackle it head on. In addition to educating kids, there must be parent education as well. Far too many parents still stuff their kid's lunchbox with sandwiches made out of white bread, cookies, and sugar-based foods. This needs to change. Parents must learn about proper nutrition as well. Schools and communities can work together to achieve this goal. School-community programs that invite parents to participate along with their kids helps them learn about the kinds of foods and activities that are healthiest for their kids. In this way, the kids not only learn this in the classroom but it's reinforced at home. This two-pronged effort will hopefully change the pattern of dangerous childhood obesity.

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