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Fat
Facts, Future, Fiction, Fantasy, and Fables This summer I had the opportunity to teach summer school for the fifth time. It is always rewarding to see students over the past summers. I get excited to see these young men and women become more mature and eventually taller than me! This summer however, brought something different. Children came to visit me not just taller, but much heavier than the summer before. Some of the eight- and nine-year-olds looked more like teenagers and many of them were even bigger than me. This change concerned me. Obesity is a disease that has spread like wildfire throughout our society. In 1977, the national average caloric intake was 3300 calories a day. It has skyrocketed to include 500 more calories a day in just the last twenty years. A typical fast food meal at Mc Donald's has more than tripled in total calories. A serving of fries alone has nearly doubled in their total caloric intake for a meal. Meals eaten away from home have gone up 20% in the last twenty years. Sweets and desserts make up 25% of Americans' diets. Salt and fruit-flavored drinks make up another 5% of all the calories consumed in the U.S. Fast food consumption of fat has become an acceptable social activity. The number of new food choices that are not healthy has grown at an enormous rate. Since the 1970's, condiments climbed to include two thousand more choices and bakery foods now include one thousand more items. Fruit and vegetable choices have only grown to 250 more options. A typical fast food meal is 1600 calories. That is 80% of adult's caloric intake for one day. Junk food is one third of the United States diet. The arches of McDonalds and Ronald McDonald are more familiar icons than the Christian cross. In 2000, Americans spent 100 million dollars on fast food. More money is spent on fast food than on higher education, computers, movies, periodicals, and music. The typical American purchases 90% of the annual thirty pounds of French fries from fast food restaurants. High fructose syrup was invented in the early 1970's. Soda manufactures quickly joined those using the syrup, since replacing sugar with the syrup saved them nearly 20% of their profits. Palm oil, a saturated fat, was a product manufactured in the 1970's. This saturated fat made food last longer, could be grown year round, and was inexpensive to manufacture. Weight gain has been contributed to high fructose drinks and saturated fat. These synthetic ingredients have contributed the obesity of Americans. Another problem with obesity is that it has become an acceptable disease in our society. Children in particular have been gravely affected by this behavior and attitude. Terms for clothing changed in the early 1990's:. Levi's were replaced by the easy fitting, loose and baggy jeans; sizes became inflated. Socioeconomic levels of obesity changed as well. The richest of the 1970's were the most overweight. In the 21st century, this statistic has flipped and now the lowest economic population has the highest rate of obesity. In 1992, 24% of the newest diabetes two cases were children. It has almost doubled to 45% in 1999. One in ten healthcare visits is for diabetes. Children also suffer from an increase in other health issues relating to obesity like sleep apnea, hypertension, and arthritis of the knee and sight problems. Skin problems in skin folds are another problem overweight children encounter. Fifteen percent of all children ages 6-19 are overweight; and that figure has tripled in the last thirty years. Furthermore, 70-80% of overweight children become overweight adults. Obese parents are 60-70% more likely to have obese children. Parents who are not overweight have a 70% chance of helping their children avoid obesity. What can we do to turn the tide of obesity? First, model a healthy lifestyle. If you expect kids to eat healthy, you must do it yourself. Teachers can integrate healthy habits into the classroom or the physical education setting. This can be done in a variety of ways. Leaders must show how to live a healthy lifestyle by giving children practical ways to integrate exercise in their daily lives and demonstrate the way to eat right. Students who learned through positive nutrition education to follow good eating habits between the ages of 6-12 were less overweight just ten years later. Teach children to divide foods into green, yellow, and red colors: *Food labeled green, vegetables and fruits, may be eaten in any amount. *Yellow foods, complex carbohydrates such as potatoes and pasta, may be eaten in moderation. *Red light foods, sugary and fatty foods, provide only empty calories and should be kept to a minimum. Children and adults should take responsibility for how much they exercise and what types of food they eat. Children should be taught to eat only when they are hungry and not to use food as a comfort or reward. Encourage children and their parents to have small meals every four hours, make eating times enjoyable, and not eating in front of the television. Discuss the pyramid and healthy snacks. The school cafeteria must be freed from poor food choices. School cafeterias can offer discounts on fruits and vegetables as healthier food alternatives. One high school in Minnesota did that and they saw an increase of 400% in their sales of healthy alternatives. Vending machines could replace fatty and sugary drinks with healthier food; students will eventually stop buying junk and will choose healthier alternatives. Students must be offered healthy snacks frequently-as often as two or three times a day. Students must have active activities instead of mindless exposure to the television. Currently, children watch an average of 26 hours a week or one month of television every year. It was found 17% of weight problems, 15% of raised blood cholesterol, 17% of smoking, and 15% of poor cardiovascular fitness could be linked to excessive TV viewing. In childhood and adolescence, the typical American child spends more time watching TV than any other activity except sleep outside of school. Children, who watch less than an hour of television a day, typically have the lowest BMI. Fight for daily recess and physical education. Every child should have a minimum of 60 minutes of exercise everyday, since only 10% of all children walk to school. Some easy ideas for adding moderate exercise include playing tag, dance, jump rope, riding a bike, roller skating, or taking part in an after-school or community physical education program. Small changes can result in big changes for our youth of tomorrow. Click here to visit Chris's website and find activities, games, and information about kid's fitness. References
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