Tag Archives: obesity

Childhood Obesity… Who’s to blame?

 

Childhood obesity had been an ongoing issue for a very long time. Twenty percent of children and adolescents are overweight or obese. This percentage is three times as much as one generation ago. This amount is too much. When children are obese or overweight it may cause some serious health problems such as;  hypertension, type 2 diabetes, Orthopedic problems, sleep apnea, depression, and asthma. So, who’s to blame in this dilemma? The schools, social media, the parents, or the kids?

First there is the school, who have vending machines. Most schools that have vending machines do not allow soda in their school. But the ones that do have many obese children.  The children form a habit of buying the soda at school, and then the unhealthy eating doesn’t stop there. But what happens before school? Do kids watch tv? Television and other social media advertises unhealthy food choices. The kids see the unhealthy food being advertised as fun, tasty foods, so they ask their parents to buy it ! Then the kids love the food and keep eating it, getting obese! But then who’s behind that? The parents are. They allow their kids to eat these unhealthy foods! What about the breakfast, lunches and dinners these parents feed their children? If the child is obese the parents are feeding them unhealthy foods. If the child knows they will make them heavy, why do they eat it? The children should not eat it if they know its unhealthy. Everyone is here to blame, but some more than others. If each parent and child takes the step to eat healthier then the children of the future will have a better, brighter future.

~Jade Rabago

Does BPA in Water Bottles cause Childhood Obesity?

If I told you that material found in water bottles and food packages contributed to childhood obesity would you believe me?  Recently scientists have performed some experiments suggesting that a chemical  called bisphenol A, or BPA, is related to health problems and obesity in children and adults. For the experiment, they measured BPA in urine and found that the children with higher levels of the BPA were more likely to be obese than children with lower or no amounts of BPA. This July the Food and Drug Administration banned products with BPA in it, such as some water bottles, sippy cups, and aluminum soup cans.   The FDA actually didn’t ban the use of the chemicals in metal-can liners and other plastics, saying that there wasn’t much proof that the exposure to lower levels of BPA was unsafe.

Normally I would find it hard to believe that plain old water bottles and packages could contribute to America’s obesity problem. But after learning that kids who have higher percentages of BPA are more obese, I thought again. I think that it’s weird that every day reusable water bottles can make you more obese. Even though they are going to ban BPA, many people still will use old products and hand me downs that will affect them. If you need more information about the link between BPA and obesity, check out BPA and Obesity

~Lily Kurtz

Why Does America Hate Obese People?

We all make fun of fat people.  It’s the harsh and brutal truth.  Obesity is one of America’s largest problems in this day in age.  Major issue.  Some of us just can’t put down the chips and ice cream, and who can blame them?  That stuff is amazing.  Humans love sugar and sweets and everything that is possibly not good for us.  There’s nothing wrong with having some meat on your bones (that’s not to say that obesity isn’t a bad thing because it is and should be avoided when possible).  But now people are being prejudiced against fat people, which isn’t nice at all.  All of a sudden the overweight folks are deemed unimportant, and the thin and pretty ones are the best thing that ever happened to the world.  The obese are put at the bottom of the waiting lists, the end of the line, and constantly abused.  I’ve met some overweight people once or twice in my life, and they are some of the kindest and funniest people I’ve ever met.  Why doesn’t anyone give them a chance?

The answer to that is simple: they’re just not considered pretty.  Humans tend to judge others by appearance, and stereotypes have a major impact.  I’ve heard that fat people are lazy, stupid, or nonathletic.  But what if that same fat person could sing like an angel in heaven?  What if he/she was an ambitious lawyer or successful business owner?  What if they were a professor, or a well-respected educator?  There’s more to life than sports.  And if you’re looking for beauty, look at the face, not the waistline.  Not only that, making fun of the obese promotes eating disorders.  I know from experience that being called fat hurts, and hurts bad.  In order to end it, some turn to anorexia (starving yourself) and others turn to bulimia (making yourself throw up).  People die, mind you.  Starving yourself or puking out your intestines aren’t exactly healthy ways to lose weight.  Salads and exercise just aren’t the most exhilarating things in the world, either.  Commercials make it look so easy to shed the pounds, and it’s absolutely not.  So maybe some people think that exiling the fat people will force them into healthy living.  Obviously that’s not the case, it just has the opposite effect.  What’s plan B?  Maybe we should be a bit nicer to the chubby and overweight people.  As far as I can tell, this prejudice isn’t stopping anytime soon.  We shouldn’t be proud of this unnecessary hatred, and if you are, shame on you!  It’s outrageous!  What have fat people ever done to you?  They’re not hurting anyone!  Stop harassing them and just leave them alone, for goodness’ sakes! What if you were obese?  YOU wouldn’t like it at all.  The abuse is endless and entirely unfair.  And nobody cares.  At least, that’s how it seems.  Isn’t anybody doing anything?  It’s just as bad as racial profiling!  Everyone seems to be ignoring it, or are too ashamed to face it.  We just let it happen, and what are we still not doing?  Stopping it.

~Julia Torok