What, in your opinion, is the main cause of childhood obesity?

Question

I personally think it is Supersizing junk food and little outdoor play. How about you? What is the cause and possibly the national cure for it?

Answer 1

Parents: Sorry, but I've seen some obese parents feeding obese kids junk! kids eat how parents do, i my family we eat healthy and so do I . I even likeit! jumk makes me sick( I mean proccessed goods and stuff, I could eat say homemade cookies and Breyers icecream in moderation, of course)
media: The kids watch t.v and see, hotdogs! hamburgers! french fries!
Life style: No out door play, see above for more info on what they do
Lack of education: The parents have no proper edu on how to eaat and excercise , nor do the kids
Cure: hmmmm, educating the kids maybe at school. Like have health people talk to the kids on why its important to eat good food and run around. They could come, say once a month to each school. Also they should have infomercials talk about the same thing on t.v. Or just having the media and goevernment encourage kids to run around!

Answer 2

tl;dr, but you're not alone. I'd be surprised if the whole issue about cafeteria food making kids fat ever subsides because it is a problem with incredible scale. To make an effective change would take lots of time, money, and cooperation from many school districts. Also, it would take a lot of effort just to prove that cafeteria food is actually a significant factor in childhood obesity.

Answer 3

Potato chips and Video games would be at the top of the list. Then, mothers who don't cook balanced meals and see that the children eat properly. Not going out to play and run around also has a lot to do with it.

Since this is a free country, and technology causes all these new inventions to come around constantly, I doubt if there could be a national cure.

President Kennedy saw it coming, when he pushed for more physical education in the public schools.

I♥♫→mia☼☺†

Answer 4

There are so many factors. Lack of education about healthy diets. Schools using loss of recess as a punishment and not making the kids get out there and be active. TV, video games, unsafe outdoor environments etc. The national cure would be mandatory education and physical exercise in schools - no lazy teachers...actual exercise not just walking around a field!

Answer 5

READ THIS!!!!

I asked my doctor this question the other day. I am 6'0" and 232 lbs. so I have fat on me but I passed my physical with flying colors. So really I count as being obese according to the BMI index. He said that he saw research about how in the 70's, many companies were changing from Sucrose to Fructose in their products. At the same time all those companies were making the change, obesity rates were increasing.
The interesting thing about sucrose, is it triggers a chemical in your stomach that travels to your brain and tells it that you are full. Fructose on the other hand does not trigger this chemical so that you keep on eating or drinking without feeling full. Interesting! Great way to keep selling more sodas and candy right? Whoever that started that trend must be a billionaire.
So in my situation, I eat candy all day at work and I never feel full. The only thing that stops me is that I start feeling sick. Maybe you have times like this, but I will visit my mom and I go soda crazy. I will drink 10 sodas in a day. The doctor said that if you want to drink soda, the best is the bottled Coca Colas from Mexico because they still have Sucrose in them. Drink one and you will feel full.

Answer 6

The eating habits of the parents and main caretakers of the children. Lack of physical activity. Most households consist of both parents working or single parent and hardly cooking good meals at home with fresh ingredients. The possible national cure for childhood obesity is to discontinue the mass production/consumption of "snackfoods" and fastfood.

Answer 7

Vaccinations!
What is the main thing that most overweight kids have in common?
Almost all have been vaccinated.
Go ask the healthiest slim kids if they've had their vaccinations.
Did you know it's the #1 trigger for type 1 one juvenile diabetes, ADD, ADHD, and SIDS.
Vaccines do not allow the immune system to to get proper exercise.
Without excercise our body cannot get strong, and nor can your immune system.


To say healthy you need to eat as much raw food as possible.
This is fruits and vegetables.
No raw meat, only a little and very well done so you don't get parasites from it.
Only small amounts of cooked food.

Answer 8

All of the answers have been great, I think the main cause of childhood obesity stems from the lifestyle of convenience. We are working to make a society that breeds obese children, replacing reasons for exercise with pushing buttons and entertainment.

Answer 9

The parents, good parents would watch more what their kids are eating. Most fat kids have fat parents. Kids are more lazy with video games and crap like that, also you see more and more moms and dads working which accounts for not spending enough time with your kids and unhealthy meals like fast food. A national cure would be to educate more families about dangerous lifestyles, more after school programs for kids would be great too, get them involved with activities and sports, instead of x box and cell phones sitting around the tv eating twinkies.

Answer 10

McDonalds - served in school cafeterias in Texas - fattest state in the USA.

I don't agree with just blaming the parents.... this is a highly charged political/economical/corporate issue....
There are some towns in the USA where the only place you can get ANYTHING to eat is a fast food restraunt...
Grocieries are getting too expensive for lower income families and the fast food restraunts that employ them are not giving them enough break time or money to go get something healthy to eat.