Childhood Obesity?

Question

Do you think that fast food chains, schools or resteraunts are the reason children are obese, or do you blame the parent's for not implementing good eating habits and excercise?

Answer 1

The parents are responsible for the well being and health of their children. That is a parent's job, no one else's.

Answer 2

I think it is the parents responsibility for how their child eats. If they promote bad eating habits, then their child is going to reflect that. If they take their kid to the fast food chains, the parent is making the decision to let them eat fast food. I personally am not a big fan of fast food, anything natural or home cooked is great.
This is just a little of what I could say about it.
On the other hand, schools promote some of the most unhealthy foods. The school system tries to take candy and sodas out of their vending machines, but they serve mostly frozen foods. The movie super-size me is a good example of this. I think this issue can be helped and or fixed if a group of people got together and helped shape the food in school systems.
If the parent does not agree with the food in schools, they should take the stand to tell their kid that it's better for them to eat a sandwich made at home, and an apple or something more healthy than a candy bar.
Overall, I think it's the parents who shape their child's eating habits and weight.

Answer 3

The lack of exercise has a lot to do with it. The fast food chains and restaurants will serve the foot that the customers want. If you only order good food, they will change to what the people want. The public spends to much time trying to blame the schools for the short comings of the kids. It's the parents that set the standard for the kids, if they do not support what the school is trying to teach, the kids will listen to the parents and not the school.

Answer 4

There is plenty of blame to pass around which is why the problem is so widespread and not something that will be solved easily. I think the root of the problem sits with globalization. People are working more for less. That means that parents are often exhausted or just don't have the time to make sure that their kids are getting proper nutrition or exercise. The availability of convenience foods is a problem as well. Apparently, at least some people believe that it's cruel to make your kids eat their vegetables and deny them all the junk food they want.

Answer 5

I think it's a combination of both, but what it comes down to is the parent calls the shots. Everyone wants the easy way of doing things which means fast food and no physical activity. Dieting is the major cause of adult obesity because when a person diets they deprive themselves of calories and body goes into starvation mode. When person loses weight and starts to eat normal again, the gain that weight plus more. Genetics may play a role with children, but I believe it is more in what is eaten and lack of physical exercise (too many video cames and computers).

Answer 6

It's the parents responsibility to make sure their children are eating wholesome foods and getting plenty of outdoor exercise (playing). If it means packing a child's lunch for school then that's what a parent needs to do. Going for fast food or restaurant food should be a rare occasion and not a nightly experience.

Answer 7

We've made life too comfortable. And easy entertainment also.

When I was a kid we played outside because there was nothing on TV. That's not true anymore. Cartoons come with action or comedy or any combination of the two you'd like. Entire channels are devoted to nothing but movies, and they are easily subdivided into categories. You like westerns, got a channel for it. Prefer Schwarzenneger/Stallone/Seagal/
Van Damme movies, got that channel too. And it goes on and on.

Then we've got AC and heaters. Why would you play outside when it is more than 75 degrees or less than 60? You can stay inside and keep it at whatever temp you like best.

There is simply not enough physical activity inside to work off any of the food (which is all processed, restaurant or groceries level) that you eat.

And finally it costs too much to eat healthy. I can get a turkey sandwich at Subway for nearly $8.00; or I can go to McDonalds and get 2 Double Cheeseburgers for just over $2. Both fill me up, but turkey is much better than reconstituted cardboard pretending to be meat. But it costs too much for me to do that, I got rent to pay.

That's where the problems are coming in. If a company could make a healthy alternative and make it actually cost within the realm of reason (I'm not going to pay $5 for a box of tofu), you'd see people going healthy again.

Answer 8

You are correct on all fronts. Even your federal governement works with big business to keep us unhealthy and fat. But the real training comes from home. If junk food is not in the home a child can't eat it (at least at home)

· It is important to maintain a good diet so you don't compromise your health. Damage done because of lack of nutrition is not worth a nice body. Some diet damage cannot be fixed.
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· When you deprive your brain,(your brain craves sugar) the brain will take other body cells to convert to the elements that it needs. And the cells it takes are BRAIN cells. OOPS. I don't want to lose brain cells to have thin legs. But I would like to have both.

DECIDE TO MAKE A LIFE CHANGE TO A HEALTHY LIFE STYLE.

1) fruits and veggies, all you want, organic, raw, vine-ripe if possible. Steamed is OK, sautéed is OK even canned or frozen is OK, but lots of them.
2) limited or no meat.
3) nothing fried
4) no FAST FOOD- is junk, no nutrition, empty calories
5) NO PROCESSED FOOD. if you can't pronounce it don't eat it.
6) nothing white, salt, sugar, mayo, milk, (or at least in moderation.
7) NO DAIRY-dairy is great for baby cows, your body does not even digest it properly. check out www.notmilk.com
8) EXERCISE- and be sure to refresh your body with water and fresh fruit
9) NO PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTS. Muscle is made from water, replace the water. You get enough protein from the food you eat, You get more protein from spinach than the supplements you take and your body does not get toxic on food protein the way it will with supplements. Supplements can really tax you liver.
10) Good supplement would be Omega 3, and Juice Plus+
http://www.juiceplus.com/nsa/pages/Home....
11) NO CARBONATED DRINKS, or at least limited. They actually dissolve the calcium in your bones.
12) Calories in calories out.

AND DON'T GO NUTS, MODERATION.

Answer 9

it's the parents responsibility to feed the children nutritious foods and to encourage healthy habits. typically the lifestyle of the child will mimic that of the parent.

there are also factors like the "athletic identity" of the child. what the parents think of a child abilities will be identical to what the child them self thinks. with a positive athletic identity kids tend to enjoy and value exercise more this increases the odds of the child continuing to be athletic as an adult. children aren't born with a sense of who they are or what's important these things are instilled in them by the parents and others close to them.

Answer 10

Lots of stuff. Both diet and activity levels are to blame, but so is the overuse of sweeteners (mainly corn syrup) in foods. It's real hard to find a processed food that doesn't have corn syrup in it.

People in this country don't eat right because we don't have time to prepare healthy meals. We're always having to multitask and rush around. Our own culture of WORK WORK HURRY HURRY is ultimately going to kill us.