Childhood Obesity

Ladies and Gentlemen, our country is facing a rising health problem. This is almost to EPIDEMIC proportion. You asked what is she talking about?

AIDS, CANCER, DIABETES, HEART DISEASE ?

NO neither of them.

IT IS CHILDHOOD OBESITY.

According to the National Commission on Role of School and Coummunity in Improving Adolescent Health “For the first time in the history of the country, young people are less health and less prepared to take their places in society than were their parents” Afraid to Eat.

In 1999, The US Depart of Health and Human Services reported that 13% of children aged 6-11 and 14% between the ages of 12-19 were obese.
In 2003-04, 17.1% of children between 2-19 years old
(12 ½ million children) were overweight.
Girls 13.8% in 1999, 16.0% in 2004.
Boys: 14.0 % 1999 to 18.2% in 2004.

Today, We have discussed the causes, dangers and ways to control childhood obesity.

Let’s begin with the causes. We are going to look at, sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy eating habits and genetics.

Well you say… I know what the cause is …the child doesn’t need to watch so much television, play too many video games,
and chat on the computer,... and they don’t need to be eating so much..
. Give them enough food to feed a little bird … and then make them go outside.
Now, it is your responsibility… mom and dad… to make them play and be active.
If you have to chase them around with a stick to make them exercise, then do it.
This is what society will think when they see an overweight child.
Well, that is not always the case.
You can probably agree that children today have more indoor activities than outdoor activities to choose from.
They can watch over 200 cable channels on television,
play video games,
or chat with their friends on the computer.

Then, comes the unhealthy eating habits.
Moms work too, children go to day care
(more than 80% of children of working parents go to day care)
parents do not have time to get supper on the table at a decent hour so they
order something to eat.
More times today the question is where do you want me to go than what would you like me to fix
people eat out more, the portion sizes are largest
Weight watcher’s member are advised :
When McDonald’s first opened up their average meal was the size of a happy meal. Now, it is supersized.
And you get more bang for your buck when you order in larger quantities, right?
When you go shopping for dishes:
even, the plates sizes are larger than they were in the 1950’s. the dinner plate was the size of a salad plate.
and most children are still encouraged to be members of the clean plate club. Eat everything on your plate and you’ll get ….
Even though sedentary life styles and unhealthy food choices are part of the problem so is another cause: genetics.
Children are obese because their parents are obese .
Yes, the way your parents, grandparents, aunts uncles look can also factor in if your child can be obese.
Are you surprised? I was too.
I was expecting (just like everyone else)
that the reason children are obese was because their parents were lazy
and let them grow up in front of the televisions/video game/ computer
and wouldn’t cook their meals or give them healthier choices. Money is tight and it is cheaper to buy chips and dips than apples and celery.
My feeling was it is the Parents fault, not because the parents are obese but because of other factors?
Boy was I wrong.
Genetics do have a part in this also. The National Institute of Health’s website says that 75-80% of the percent body fat or PBF in children was due to genetics
, while 20-25% is attributed to other factors – eating habits and physical activity.

Since we have discussed the causes, let’s look at the dangers.

The most common side effect is cardiovascular disease. According to CDC’s website, 60% of overweight children between 5 and 17 had at least 1 CVD risk factor and 25% had 2 or more.
Risk factors are high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and abnormal glucose tolerance.
Additional health risks:
asthma
Fatty degeneration of the liver. when overweight the liver produces an enzyme to reduce the fat in the body. Weight loss helps to reduce that enzyme.
sleep apnea –Happens in 7% of all overweight children. Sleep apnea can cause someone to stop breathing for about 10 seconds at time while sleeping. Usually people wake up. Sometimes they never wake up.
Type 2 diabetes- also known as adult onset diabetes is now emerging as a health related problem among children,-which brings greater risk factors such as CVD and kidney failure, according to the CDC.
According to Dr. Tracy Vicari, LRNP at Tampa Medical Partners, Inc. she stated that she already has one documented case of diabetes in the overweight child she has as a patient in her office.
Overweight children often become obese adults. according to the CDC.

These are the health risks but there are also emotional dangers which can magnify the health risks.

We have looked at the causes and dangers- lets look ahead to the future of how to help control childhood obesity.
We have to say control childhood obesity because there is really no cure. Sure, when these children become adults there is always the drastic measure of surgical weight loss methods. According to my interview, the LRNP advised against that for any child or person.
According to the CDC, the best way to control obesity is to:
Balance diet with exercise, remembering that the goal for overweight children and teens is to reduce the rate of weight gain while allowing normal growth and development.
In order to do this, parents, family members and friends can encourage the children to have healthier eating habits. Parents can look for healthier ways to prepare favorite meals and they can remove the calorie-rich foods and replace with healthier alternatives. Yes, make the child more active and reduce sedentary time.

Small changes every day can lead to a recipe for success!

We have discussed the causes, dangers and ways to control childhood obesity.

Remember, Overweight children often become obese adults.


This is the speech I will be giving on Monday. Pray that I still have the courage I have right now when I get up in front of the class. This is not grammatically perfect.. because speeches are not read from a "term paper". The ... are pauses in my speech and the capital letters are for emphasis.