A national initiative aims to curb childhood obesity at a time when New Year’s resolutions may be sidelined
Now that we’re in mid-February, those glittering New Year’s resolutions for 2010 may be losing their motivational sparkle.
One popular resolution that people make is to lose weight and get in shape. Gyms and weight-loss companies offer membership product specials to cash in on those goals; some people follow through while others flounder right about this time of year.
First Lady Michelle Obama is taking in interest in weight-loss efforts, specifically for children. She recently announced a new initiative to coordinate public and private sectors to “help kids get more active, eat better and get healthy.”
The White House says that “over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled…nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese.” Obama’s Lets Move! Campaign aims to curb the growing problem at a national level.
The issue of childhood obesity raises the question of how the problem got started in the first place. Health experts will always say diet and exercise are key to maintaining health—but where are children learning these skills? They could be learning them at school, or take the lead from friends, but the biggest impact could be from what they learn at home.
Obama believes parents play a “key role” in how their children make choices regarding diet and exercise. There are numerous resources out there for parents and guardians who want to make changes for themselves with the goal of influencing children.
For those interested in altering their diets for a better future, a good place to start is by taking a portion distortion quiz administered by the National Institutes of Health. The quiz gives participants an idea of how portion sizes at restaurants have changed in the last 20 years and how much exercise is needed to burn off extra calories that come with “super” sizes.
The National Institutes for Health also has an online Body Mass Index, or BMI, calculator to measure body fat based on height and weight. For parents, it might be beneficial to get a gauge on what weight-loss obstacles they need to tackle so they can better understand how to help their children.
It may be hard—and hypocritical—for parents who are unable to control their own weight to teach healthy habits to kids. Besides, how do you teach someone else a skill that you haven’t mastered yourself?
If you’d like to get a better idea on how many calories you can burn through daily activities and exercise, Fitness.gov has an energy expenditure chart posted as a reference. These calculations are based on how many calories a 150-pound person can burn in an hour.
It’s important to note that lifestyle changes and the effects they offer will not happen quickly. Perhaps that’s the reason why so many adults lose sight of their weight-loss goals so early in the year.
A new year may well be underway, but every day can be an opportunity to make long-term, beneficial changes to lifestyles. Perhaps for Obama, her timing on addressing the issue couldn’t have been better.
Blog entries are part of a graduate course on multi-platform storytelling at Virginia Commonwealth University and are based on guidelines by Dr. Timothy Bajkiewicz. The views expressed are of the author and do not reflect the opinions of the class instructor, the university, current or former employers.
Copyright (C) 2010 by Corey Byers. All rights reserved.
Corey-
Your post addresses a significant national problem and it includes good information and links.
As Maureen mentioned, the movie Food Inc. features some families who eat unhealthy food because they simply can’t afford the price of good food. I also recommend the movie The Future of Food, as well as the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. It is easy to start with the obesity problem in America, but keep researching, and you will find that we have a major food production problem in America–which contributes to high prices and low quality food.
Last year I took the “Food Stamp Challenge” initiated by members of Congress to highlight the problem that lower income families face when obtaining cheap, but nutritional food. I was allowed a weekly budget of $21. I teamed up with my roommate to do this, and the $42 split between us allowed us purchases of bulk food. However, I could not afford fruit and vegetables–with the exception of some kale.
The way that we eat not only affects our weight and health, it affects our cognitive ability. Food is fuel. I get frustrated that smokers face high health insurance costs, whereas people who eat crappy diets don’t. Poor nutrition contributes to as many, or more health problems as smoking, in my opinion: Cancer, high cholesterol, depression, allergies, learning disabilities, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, gallstones, and polycystic ovary syndrome.
Thanks for addressing this stuff and stimulating good conversation.
You highlight an important point – a fit family makes for fit children.
Seeing children suffer from early onset diabetes along with joint pain, back problems, and low self-esteem is heartbreaking, and knowing the discrimination they will face at job interviews and the like scares me.
As a parent, it makes me furious in some cases as I do see it as an legally undefined form of child abuse.
After pregnancy and seeing relatives struggle with obesity, I know this world is not hospitable for those struggling with obesity and any information that would enable families to become fit would be helpful.
And what about communities? Can towns and counties make fitness part of their design? Has anyone?
This subject was tackled as media spectacle in my opinion on different talk and reality shows; I would appreciate substantive exploration of resources.
What is out there to help families? What can someone do to maybe start a fitness program in their communities? How can I help?
The most my community has been able to do was limit the number of fast food establishments, ban soda machines and cup-cakes from school property and activities, and fight to keep our P.E. classes in our schools.
Thank you again for choosing this topic!
The first lady should be commended for setting this agenda. I hope people will continue to pay attention and she will follow through as well.
It is so funny that I’m reading this right now, because I had a total thoughtful moment in the grocery store today. I rememer being younger with my mom in the grocery store and really really wanting her to buy these cheesy potatoes. And she, of course, said it was crap and wasn’t going to get it. I remember thinking to myself, “when I get older I’m totally buying as much of those as I want.”
And now that I’m older I know that mom was right. That stuff IS crap.
Corey
You highlight an issue that is of national significance – regardless if you are overweight or not. The health care costs associated with obesity have skyrocketed in America due to this overwhelming epidemic. Even if you don’t know someone directly in this situation all you have to do is look around and see that this is a growing issue. The high costs associated with eating healthy meals are a huge deterrent for families struggling particularly in what has been dubbed the “Great Recession.” The film Food Inc. addresses this issue also and depicts a family who can only afford to eat at their local drive-in. Second to this issue is the lack of physical activity children engage in on a daily basis. Many schools have cut recess from their daily schedules and children return home to play video games or watch television.
Pop culture speaks to this as well. The TLC show One Big Happy Family follows an obese family of four who are trying to lose weight without the help of experts or surgery. As you mentioned, it’s increasingly difficult for children to establish healthy living standards when they are not present in their own family.
Corey-
Your post discusses a crucial problem in America today. So many illnesses prevalent in modern society, such as heart and diabetes, could be prevented or delayed if children learned good habits from an early age. Obesity is harmful to the individual and their family, and the health care costs associated with obesity are devastating to the country.
Your point that parents with bad habits may worry about trying to pass on better habits to their children really hits home for me. I grew up in a house where one parent was a radical health nut and the other ate plates of biscuits for breakfast. Neither of them was qualified to guide my nutrition, but they compensated by pushing me to be active in sports and promote general well being as best they could.
Now it’s the worst of both worlds, with more and more processed foods leaving the shelves, and more and more hours spent in front of computers and televisions every year. Exercise and nutrition go hand in hand, and Wii fit is no substitute for soccer practice.