Obesity means having too much body fat. This is
different from being overweight, which means weighing too much. Normally obesity
is focused more on young children and adults. This article, published in the
New York Daily News by Katie Charles, discusses the issue of the high risk of
obesity in adolescents. Dr. Christopher Ochner, a clinical researcher said “The rate of obesity in adolescents in the
past 30 years has risen faster than in children and nearly three times as fast
as in adults.” Studies show that 70% of obese teens become obese adults. This shows
the importance of why obesity should be approached during the teenage years. Both
boys and girls can be at risk of becoming obese. Once a person becomes obese it
is harder to lose the weight because the person’s body will get used to the
weight. There are currently few resources for overweight teens. Dr. Ochner is
working on a program at his center on preventing obesity.
In my opinion,
preventing obesity while it can still be prevented is the best approach.
Focusing more on obese teens will help prevent further problems for their
adulthood. For example, this will reduce the amount of obese-related diseases
in a person like type 2-diabetes. It will create a healthier living habit.
Obese adults are most likely to raise obese children. Like the article says, those obese children grow up and become obese adults 70% of the time. And then those obese adults have more kids that they overfeed and allow to be idle creating the next generation of obesity and health problems. Seems like the cycle is never ending and only getting worse. I am not blaming childhood obesity solely on the parents. The food we are being sold is absolutely horrible for us. It is cheaper to get fast food than healthy food. And even the "healthy" food we are being sold is genetically modified or handled in an unhealthy manner. Seems the future generations are doomed if we cannot get a handle on what is happening to the food we are consuming.
ReplyDeleteI think that the younger generation just need a little push in the beginning of there lives, for example, in school. Health classes can inform and teach the children that living an unhealthy lifestyle can be dangerous in the long run. By eating healthier and staying active for at least 30 mins a day can go a long way.
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