Childhood obesity

Obesity: Friend or Foe? Child and youth obesity is a growing problem in America, and it has grown considerably in recent years. Just having a few extra pounds does not automatically label a child or adolescent as obese, but it could suggest he/she could easily gain weight. Many people today would say that an overweight child is simply going through a phase, and as he/she gets older he/she will lose the extra pounds, or some might even say that if the child is happy then why does it matter. The…

There are several policies that have been added to make children eat healthier outside of school. For an example there is Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which only allows the purchase of healthy food for children or infants. WIC is a program that started in 1974 and has been growing, over half of all infants in the US has participated in WIC. This program is only meant for low-income women who have children that are up to the age of five. Another program is the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids…

Obesity is a teenager’s nightmare, approx. 17% or 12.5 million children and adolescents (2-19yrs) are obese, according to data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey on the centres for Disease Control and Prevention website, (2008). According to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, (2008) some health problems related to obesity in teens include heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and some forms of cancer. Obesity is a serious matter that can affect…

Technology 's Impact on Society Addictions come in all shapes and forms. Its the littlest things that we grow so attached to and it won 't take long until it becomes consuming. For decades, we have found an addictive problem and tried to fix it through the war on drugs. Despite government 's efforts, it is still an ongoing issue. In today 's society, the greatest problematic addiction we face is not drugs, but technology. Although technology would seem more like a solution rather than a…

few decades, as well as what his advice was to better our diets as Americans and get off the track of rising numbers in childhood and adult obesity. The first topic brought to like by Dr. Weil was the relation of fructose in sweet things we eat. According to the presentation, total sugar intake has dramatically increased in the last 160 years and it is no coincidence that obesity has followed suit. Fructose is what we as humans experience as sweet. For example, regular table sugar is sucrose,…

Food corporations have come to a point where they are more interested in how well their company is doing rather than the country’s health. So ultimately, the rise in obesity is because of these food productions little interest to care about the health of the country. In Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, he proves that food corporations are only interested in the money rather than the well-being of the country.…

choices to start with they wouldn't even think twice about grabbing something that's good for them and if they don't have anything healthy to pick this could possibly lead to childhood obesity. ”Increased consumption of sugary beverages heavy advertising of high-sugar, high-fat foods to children. Although the prevalence of obesity has declined significantly…

of diverse content, processing their meanings differently. Therefore, children whom of which are obese, interpret messages differently than average-weight or skinny children. Social researchers Bissell and Hays, have highlighted that it is during childhood when positive characteristics are often assigned to figures considered to be physically attractive, and negative characteristics assigned to overweight or obese characters (2011). For obese children, these characteristics are internalized and…

creates detrimental scars to lifelong health, achievement and behaviour. They also suggest that “family income appears to be more strongly related to children’s ability and achievement than their emotional outcomes” this is an indicator that early childhood factors affects a person’s lifelong outcome and…

Application of the Social Cognitive Theory on Child Obesity The social cognitive theory (SCT) developed by Albert Bandura emphasizes how cognitive, behavioral, personal, and environmental factors interact to determine motivation and behavior (Crothers, Hughes, & Morine, 2008). The SCT is composed of four methods of goal realization: self-observation, self-evaluation, self-reaction and self-efficacy (Crothers, Hughes, & Morine, 2008). These factors are constantly influencing each other and used…