Critical Attributes of Childhood Obesity

The New York Times reports that The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a study that shows that children who are obese have a great change of developing health problems later in life. This study followed children as they became adults.  The New York Times article reports, “…obesity was the factor most closely associated with an early death…” Childhood obesity causes many problems, such as diabetes and high cholesterol. This issue is definitely one that the public needs to be educated about. The full article can be found HERE. 

Citation:

Rabin, Roni Caryn. "Child Obesity Risks Death at Early Age, Study Finds." The New York Times. 10 Feb. 2010. Web. 22 Feb. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/health/11fat.html>.

 

The critical attributes of childhood obesity are:

1.       Childhood obesity: children that fit into the “obese” category according to their weight/body mass index. There has been an increase in childhood obesity in the United States.

2.       Nutrition: the content of food and what the food is made up of; poor nutritional choices or healthy nutritional choices. Today, children are often making poor nutritional choices.

3.       Exercise: engaging in physical activity. Many children are not active enough and do not know about the benefits of exercise.

4.       Schools food selections: schools often provide poor food selections (soda, candy, French fries). However, there has been a push to provide healthier options.

Informational knowledge consists of schools food selections. Procedural knowledge is childhood obesity, nutrition, and exercise.

In order to teach the readers of this blog about childhood obesity, we will teach both informational and procedural knowledge regarding our issue. It is important for us to keep our readers up-to-date on changes that are being made to fight childhood obesity, such as schools changing their food selections. At the same time, it is important to include information on topics that encompass the essence of childhood obesity, such as why childhood obesity is occurring and why it is a problem.  

http://www.bigboysintraining.com/resources/obesity.jpg 

Rabin, Roni Caryn. "Child Obesity Risks Death at Early Age, Study Finds." The New York Times. 10 Feb. 2010. Web. 22 Feb. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/health/11fat.html>.

French Fries Cost Extra At School Lunch Now

News on Childhood Obesity in Massachusetts

It is no secret that childhood obesity is an issue. But, are schools really taking this seriously????

The Salem News has an article, “Schools Beat the Curve on Healthy Fare,” by Ethan Forman, about local schools in Massachusetts helping in the attempt to lessen the growing number of obese students. Many schools are changing their food options in response to newly created rules by the Public Health Council and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. These “...new school-snack-food rules, set to take effect Aug. 1, 2012, stem from a bill lawmakers passed last year to improve the nutrition of ‘competitive foods’...These foods are not sold as part of the regular lunch program...” (Forman).  Many schools are proud to announce they have never or have recently stopped selling unhealthy foods. In Salem, Bentley, Carlton, Horace Mann, and Bowditch schools have received grants to purchase vegetables for snack time. It is so nice to hear that the issue of childhood obesity is being taken seriously, especially from schools right in Salem!

Click HERE to read the entire article!

Source:

Forman, E. (2011, February 15). Schools Beat the Curve on Healthy Fare. The Salem News. Retrieved

     from http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1248737078/Schools-beat-the-curve-on-healthy-fare

Personally, I feel that schools are headed in the right direction regarding changing the types of food that are sold. However, sometimes when items are taken away, they become more desirable. For example, if students cannot have French fries at school, will French fries become more desirable, and cause students to eat them outside of school? This will be interesting to see, and only time will tell. (Caroline)

I agree with Caroline's statement about the schools. When schools take away these desirable foods, it could result in the children wanting the foods more outside of school. There are many parents that will give into giving fast food for dinner since it is easier, faster, and cheaper than having to prepare and cook dinners. It makes you wonder if parents are just looking for an easy way out when it comes to cooking meals. It is great that the schools are trying to fight this problem. Some schools are beginning to charge extra for these unhealthy foods, like french fries. It will be interesting to see if this will help the problem.  (Jen)

Some questions we have are:

1.      After the new food guidelines are passed in August, will students accept the changes?

2.      How strict are the rules?

3.      Will schools maintain the sale of healthier foods years after the guidelines have been created?

Some possible service learning projects are educating students in our field placement about nutrition and exercise, educating younger children in our neighborhoods about nutrition and exercise, and educating our younger family members about nutrition and exercise.

This picture is taken from the article in The Salem News. It shows Tom Powers, the director of food services for Danvers schools, with vending machines that sell healthy items.

Introduction to Blog!

As students in a social studies class in Junior Block, we have decided to focus our service learning project on childhood obesity, a growing concern in the United States. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, 16%-33% of children and adolescents are considered obese (Facts for Families. (n.d.).  Obesity In Children And Teens. Retrieved February 1, 2011, from American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology website: http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/obesity_in_children_and_teens ).   Many people blame the result of this issue on poor nutritional choices, bad quality of food, and media influence on children. Others say the increase in obesity is a result of a decrease in physical activity.   

                We hope that this blog will help raise awareness to the ever prevalent issue of childhood obesity.  Television shows such as Biggest Loser and Heavy exist because of the high number of obese adults. It is so important that children learn the importance of nutrition and exercise early on in life to help them to become healthy adults in the future. Hopefully, educating children and the public about childhood obesity will help combat this issue.

Below is a great website to read about information on childhood obesity:

AACAP Information on Childhood Obesity