I am in the process of writing a chapter about childhood obesity in our new weight loss book and as I was doing some research, I was shocked to learn this: For the first time ever, the life expectancy of the generation inlcuding ages 6-19 are expected to live LESS amount of years than the boomers. With the advent of new antibiotics, early cancer dtection, less cigarette smokers, etc. one would think that each younger generations should be outliving the previous generation, The explanation though is this: the growing rate of obesity io children and teens. 1/3 of children are overweight and there is over an 80% chance of an obese child remaining an obese adult. (Word of the day: Olympics). The rate of diabetes is rising in a dangerously aggressive manner and it is anticipated by the year 2030, 35% of Americans will have this disease. The rates of stroke, heart attack, renal failure, loss of sight and all the nasty complicatiuon of diabetes will soar. Society will have a very difficult time handling this situation from both a financial standpoint and ethical standpoint.
The reasons for this epidemic of childhood obesity include parental issues, computers and gameboys replacing playing outside, cola companies inundating us with ads, and many other contributing factors which will be covered in the book ( Self promotion is okay in this blog).
As parents, it is our obligation to try as best as possible to address this immediately within our own family unit. Rewarding our children or grandchildren in ways other than high calories is something we all need to learn. Also, addressing the issue aggressively with our familiy members is very important. The schools need to keep the Coke and Pepsi machines out of there and inside the schools more education is needed about nutrition. Many other thoughts will be in our book which will hopefully come out in February.
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2 comments:
Interesting topic, just this morning on the Today show they did a segment on the growing numbers of childhood obesity in China...one in five children are obese, second only of course to the United States. The contributing factors are the fastfood chains (KFC is the most popular), the 1 child rule (parents spoil their children with food especially sons), and the lack of attention paid to phyiscal fitness (instead focusing on academics).
Being an obese child and teenager definitely has long term effects. As I remember back on all the things I missed out on, especially in high school, I never wanted that to happen to my children. I grew up in the 50's when the fast foods were just getting popular and I always had "skinny" friends who where willing to go anywhere to have a late night snack! I was the one who had the car and was always willing drive anywhere to be with friends.
Over the years I've learned about healthy eating, but not until the spdiet (lifestyle change) have I felt like I've learned so much.
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