Obesity affected 93.3 million American adults in 2015-2016 (usda.gov). Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, type II diabetes, stroke, and premature forms of cancer that are mostly preventable through lifestyle change. Obesity has affected children in developed countries, resulting in one in five children being classified as obese. The causes of these staggering numbers are the result of a heavily commercialized fast food industry, lack of parental education and unhealthy school lunches. In an attempt to address high rates of obesity, schools and parents need to be educated about the harmful effects of childhood obesity and programs need to be implemented in more schools to provide students with healthier lunches. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayAccording to the Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, "American adults are eating better, making better use of available nutritional information, and consume fewer calories. from fats and saturated fats, consuming less cholesterol and eating more fiber.” This research also found that the use of nutrition information has increased in recent years, consumption of food outside the home has decreased, and individuals are more likely to make "healthier choices when their actions affect directly their weight. All this healthy thinking doesn't work when their healthy choices consist of granola bars loaded with harmful sugars and foods that claim to be healthy just because it says so on the package. According to Michael Pollen: “If you are concerned about your health, you should probably avoid products that make health claims. For what? Because a health claim on a food product makes it clear that it’s not really a food, and that the food is what you want to eat.” Most healthy foods contain coatings and antinutrients that prevent foods from being absorbed into the body as easily as if they were all-natural. America may be developed, containing the best hospitals, medicines, infrastructure and education, but few things do. others know, America is failing to maintain obesity rates among children and adults. The United States ranks 20th among the most obese countries in the world. The main cause of high obesity rates is due to socio-economic status, genetics, technological advancements, changing dietary habits, mental health, physical activity level and many more. Over the past two decades, the medical sector has seen a meteoric rise. research and media coverage of the so-called global epidemic of childhood obesity. Recently, in light of this phenomenon, many books and articles in the fields of sociology and cultural studies argue that this so-called epidemic is socially constructed. Although some would say it is a postmodern epidemic. I would agree with both sides of the argument. I think this epidemic is both a postmodern situation and a social situation. Today we have more than enough to be able to just sit back and relax rather than engage in more outdoor activities and exercise. It's so easy to sit back and relax a little too much in today's world. Socially speaking, today's children can sit on the couch and watchwatch movies or TV shows with friends or access a gaming platform and talk about it with their friends all day or night, rather than meeting up outside and doing outside activities. are at higher risk of future problems when faced with obesity at such an early stage. The numbers continue to rise among obese children. While children are generally less likely to have health problems than adults, they are setting themselves up to become an obese adult. Which puts them at higher risk of chronic health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Children today, as noted earlier, become overweightfor various reasons, but most often due to lack of physical activity. Being overweight at a young age makes children more likely to develop stress, depression and low self-esteem. Childcare in our modern society is extremely important, if only because of the few issues I have already covered and many more. We must emphasize this point because we do not want our children to face these stressors, not only at an early age, but also later in life. Childhood obesity can be hereditary, which is understandable. But not all children are born with a family history of obesity and that brings me back to the social aspect of children today. Children including mother, father, brothers, sisters, etc. are overweight are at higher risk of becoming obese simply because of the people around them. This may be linked to shared family behaviors such as poor diet and lack of physical activity. As today's technology advances and becomes more popular, children's inactivity levels may also increase. Convincingly, parents today must limit the increase in their children's inactivity. By that I mean they need to control the amount of time their kids watch TV, play video games, and also look at their phones. Physical activity growing up as a child is so important not only for social skills, but also for the main reason, preventing childhood obesity in America. Children are increasingly receiving smartphones from a young age. Making them more likely to pay more attention to it rather than going outside and doing what kids should be doing. From a more obvious perspective, if our children sit all day and are inactive, we are faced with obese and lazy children. Active children are less prone to heart disease and future chronic disorders, which keeps our children healthier. Science proves that most obese children who start out obese will continue to be obese as adults. Access to energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods poses a perfect storm for children to become obese at a young age. Preventing obesity in general is a difficult task to overcome with current dietary options. One step to preventing obesity in many children and young adults is changing our food options in schools. As a USDA article says: “Good nutrition lays the foundation for good health and academic success.” Providing healthy options in school cafeterias, vending machines and snack bars will complement the gains made from new healthy school breakfast and lunch standards so that the healthy choice is the easy choice for our children . The USDA also said it wants to target standards. Authorizeonly certain age groups to consume beverage servings and caffeine content. I would agree with this suggestion because young children should be limited in the amount they consume and consuming too much caffeine allows these young children to eat more. Along with caffeine, it increases your heart rate and metabolism. A faster metabolism will make us eat more, especially at a younger age. Collectively, certain policies will help combat obesity in America and improve health and nutrition. A study conducted by Stanford Health Care stated that: “15% of children aged six to nineteen are considered overweight. More than sixty percent of adults are considered overweight or obese. Fifteen and sixty percent are very high and embarrassing percentages for America. From a young age, we can change the things we do for our children. Like breastfeeding for example. Breastfeeding too long can cause children to become overweight as they grow. Stanford Health Care states: “The longer babies are breastfed, the less likely they are to become overweight as they grow. Breastfed babies are 15 to 25 percent less likely to be overweight. For those who are breastfed for six months or more, the chance is 20 to 40 percent less. This is a small step in the fight against obesity for infant growth. Changing or preventing obesity among American adults is also a major concern. As previously stated, changing eating habits and increasing physical activity are key factors to consider when trying to lose weight or avoid weight gain. Some things to consider, whether you're trying to lose weight or avoid gaining weight, are eating five to six servings of fruits and vegetables a day, choosing whole grain foods, avoiding foods highly processed foods, weigh and measure foods to understand. portion sizes so you don't overeat, weigh yourself regularly, eating more calories than you burn will lead to weight gain, you'll make time for exercise and maintain a workout routine. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can sometimes feel like a second job. Once it becomes normal for you or a routine that you are comfortable with, it's like you never even changed, but you will see such a dramatic impact on your life. This will prevent fat from disappearing and keep you energetic. Finally, in this essay, I would like to emphasize on childhood obesity and what we can do to prevent it, because if we start our life on the right foot, we can continue to live our lives healthy and energetic. . For parents raising children, I would recommend (along with many other sources) that they maintain their eating habits at the table. Stanford says, “Change habits and the weight will take care of itself.” »Being a role model for your children is also very important because we all know that children will take their parents' example in what they say and do at such a young age. Parents who eat healthily and exercise regularly should expect to see their children do the same. Factors that help combat obesity include encouraging physical activity, limiting TV time to two hours or less per day, encouraging them to eat slowly and only when hungry, keep the house stocked with healthy, clean foods rather than junk food and snacks, and finally, encourage them to drink more water or sports drinks with fruit juices rather than./25747515.