Monique Danielle
May 4, 2005

The Problem

"The truth is that children born today could become part of the first generation in American history to live shorter lives than their parents because so many are eating too much of the wrong things and not exercising enough," – Bill Clinton

Obesity has doubled in children and tripled in teens over the past twenty five. What the heck is going on? Here we are one of the most affluent nations in the world, and our children are suffering from obesity, diabetes, and poor nutrition. 

The Causes

I realize that obesity is a complex situation involving biology, sociology, and a host of other factors.  That said, here is my two cents on what ails the ever-expanding waistline of America’s youth.

For the past 10 years public schools have been serving children nutrient deficient, fat laden, preservative filled food from various fast food giants. The reason? Profits – pure and simple. Selling our children this junk is a way for under funded schools to raise the funds they need to educate our children.  Solution: Petition your child’s school to stop serving this toxic food. Join together with other parents and demand higher quality food for your children.  And, look for better alternatives to help your schools to raise much needed funds.

Since the boom of cable television marketers have relentlessly packaged and pitched brightly colored, heavily processed foods to young children. Loving parents, eager to please, eventually cave in to their children’s demands for the latest greatest ‘fun food’. The most disturbing commercial I can think of is for a fast food restaurant in which one of the characters demonstrates his ‘fun’, ‘manly’, ‘carefree’ attitude by gluttonously scarfing down huge amounts of fast food before his friends get a chance to have any.  The message to children is that if you want to be a ‘cool’ rebel you should eat like a pig too. EWWW! That is just so gross! Solution: Turn off the TV! We do not have cable television in our home, specifically to avoid this and a host of other issues.  Instead we rent and buy DVD’s that are relatively commercial free, and 100% screened by us.

Sweets, deserts, and junk food are associated with good times.  We are guilty of this in our home, where every special event is just another excuse for us to fill up with sweets and treats. Solution: Find alternative ways to celebrate special events. For example, for birthdays we serve fruit and sponge cake rather than frosting laden cake.  I wish that I had more examples for you, but this is a real challenge for our family, and we seem to keep slipping back to decadent food as a way to share our joyful events.

In my opinion video games are one of the worst inventions ever made. It is frightening to see five school aged boys hypnotized for hours on end by the blinking lights and oozing blood on today’s video games.  All the while they are sitting on their butts, downing sugary drinks, and chomping down salty snacks.  I say, throw out the dang video games. Make your kids engage with the real world on both a physical and mental level.  For years we escaped this issue by not having a video game system. Then my friend, whom I call ‘Satan Clause’, gave my kids a PSII system.  In the beginning we allowed our kids to play the games too much. I mean, it was so easy to just let them play video games in order to keep them out of our hair. But, those days were short lived. I have to admit that they still have the PSII system, however their playing is now limited to 60 minutes or less each day.

Frightening Statistics

Childhood Obesity Running Out of Control

• 4% overweight 1982 | 16% overweight 1994
• 25% of all white children overweight 2001
• 33% African American and Hispanic children overweight 2001
• Hospital costs associated with childhood obesity rising from $35 Million (1979) to $127 Million (1999)

Childhood Obesity Running Out of Control

New study suggests one in four overweight children is already showing early signs of type II diabetes (impaired glucose intolerance)

• New study suggests one in four overweight children is already showing early signs of type II diabetes (impaired glucose intolerance)
• 60% already have one risk factor for heart disease

Surge in Childhood Diabetes

• Between 8% - 45% of newly diagnosed cases of childhood diabetes are type II, associated with obesity.
• Whereas 4% of Childhood diabetes was type II in 1990, that number has risen to approximately 20%
• Depending on the age group (Type II most frequent 10-19 group) and the racial/ethnic mix of group stated
• Of Children diagnosed with Type II diabetes, 85% are obese