Epidemic

Epidemic.

What do you think when you hear the word “epidemic”?

Do you think of Malaria? AIDs? The flu?

Parents worry about diseases that their children are susceptible to. When there is a large outbreak of H1N1, parents bring their children to the doctor’s office. They get the vaccine, they make sure their children wash their hands frequently, and they tell their children to sneeze into their elbows. And yet one of the most rampant health problems in America today, obesity, is often allowed to slip through the cracks.

Obesity is a growing problem in our country. While other parts of the world suffer from malnutrition because they don’t have enough food, we suffer from having too much. We suffer from excess intake of unhealthful food and of the negative influence of the media and society itself. But even so, is obesity something you think about every day? If it does not affect people personally, many can push it aside. But obesity does affect everyone, whether in health insurance costs or disease and suicide rates. Until my winter vacation, I, too, did not look at obesity as a real problem. Sure, I knew the statistics. One in three Americans is obese. Obesity in America has tripled since 1980. Obesity is the cause of over 300,000 deaths each year. They told us those facts in health class. But statistics can only go so far-- they are distant, they are numbers that cannot be visualized. The obesity epidemic in America did not really come to full awareness for me until I heard a story from an average person like me who had actually seen its effects.

A couple of weeks ago, I went Christmas tree shopping with my family. Every year we go with family friends to cut our own tree from a locally owned Christmas tree farm. Christmas tree farming is not a very lucrative enterprise on its own, so the owner of the farm, Ms. Van Etten, brought in more attractions. It has almost a dozen goats, pony rides, and even a small cabin where one can pay for the trees and buy refreshments. One of my favorite parts of the Christmas tree search is to have hot chocolate and cookies with our friends and Ms. Van Etten. So we picked out our tree, strapped it to the top of our car, and wandered inside for our traditional snack. This year, as we walked through the doors of the cabin, my mom wondered out loud what breed the ponies outside were. “Shetland,” Ms. Van Etten said from behind the cash register. “They’re Shetland ponies.” After a couple moments of silence as we took off our gloves, Ms. Van Etten continued her train of thought. She recounted that she had to change the breed of ponies for the rides in the last five years. Not because they were old, not because they were easier to take care of, but because the children were getting too heavy for the smaller, weaker ponies that she used to have. They couldn’t even swing their legs over the backs of the ponies. Ms. Van Etten, the owner of the small, local Christmas tree farm, had been directly affected by the growing problem with childhood obesity in America. And thanks to that, our nation’s obesity epidemic has now been brought to my attention. I hope that by the end of this article, you will be more aware, too.

Obesity is a modern day health problem, one that did not noticeably exist even a hundred years ago. Obesity can lead to infertility, heart disease, and joint problems. Type II Diabetes, which used to only be found in adults, is now found in children. But obesity does not just affect the physical health of those who suffer from obesity; one’s mental health can be damaged, too. In fact, the existence of eating disorders stems from a severe fear of obesity. When the media portrays a “beautiful woman” as a skinny model with a body like Barbie, it is creating unrealistic goals for the younger generations. A study conducted by the Yale University Center for Eating and Weight Disorders found that, if Barbie was alive, she would be 7 feet tall, weigh 110 pounds, have a 39 inch bust, an 18 inch waist, 33 inch hips, and a size 3 shoe. She would have to walk on her hands and knees because she would topple over if she walked. We let children play with Barbie, their “perfect doll” when they are still young and impressionable. This puts them in the mindset that they want to grow up and be beautiful like their doll, like Barbie, but this is an unattainable goal. When children graduate from playing with Barbie’s to reading magazines, the idea of a perfect woman becomes even more personal. The media commonly shows photo-shopped pictures of skinny women with perfect skin and big eyes, like the one on the left. I watched a documentary concerning photo-shopped models and all of the work that went into prepping them for the photo shoots. The normally attractive people that went into the shoot came out in the magazines as perfection, the ideal woman. The images in magazines feature unrealistic beauty. When healthy children and adolescents see and compare themselves to the pictures featured in magazines, it What's Next Nature? can lead to depression, anorexia, and bulimia. Then how would that affect overweight or obese individuals with an even more substantial difference with the models in the magazines? It seems strange to see the extremes of the body-image spectrum. On one side, you have the overweight, the obese, and the people who are too heavy. On the other side, you have the anorexic, the bulimic, and the people with eating disorders. The media is the cause of both of these dangerous health problems when it creates the image of a “perfect specimen.” On top of being physically unhealthful, our nation’s young have self-esteem issues.

It’s easy to play the blame game for the childhood obesity epidemic. You could blame the schools. After all, many schools still sell sugary foods and soft drinks that have little nutritional value and teach children bad habits. The children learn from a young age that soda and candy bars are the go-to form of energy when you’re stressed or pressed for time. School does not place much attention on the physical education aspect of the academic day. Even daycares are limiting physical activity outside. The children could get hurt if they played on a playground, and the parents could get angry; therefore, the children can stay inside and play. Society itself is also to blame. When you walk through a commercial town, you’ll see that the cheapest food is the least healthful food. McDonald’s has food for $1.50. A restaurant has healthy food for more than twice that amount. Impoverished families cannot afford to prepare a well-balanced meal every day; society is making being unhealthy easier than being healthy. You could also blame parents for childhood obesity. Even though it seems like they would be the people who would most be able to help their children with their weight issues, it is actually the parents themselves who often lay the groundwork for the bad habits that can lead to obesity.

When I was in elementary school, I would always buy food from the lunch line. I would get a ham and cheese sandwich or whatever the hot food was for the day, depending on whether it was icky or not. But that is not really important. The dessert portion of the meal was what really mattered. I didn’t bring in goldfish in little plastic baggies or pudding cups like some other kids did. I suppose I could’ve gotten them in the lunch line if I had the desire to, but I had better things in my future. Their goldfish were nothing. I could scoff at their pudding cups. The real crown jewel of lunch dessert came in the form of a chocolate chip cookie. But this was no ordinary cookie. It was a gooey, freshly baked, warm cookie the size of my little 9-year old face. When I would buy it from the snack line after my sandwich was eaten, the chocolate chips were melted and the smell was intoxicating. It was heaven in food form. But one day, when I reached the front of the snack bar line and asked for a cookie, the lunch lady told me that they didn’t sell them anymore for “health reasons.” Ridiculous. How could they do that? All I wanted was my cookie. I was perfectly healthy, and I saw their attempts at taking that away from me as blasphemy, rude, and just plain wrong.

Even though there was no chance that I was going to admit it at the time, the school’s act of removing that deliciously unhealthful snack was for our betterment in the end. Young children cannot and do not make healthful choices by instinct. They would buy those huge chocolate chip cookies, not concerning themselves with the nutrition facts and how it might make them look in the future. That’s where you, the parents, come in.

This problem isn’t going to go away on its own. It’s not going disappear in a month or two, no matter what we do. As Michelle Obama said in her “Let's Move” launch announcement in February of 2010, “The physical and emotional health of an entire generation and the economic health and security of our nation is at stake. This isn't the kind of problem that can be solved overnight, but with everyone working together, it can be solved. So, let's move." We need to start by becoming healthy ourselves, so our children can grow up with the habits that will lead them to long, healthy lives. One step at a time, we need to adapt our society to be more accommodating to healthy living.

As shown in the diagram on the left, we are caught in a cycle of obesity. An obese child leads to an obese adult, which leads to an obese child, and so on and so forth. We must teach our children how to be healthy and how to take care of themselves. To break the cycle, we need to start with improving Childrens' Hospital, Los Angeles our own health. Children naturally look up to their parents. From before you even realize it, you are setting the examples that your children will follow in their own lives. If you eat unhealthily, your children will think unhealthful food is healthful. After all, parents know best. The practices that lead to obesity are habitually passed down to the children without knowing. We need to lead by example. If we choose to live healthier, our children will learn those healthier habits. Then their children will be healthy and become healthy adults, which will lead to more healthy children. We just need to start the cycle to end an epidemic.

Works Cited

Barnes, Jeff. “Childhood Obesity Statistics and Trends.” Stop Childhood Obesity. 2011. Web. 19 January.

2012.

Jones, Tere. “Helpful Hints to Avoid Childhood Obesity.” Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. 2010. Web.

17 January. 2012.

“First Lady Michelle Obama Launches Let's Move: America's Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of

Kids.” The White House: President Barrack Obama. 2010. Web. 18 January. 2012.

“The Real Barbie and Ken.” Current Health 2, a Weekly Reader publication. 2004. Web. 12 January.

2012.

Van Mensvoort, Koert. “The Photoshop Beauties: Before and After.” What is Next Nature? 2008. Web.

13 January. 2012.

Walsh, Bryan. “Child Obesity Rate Levels Off.” Time Health. 2008. Web.17 January. 2012.