Around fifty years ago, we Americans were not worried if our children were obese, simply because there were no obese kids or teens. This is because the society at that time was an outdoor society, meaning teenagers would go outside and play baseball, football, or other sports; basically they were always active, which means they burned as many or more calories an they put in their body. So, parents didn’t have to worry about their kids gaining weight because there was a good chance it won’t happen. Obviously, things have changed and today because teenagers are becoming lazier and lazier.

Overweight children and teenagers are in a great risk of developing some kind of disease that will decrease their chances of having a good life or increasing their chances of losing their life because they can’t maintain their weight. Out of all the things young people die of in this world, we should make sure its not dying simply because the person is obese. Diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and things like high blood pressure and hypertension are deadly to any person. Since today’s society is very sedentary, it is hard for all teenagers to maintain an ideal weight, but exercising, eating healthy, and going to see a counselor will greatly help teenagers to lose the weight. Although it may seem that the rate of overweight teenagers will be increasing in America, it can no doubt go down if we can work together to solve this serious problem.

There are other consequences of being overweight that are more recognizable to the teenager who is having this problem. Many of these teens experience social discrimination. This means that these overweight teens get teased by their peers because they are “fat” and they call them names and don’t let them in their cliques and groups. This is very bad for the teen that is obese because it lowers their self-esteem to a point where they don’t care how fat they are and they will increase their weight because of the humiliation they endured. This is one of the problems where parents can help their teenagers to cope with social discrimination and gain confidence in themselves. (Weight Loss Info, 1)

Many people believe that all kinds of children and adolescents who are obese have the same risk compared to others. However, recent studies have suggested that this is not true. Obese black teenagers have a greater risk of developing diabetes as adults than do their white counterparts. Dara Schuster, an assistant professor of internal medicine in Ohio State said, “There are racial and ethnic differences in glucose metabolism that put obese black adolescents at a greater risk for type 2 diabetes. Our results show a need for early aggressive weight management in black teens.” Dara’s statement seems to suggest that due to natural reasons, black teenagers are at an extremely high risk to develop diabetes, which makes it even more dangerous for them to be obese. The effect diabetes has on a black teenager is far more detrimental than on a white teenager. Also, Hispanic teenagers are not as high of a risk as blacks, but they are higher than white teenagers. (Doctor’s Guide, 1)

So how do teenagers and children become overweight? There are many reasons. First, there is a lack of physical activity. Many teenagers in America love to just sit and watch television, or go on the computer and sit all day. Also, they play video games either on the TV or the computer and that means more sitting and not moving. This is because our society has become very sedentary and that must change in order for teenag

Some topics in this essay:
Loss Info, Doctor’s Guide, Teens Aaron, United Kingdom, Dara Schuster, Tommy Thompson, Children’s Hospital, Teenagers United, Newport Virginia, type 2, type 2 diabetes, 2 diabetes, Institutes Health, loss info 1, lose weight, children teenagers, loss info, weight loss, info 1, weight loss info, overweight teenagers, children adolescents, teenagers risk, healthedit 1 overweight, teenagers risk developing,