One would never guess by observing the typical American youngster’s eating habits that our society is obsessed with being thin. A common site is a child wolfing down french fries at the local McDonalds, or stuffing themselves with potato chips, ice cream and cookies during long sessions of television watching. As time progresses, our children are becoming less active and healthy, and more into television’s couch potatoes, mindlessly eating whatever junk food is accessible.

Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of body fat. Obesity is present when the total body weight is more than twenty-five percent fat in boys, and more than thirty-two percent fat in girls (Lohman, 1987). Since 1960, the incidence of childhood obesity has increased fifty percent, and about one fifth of American youngsters weigh more than they should. An estimated ten million kids in America are overweight. Obesity is a serious health risk, because it leads to a broad range of physical and psychological problems. Childhood obesity is already the leading cause of sustained high blood pressure in children. (Bruce A. Epstein, M.D., 1993) Although, recent dietary data sugges

This is why, as a precursor to the program, there should be massive public education. It needs to start with our schools, physical education classes need to return, and nutritional classes need to be implemented. Society needs to realize what is happening to our kids, and learn ways to do something about it. We have smoke-out days and car-pool days, how about no television for a week? This is difficult because we live in a society where some parents are as much a culprit of too much television as the child. Children learn by example, and it is about time that our society starts showing them a better example than lying on the couch.

Obesity is greater among children and adolescents who frequently watch television, and children watch an average of three hours a day (Dietz& Gortmaker, 1985). This is not only due to the lack of energy used while lounging on the sofa, it is also due to the amount of high -calorie snacks consumed while watching the long hours of television; not to mention the most frequently advertised television commercial is food. It doesn’t help that “only about one-third of elementary children have daily physical education, and fewer than one-fifth have extra-curricular physical activity programs at their schools (Ross & Pate, 1987).

use food as bribes, as this sends the message to kids that some foods are more valuable than others.

Every social situation is potentially embarrassing for the child with excess weight. Appearing in gym class or swimming pools present a potentially embarrassing situation for the self-conscious child that must face his peers, and the possibility of being picked last for team sports. “In school, obese children perform poorer academically than their normal weight peers and have lower grade point averages” (Epstein, 1993). As young adults, they have more difficulty gaining acceptance into college and securing jobs and future promotions. It is no wonder that over time these childhood experiences low self esteem and self-confidence. This begins the terrible cycle of “social isolation, emotional withdraw, depression, inactivity, more overeating, and further weight gain” (Epstein, 1993). “Forty percent of obese seven year-old children and seventy percent of obese adolescents become obese adults” (John Foryt, 1998). Being overweight during adolescence is also associated with long-term mortality in men, and reduced functional status among elderly women.

Overweight differs from many other chronic conditions in its visibility. Unlike other attributes such as skin color and sex, as Rothblum states, “weight is thought to be under voluntary control, so that fat people are held responsible for their condition and for changing it.”

Some topics in this essay:
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