Well think of this... 9 Million U.S. Children and teens between ages of 6-19, are overweight. (centers for disease control and prevention census, 2002) Is there a child in your family that might fit in this category?
Now think about this...65% of children ages 6-19 exceed the dietary uidelines recommended for fat intake according to U.S. dietary guidelines. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2002)
Now Adults: 2 out of 3 adults are considered overweight
1 out of 3 is considered obese(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004)
Out of the 65% of children that exceed the daily fat intake how many of those children and teens do you think are going to continue that trend into adult hood and become one of 3 out 5 adults that are overweight or obese. Children as young as 4 and 5 are being diagnosed as overweight and/or obese. These children are taught this lifestyle and this unhealthy eating habit. Now it is up to us to become educated and teach new ways, habits, and lifestyle to our children to bring these numbers down and stop killing our children with fat.
Teach our children the right way to shop healthy. Opt for the fruits and veggies, trail mixes, and fruit popsicles for afterschool snacks. Truly they are not that more expensive (if at all) than those ready to grab snack packs of chips and micro snacks that are filled with empty calories that are not used and are stored as fat. Doing this may also surprise you on how much you save on your grocery bill, I know I was. I do but the occasional box of goldfish, snack cakes, brownies or cookies. Those are more jsut because we have not had them in so long and they end up getting picked last as a snack.
Teaching our children healthy eating habits is the easiest way to help prevent the epidemic of obesity in children from getting worse. If our children learn and practice healthy eating habits a young age they will be more apt to continue those haits through out their lives.
For generations certain health problems such as Type II Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol have been considered adult health problems. Unfortunately today more and more of our children have been diagnosed with these same health issues. This is due to the diets and seditary lifestyle that we have encouraged our children to live with. Today we are seeking medical advice for fixing the problems instead of preventing the problem. Once diagnosed with any of these health issues we are presribed medications, put on a specific diet, and exercise program to help control and lower the problem. When all we had to do was eat healthier and exercise more to prevent the onset of this ( or at least lessen the chance of onset as some cases are genetic) in the first place.
