Childhood Obesity - Is It Out Of Control? by Gary J Kidd

Nearly 15% of all children in the USA are officially Obese. That is also true for teenagers and that percentage is getting higher each year. The last three decades has seen a huge increase in these figures. What makes it all the more frightening, is that it is not getting better.
Over 25 Million children in the USA are overweight or in danger of being so. Childhood obesity is rising and it is now the biggest pediatric problem in the USA with up to 30% of adolescent children suffering from it.

So who is to blame for this crisis? well, to be honest, the parents are most at fault but alongside that we need support centers and programs put in place to help. Children who have obese parents are 75% more likely to become obese themselves, which means we need to help the parents now to prevent this from getting out of hand. Helping people eat more healthily and control their weight is important in helping to reduce the childhood obesity problem.

It is not just in the USA of course. This is becoming a worldwide problem with Australia having one of the highest childhood obesity problems. It is a national issue and not just restricted to rural and suburban areas.

Schools must also take action as nearly half of the children in school eat school meals. They must be given healthy great tasting food instead of what fits the budget for financial reasons. Too many schools are driven by financial costs instead of realizing that if they fed their children healthy food, it would in fact save them money in the long run.

It is important to understand the cost to the American tax payer is estimated to be between $150 to $200 Billion dollars a year with time lost at work, hospital costs, medications etc. The fatter people get the more it costs the country in lost production and ultimately the lifestyle of the people and the economy itself.

Chronic diseases are associated with obesity like high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes etc. The cost of treating these disease puts more and more pressure on the health system and the overall cost to the nation is huge!

Childhood obesity is becoming an epidemic and soon it will be out of control completely. We need to not just educate these people but the whole nation as a whole. Action needs to be taken now before it really is too late.



About the Author

Gary J Kidd offers a Free Weight Loss Report from his website 10 Day Slim Down Challenge. He also offers help and advice for anyone trying to lose weight but not able to succeed. Visit his website for a Free Report or see his other articles here for more great tips and tricks to help you lose weight naturally.

Why Should You Loose Weight

Why should you loose weight?

Many children know that they are obese or at least overweight. But what they fail to realise is the effect that this can have on them in later life.

When you are a child you body produces fat cells in order to store the level of fat that you have in your body. When you are a child the number of these cells can increase or decrease. The lower the number of cells you have the easier it is to loose weight.

The problem comes when you are obese as a child and continue to be obese as an adult. This is a problem as it means that you will find it a lot harder to loose weight as an adult. This is due to the fact that the fat cells tell your body the level of fat that they need to store and it is therefore much harder to consume lower amounts of fat than you are used to.

If you loose the weight as a child your body will loose some of these fat cells and it therefore becomes a lot easier to keep the fat off.

Michael Adams