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Lucille Phillips

Mary B. Van Ness

English – 1060

Essay 3 – Claim of Policy

28 November 2009

Taking Steps to Help Our Children and Society to Recover from Obesity!

On November 15, 2009, a television show aired on BET called, The Heart of the City:

Dying to Live in Jackson. Star Jones hosted the television show and she started off about how

she weighed 300 pounds and that resulted in her having health problems and having trouble

breathing. She used the examples about how at the airport people made very hurtful remarks and

comments like they hope they wouldn’t have to sit by the “fat lady” and laughed at her size.

She has had firsthand experience for herself of being obese. On the show she talked about how

people used to say that Jackson, Mississippi had the finest women and they enjoyed seeing them,

but now people are saying that Jackson has the most obese women. Jackson, MS at this time is

classed as the city with the highest obesity rate (Heart of the City, 2009). There were a few other

shows that dealt with obesity one had two 16 year old boys who had weighed 600 lbs., another

had a two year old girl who weighed 70 lbs., and one showed a baby who weighed 20 lbs. The

shows go on and talk about the obesity problems these children have and this problem is just

continuing to be on the rise. It’s been stated by many experts that if parents are obese it will and

can be passed on from generation to generation and this is why it has become such a great

problem. Michelle Zepeda, a TV reporter, stated “For the first time in history, children could die

before their parents do” (2009).

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With obesity there are other different problems that occur with being obese such as: 1).

Television and electronics. 2). Nutrition – fast food, poor eating habits, 3). The lack of physical

activities and 4). Health issues and problems that can 1- 4 occurs, and together they inflame:

chronic diseases, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease (as early as the age of

six), high cholesterol levels, apnea during sleep, and psychosocial problems. Let’s begin by

exploring these problems and what are some of the causes that contribute from them.

1) Our Generation with Their Televisions and Electronics:

In the article “Televisions in the Bedrooms of Racial/Ethnic Minority Children: How Did

They Get There and How Do We Get Them Out?,” the authors surveyed 200 parents of

children ages 2 to 13 years in a primary care clinic; 57% of the children were non-Hispanic

black, 33% were Hispanic. Sixty-seven percent of all children had a TV in the room where

they sleep; high rate of TVs are present in bedrooms of black (70%) and Hispanic (74%)

children compared with white children (22%) (Taveras, Hohman,Price, Gortmaker,

Sonneville, 2009). African American and Hispanic are more likely to have TVs in their

bedrooms than Whites. Parents had all different reasons why they placed TVs in their

children’s rooms: occupy them, so they could go to sleep and not feel alone, and so parents

could have their own television and not be bothered by the children. The Kaiser Family

Foundation shows, “however, that the vast majority of US children are highly exposed to

screen media, with the average child now watching 4 hours per day” (2005). Previous study

showed that when children have televisions, computers, or video games in their rooms, they

spend more time watching or playing and less time sleeping which are some causes towards

obesity.

2) Nutrition – fast food, poor eating habits:

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The more children watch TV, the more they are bombarded by the commercials that do

center around getting junk food. These ads are a concern because they are targeting our

children’s attention. An Article in Economist, “Junior Fat,” relayed criticism from

America’s Institute of Medicine (IOM). “It reckons that most of the $10 billion or so spent

last year on marketing food and drink to young Americans was for stuff that was high in

calories and low in nutrients” (2005). This has placed our children in a high risk category

for long term health risk. They feel that because junk food costs less it encourages more

people to purchase, especially the poorer people because of their financial situation.

In the article, Better Health, Take Charge: Sugary drinks can fill children with

‘stealth’calories, they stated “many children is the Mid-South are overweight due to poor

eating habits and a lack of exercise. A diet filled with candy, snacks, sweet drinks, breads

and desserts can lead to a lifetime of obesity” (Commercial Appeal, 2009). Also, the excess

intake of sugar can cause tooth decays in individuals. Experts talk about how when drinking

sugary drinks are filled with a lot of calories, but the more we drink it don’t fill them up like

having a meal, so then the children will continue to eat on top of the high calories and/or as

we say “supersize it” which then contribute to the excess weight. A small chocolate candy

bar can have over 150 calories, milkshake has 800 calories and a can of soda will have up to

nine teaspoons of sugar, so the more intakes of calories and the less movement of their body

helps the fat to be stored up and the continual of weight gain (Commercial Appeal, 2009).

3) The Lack of Physical Activities:

There are so many reasons why our society has a lack of interest to being physically

activity. Some parents are concern about the neighbor they leave in and not allowing their
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children to go outside, which helps allow our children to decrease in active play. Gordon-

Larsen summed it up, “if parents perceive that it is unsafe for their children to play outside,

sedentary activities such as television (TV), computers, and video games may become the

only options for children’s leisure activities (2004). We have become a society who doesn’t

want to do more than we have to and the more weight we put on the less we will do.

4) Health Issues and Problems that Can Occur:

Kenneth Thorpe, described obesity as a major health challenge in our nation. He explains

“Obesity is attributable to inadequate activity, unhealthy eating and changing food

alternatives. Also obesity will contribute to the national health challenge and the cost of

health care will sky rocket by 2018” (2009). It was stated by U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services, “obesity imbalance of more calories consumed than expended over an

extended time, usually resulting from multiple factors” (2008). The Women’s Infant and

Children’s (WIC) program, found that it was similar in Black and White races when they are

preschoolers, but when they get to the age 6 – 11 years old the increase in obesity in the

Black races increases greatly. They state that obesity related disease is seen as early as age

of 6, making childhood obesity a major public health concern (Hudson, 2008). According to

Bobbie Berkowitz and Marleyse Borchard, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC) describes children as being at risk for overweight if they are above the 85th percentile

body mass index (BMI) and define childhood overweight as a BMI at or above the sex-and

age-specific 95th percentile BMI cut points from the 2000 CDC Growth Charts” (2009).

Overweight (obesity) is beginning as young as two and three years old. “For overweight

children the probability that overweight persists into adulthood increases with a child’s age,
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from 20% among overweight four-year-olds to 80% among overweight teenagers” (Thorpe,

2004).

Heart disease is one problem related to obesity. During a conference in Rockport, Maine,

doctors and nurses were present to learn more about how obesity is related to heart disease

and diabetes. Meg Haskell (2009) wrote that the keynote speaker, Eckel, spoke on the five

factors that could contribute to having heart disease or diabetes. Those five factors are:

1. A blood pressure reading higher than 130/85, or being treated for

elevated blood pressure.

2. Fasting blood sugar higher than 100 milligram per deciliter.

3. Blood triglycerides and fats – higher than 150 mg/dl.

4. HDL, or “good cholesterol,” lowers than 40 mg/dl in men or 50 mg/dl

in women.

5. A waist circumference greater than 35 inches in women or 40 inches in men

(Haskell, 2009).

Eckel stated having three out of five factors could be factors for heart disease or diabetes

and that 25% of Americans will fit into this category (Haskell, 2009).

Other health problems that could relate to those factors are 3.7 times the rate of

hypertension (high blood pressure) and a lower quality of life (Veldhuis, 2009). “Overweight

children have an increased risk for developing elevated cholesterol, asthma, joint problems,
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depression, and anxiety. Physical and psychosocial effects of moderate to severe overweight

can include: hyperlipidemia, increased growth in puberty and then stunting, early onset of

puberty in females, obstructive apnea, pancreatitis disease, hypertension, polycystic ovary

syndrome, and long-term damage to cardiovascular system (Barlow and the Expert

Committee, 2007). Sixteen percent of America children and adolescents are overweight and

23% get no exercise. Compared to 25 yrs ago, that’s twice as many children and 3 times as

many teens with weight problems (Smith, 2009).

Factors that can contribute to obesity are young children that eat fewer than 3 servings of

fruit and vegetables per day (Hudson, 2008).

Conclusion

As a society if we continue to let to let this problem of obesity to on we will see the

health cost sky rocket by 2018. But let’s look at some of the problems and what can we do to

correct them. Let’s start with the television and electronic what should be do about this

ongoing problems. One solution is that they can limit the time to two hours of watching the

television or playing on electronics a day (Hudson, 2008). The study stated that during a day

there is 12 to 21 food commercials are being viewed. Then major food companies has felted

the pressure and agreed to have half their commercials on nutritional foods. Nickelodeon

had made an agreement with farmers that in different TV shows (i.e. Dora the Explore), they

would place in the screens different fruits and vegetable advertising to the children the

important of them and they are good to eat (Uhlenhuth, 2007).

If they allow the children to be on video games let’s get them on the one that can cause

them to get active such as; Nintendo Wii, which have active games such as Mario Car, Sports
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(tennis, bowling, baseball, boxing, etc.), that makes you actually participate in the game. Or

Wii fitness that will keep track of your weight and fitness also can set up a coach and show

you what to do and how to do it. “The Nintendo Wii has also been assessed for energy

expenditure in adolescents (8-9); however neither study found the intensity high enough to

contribute to the recommended daily amount of exercise for youth” (Siegel, Haddock,

DuBois and Wilkin, 2009). So they need more physical activity added to their days.

Next they need to continue to promote healthy eating and lunches, providing fresh fruits

everyday instead of junk food at school. Having the children to eat food in moderation or

giving them smaller portions. Teach children how to have good eating habits. Serve fruits

and vegetables at home and have children try them so they will require a taste for them.

Limited going out for fast food restaurants so that there’s not the temptation to eat

incorrectly. Have children drink more water during the day instead of drinks that are high in

calories (Commercial Appeal, 2009).

In the article written by Michelle Zepeda, Pat Altvater who is a weight loss coach and

author who presently writing a book “Mama’s Don’t Let Your Children Grow Up to Be

Dieters,” she says kids need to learn the art of patience in any situation including where

they’re hungry” (2009). Parent’s need to set a regular eating schedule for their children

every day, whether then letting them eat whenever they want to and eating whatever they

want to.

American schools needs to expand their physical education (PE) programs. Several

organizations suggested that schools have daily PE, school recess before during and after

school, suggesting at least 60 minutes of physical activities a day. There’s a big need in our
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society to be more physically active (Young, Stone, Pate, 2006). We have our work cut out

for ourselves but if we purpose to help our society to make a differences in their lives we can.

Let’s see what happen to the two 16 year old boys who weighed 600 pounds, both of

them had to have bariatric surgery and they had to relearn the right ways to eat and to

exercises. It was a very hard battle because they had to relearn and start over and change

their patterns of life, but they became determine after time, they did it a little at a time and

you begin to see the changes. Now it became a daily life style for them, now what about us

what are we going to do to make changes in our life for our health, our diet and physical

activities?
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Work Cited

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