| Big Kids By: Charlotte Green Obesity—you have all heard the term before, and have probably also heard people talking about how it is a huge problem for children in the United States. But what is the difference between obesity and being overweight? And if it is such a problem, what is being done about it? Obesity is just the next step after being overweight. Both conditions are determined by measuring the amount of body fat a person has. But while an overweight person has over what is considered a normal amount of body fat on a person, an obese person has an even higher amount of body fat than what is considered overweight. For the past several years people have complained about obesity, particularly in children. However, apart from targeting the cause of the problem as junk food and television, little progress seems to have been made in solving the issue in the US. In a recent article on the American Medical Association’s website, Dr. Barry M. Popkin says the reason for this is the lack of measures taken by the national government to combat the issue. He compares our measures with those taken in the United Kingdom. He first explains that the obesity levels of the two countries are similar, but describes how we blame individual people for being too lazy, eating too much junk food, and watching too much television. However, the UK blames society and people’s surroundings, such as the advertisements they see, the readiness of fast food, and the lack of nutritional education. Therefore, government there took steps to research causes of obesity, and to make changes to food thought to contribute to obesity. Some of their steps include banning junk food in school vending machines, banning ads of unhealthy food from children’s television, requiring children from the ages of 11 to 14 to take classes on food preparation and handling, and banning fast food restaurants near schools and parks. In contrast, steps taken by the US have been requiring more physical education classes, providing funding for sustainable agriculture, and state and local governments looking to improve nutrition in supermarkets. However, the efforts have been mostly small scale and localized, and Dr. Popkin argues that obesity should be treated in the same way as smoking has been—with nationwide, preventative measures. When asking several people what they though about child obesity, the answer was always the same—kids need to get active, stop being lazy, and stop eating junk food. These answers only confirm Dr. Popkin’s argument. We, as US citizens, tend to blame the individual first. For us, the struggle against obesity starts with each person’s effort to actively choose to confront his or her own case of obesity. But this choice may not be an easy one to make, and leads to a long path of both mental and physical struggle to first decrease, then maintain one’ s body weight. Of course, there are ways to get help with the struggle. Diet plans, exercise routines, doctors, and personal trainers are ready and willing to come to the aid of anyone who asks for it. The Obesity Society has a website providing information and journals on obesity, publicizes events and meetings, and even offers a guidebook for getting started on loosing weight. But the first question in the advice they gave was: “Are you ready, willing, and motivated to lose weight?” Losing weight is clearly a personal and extremely challenging journey. So, while there is help available, it is still up to the individual to make the difficult first step of choosing to undertake the process in the US. This is where the measures taken by the UK help with the struggle against obesity—they make the choice easier by surrounding children with healthier foods, less temptation, and basic knowledge on food preparation. If we call it a nationwide problem, we should certainly respond with nationwide help. Localized efforts should be blown up to national efforts, and restraints on the publicity of unhealthy foods should be started. Instead of blaming the individual, it is time we reached out to help our fellow American children make that initial step to weight loss. |
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