Time has come to fight obesity
There has been a disturbing trend witnessed through children over the past decade. And it’s the increasing waistline of those children.
During the past few years, childhood obesity has skyrocketed, which I can only assume has also led to an increase for the clothing business because of the need to constantly be buying larger clothes.
The childhood obesity rate has risen to more than 16 percent, and researchers this past week may have figured out why.
On average, U.S. children eat three snacks a day on top of three regular meals, according to Carmen Piernas and Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina. The partners, through a report released Tuesday, feel this could be a contributing factor. Children snack so often that they are "moving toward constant eating," the report said.
More than 27 percent of calories that American kids take in come from snacks, Piernas and Popkin reported in the journal "Health Affairs." The researchers defined snacks as any food eaten outside regular meals. Piernas and Popkin looked at data on 31,337 children, aged two to 18, from four different federal surveys on food and eating. The report went on to say an increasing number of children’s calorie intake is now coming from snacks.
"Childhood snacking trends are moving toward three snacks per day and more than 27 percent of children’s daily calories are coming from snacks. The largest increases have been in salty snacks and candy. Desserts and sweetened beverages remain the major sources of calories from snacks," they wrote.
And it’s been a trend that has been continuing for quite some time.
"Children increased their caloric intake by 113 calories per day from 1977 to 2006," they added.
If these trends continue on their present course, we’re going to have a tough time telling our children apart from elephants.
We need to be able to limit kids – and adults – and help them to consistently eat healthy. And it starts just by knowing. Franklin College is doing its part by joining in on the national program Dump Your Plump.
The program is targeted at teams coming together to compete for the highest weight loss total. This is exactly what we need to do to stop childhood obesity. This isn’t a problem we’ll be able to solve overnight, but it’s essential to start somewhere. The more people we can put together on this issue and the more teams we can organize, the better. We need to do everything we can to prevent an obese America.
MediResource, a Canadian company that specializes in health education came up with these ideas to watch for when going out on the town:
If you’re watching calories, skip the (usually fat-laden) appetizers and order water instead of soda or wine. If you want an appetizer, a small salad with dressing on the side, a broth-based soup (such as chicken noodle), or a fruit cup are all nutritious choices.
When choosing your entree, look for the words broiled, grilled, and roasted; these will usually be lower in fat than fried entrees.
When ordering pasta, choose tomato-based rather than cream-based sauces.
If entrees are large, split one with your dinner partner or take a portion home to reheat later.
Choose healthy side-dishes such as steamed vegetables (hold the butter), plain rice or a baked potato topped with vegetables or salsa.
If you choose to have dessert, split it with at least one other person.
