Is There One Cause of Childhood Obesity?
As a parent you may be wondering if there is one main cause of childhood obesity; whether or not your own children are gaining weight or if you’re just interested in preventing it from happening, being concerned with the cause of childhood obesity is of course the first step toward prevention and a cure. Simply “willing” your child to be fit and healthy or ignoring the problem will of course do nothing effective. But when you understand the cause of any problem you’re taking the first step toward preventing and fixing it permanently.
Today's Cause of Childhood Obesity
Some say that genetics are the true cause of childhood obesity but keep in mind that humans are genetically identical now as they were thousands of years ago but obesity is a modern-day problem, the likes of which doctors and scientists have never seen. Biologists typically agree that the true cause of childhood obesity has nothing to do with genetics; a person can have more muscle mass and be prone to hold more fat than someone else, but excessive body fat and obesity are problems that a person brings on by what they eat and by their physical activity levels. Proof of this is that when a very heavy person begins to follow a healthier diet and becomes more active, he or she will inevitably lose weight. So rather than dismiss the cause of childhood obesity as being genetics that are out of one’s control, it’s a better idea to acknowledge the contribution of a child’s diet and their lack of physical activity and then address those true causes in order to fix the problem overall.
When talking about a child’s diet as a cause of childhood obesity, think about what a typical family eats today. Very often they rely on junk food, fast food, and packaged snack items to get them through the day. Of course most families are very busy and scarcely have time to cook a meal but learning how to prepare foods that are tasty and healthy can go a long way toward preventing obesity. The thousands of extra calories that many children eat every week is one major cause of childhood obesity, and while you can’t control what your child does when he or she is out of your sight, by serving healthy meals at home you can help to undo much of the damage and can help to balance out their eating.
Inactivity is another cause of childhood obesity. How many video games does your child have versus how much sporting equipment is in the house? How often do you go for a walk after dinner versus how many nights you spend in front of the television? No parent wants to admit that their own sedentary lifestyle is a cause of childhood obesity in their own home but taking responsibility for a family’s activity levels can help tremendously. If the entire family becomes active then children are more likely to follow suit and keep their own weight under control.
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It’s kind of sad, really. Parents want their child to grow up healthy and strony, yet they still feed them McDonald’s and other restraunts that bent on making sure that every child is addicted to their fatty and greasy food. It’s quite pathetic if you ask me. We try to disprove the fact that our “improvements” over the past years to make things more convenient are causing obesity, even in kids. Children are the future of our world, and yet we feed them unhealthy foods and teaching them inactive lifestyles. It’s time to show the facts so that we can reduce child obesity.
Obesity is really an epidemic these days. People have become very lazy and does not want to exercise anymore. I do a lot of jogging and brisk walking everyday just to be fit and healthy.