The Overlooked Disease – Obesity in Children

New born children are all pretty, they have soft, pinkish skin, and they are chubby. There was a time when people believed that a fat child was a healthy child because they were born like this. While in the womb they accumulate a certain amount of fat to maintain their body temperature. For some reason or another someone decided that children should be chubby instead of thin.

This is not true, chubby or fat is not healthy, in fact it is dangerous.

 

Obesity in children is one of the fastest growing diseases worldwide today. Being an overweight child can contribute to many other health issues. Diseases, such as Hypertension and Diabetes, have been directly linked to Obesity. Other disorders, like Hypothyroidism and Asthma can also contribute to Obesity in children. If their thyroid gland is not functioning correctly, then their overall body functioning will be decreased. A respiratory disorder can also decrease the proper functioning of the human body, causing children to breath with difficulty and move sluggishly. If children are too tired to exercise or complete their daily activities, they will gain weight. An overweight child has probably already been diagnosed with or will be diagnosed with these health disparities in the future.

THE COMPLETE NUTRITION FOR CHILDREN

Children should live active lifestyles to stay physically fit and remain healthy throughout adulthood. The American Medical Association recommends people get at least thirty minutes of continuous cardiovascular exercise every day. This includes children, who actually spend the majority of their day in front of a screen, such as a computer or video game. Daily exercise, not only keeps kids fit, but it stimulates their immune system to fight off infections and other diseases that can plague their bodies. Encourage your children to join a sports activity, such swimming, jogging, or playing tennis to increase their metabolism, so they can burn calories to lose weight.

Proper eating habits also decrease the risk of childhood Obesity and lower their chances of becoming an overweight adult. Everyone should eat the proper servings from the five basic food groups daily and refrain from cooking their foods in grease and oils. Eating the correct portion sizes will reduce excessive caloric intake and makes you accountable for the foods you consume from each food group. It is best to cook your foods with natural seasonings, such as bell peppers, garlic and onions to reduce adding extra salt to your meals.

Community health is a very important topic that gets overlooked by both citizens and politicians. We put our trust into government officials to find cures and solutions to our health issues, but fail to look at the source of these issues. If we want to make a change in community health we must look at the core of the problem and focus more on primary prevention rather than tertiary prevention techniques. With the majority of our community health issues being preventable diseases, in order to prevent them we must eradicate the root cause.