Posts Tagged ‘childhood obesity’

Childhood obesity affects health and that is critical when looking at this epidemic.

Obesity

Overweight children are at risk of developing adult conditions at a young age.

Genes

A parent’s job is to turn on their child’s longevity genes. This is done by neutralizing today’s lifestyle.

Parents

Parents have busy lifestyles, and it seems that fast food solutions are the norm. However, it can wind up being costly and time consuming in the long run. Sedentary children who consume a high junk food diet are not only on there way to developing atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure, they also will need prescriptive drugs at a younger age.

We can go on and on about the culture’s influence on eating habits which are seen on TV network advertisements in the form of junk food ads. 

As a result of all these influences one in three children is overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Facts

The fact is overweight children are at risk of developing serious and costly health conditions that are usually seen in middle aged adults. The Center For Disease Control (C.D.C.) study found that 22 percent of overweight (and 43 percent of obese) young people had, abnormal blood lipid levels with high triglycerides, a known risk factor for heart disease.

If this is our culture’s way to save time and money by fast food purchases they are making a big mistake. This is the junk food generation that can bankrupt our nation. 

The fact is obesity is expensive, for the parent, child, and country.

Intervention

Intervention has to begin in the home. The food manufactures don’t have the incentive that the family has. For the faux food industry it is all about profit. For the family it is about raising healthy children. That means making wise choices about what is served at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What goes on the grocery list and the table is one of the most important elements in your child’s life.

Comprehensive weight-loss programs for children are scarce. It is up to parents to begin their own intervention program. Making changes are not expensive and pay off big time.

“The family is the underutilized weapon in the fight against childhood obesity,” said Dr. David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children’s Hospital Boston.

Get Nutritional Advice

To change your family’s food habits, get good nutritional advice. The reason that this has become a learning process is because of all the misinformation put out for public consumption.

Children will tend to mimic what they see the adults around them do. This means to be a good role model includes what you stock your pantry with. The food industry is not as interested in your children’s health, as it is in successful ad campaigns. It is wise and prudent to seek the counsel of someone well versed in nutrition.

It is next to impossible for children to change eating habits if the rest of family is not changing their way of eating. When children eat better they have more energy for activities that are part of a healthy lifestyle.

A Child’s Health Begins with the Parent

That is why the L.E.A.N. Start Program is so effective. The parents go thought the learning process with the child, in an interactive and fun way.  This program was developed by one of the most highly respected pediatricians in America, Dr. William Sears.

Kathy Bee is a nutrition/lifestyle educator who is a certified coach for the L.E.A.N Start Program.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUhtfRZZC2o

While children are learning their alphabet, they are being beckoned by coco puffs, fruit loops, and a fleeing array of goodies. Childhood obesity is stemming from they are exposed to television commercials.

Safe Haven

Home is not a safe haven anymore. Childhood obesity starts in front of the TV. Those resourceful technically savvy advertisers converge in your living room. Childhood obesity is partly due to the time spent in front of the television viewing commercials.

The earnings outlook for most kid oriented products depends on their ability to reach children. Tots influence parents buying habits.

Branding

Children see an average of one food ad every five minutes during Saturday cartoons. Junk food boot camp for toddlers will produce a junk food junkie in the future. In a flash a young mind is captivated by the child likable advertisements.

Parents are lost in the confusion; these products have all kind of seals of approval. With a host of trusted slogans, reliable validation from other children who are still standing after consuming the faux food, parents are torn.

Branding comes from animation embellished with both visual and audio to effectively deliver its message.

Wild vivid colors, upbeat tone, and great designs produce high conversion rates.

Pitch

“Advertisers have been clever about building brand loyalty, making these foods seem attractive,’’ Dr. Zimmerman said. “I was talking with one of my graduate students who was saying, ‘When I was a kid, it was just a dorky rabbit talking about Trix.’ Now it’s about being cool, and what’s fun and exciting. It really grabs your emotions much more powerfully than it use to.”

Dr. .Fred Zimmerman,  author and chairman of University of California Los Angeles’s Department of Health Services, said “television commercials for sweetened cereals, junk food and fast food chains probably has an insidious influence over a child’s food preferences. The more television commercials a child is exposed to, the more likely he or she will be to try those foods and want to continue eating them, which then increases risk for weight gain.”

Reasoning

This is a different look at the role of TV in a household. It seems that children are not couch potatoes. Young children will stand, jump and wiggle while watching a show.

Now, the reasoning is that some TV time is not the reason for obesity. This takes into account the fact that most children are successful at moving about. There was a study that suggests that the culprit in weight gain was the growing array of commercials aimed at children.

This study was by the University of California, Los Angeles, compared children’s viewing habits. They found no association with obesity in the children who watched videos or commercial-free programming.

For Profit

The difference is that commercial television is a for profit enterprise. The market value of a show is how many commercial sponsors it can pick up. What TV does is integrate entertainment with strategic advertising.The advertisers wants a reliable audience. That is one that is vulnerable and trusting. Who better fits this description that a wide eyed hungry toddler.