Prevention Against Childhood Obesity

Prevention Against Childhood Obesity (a topic I chose to add to the list)

What is Childhood Obesity?

Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States. It affects more than 30 percent of children, making it the most common chronic disease of childhood. This number has more than tripled since 1980. Childhood obesity is a health issue. Today, more and more children are being diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension and other co-morbid conditions associated with obesity and morbid obesity. A child is defined as “affected by obesity” if their body mass index-for-age (or BMI-for-age) percentile is greater than 95 percent. A child is defined as “overweight” if their BMI-for-age percentile is greater than 85 percent and less than 95 percent. (OAC, 2016)


Last year I was living in the beautiful state of California, where I experienced childcare in a different way from the south. What I did notice was that the children were not as heavy and didn’t seem to be experiencing weight issues as far as being overweight. However, coming from the south I was one of the more heavier teachers and noticed I was not as active.  It made me take a look at my lifestyle and what I could possibly be portraying to the children I teach. Children not only pay attention to what we teach, but they watch what we say, what we eat and they see firsthand how active we are. So, I began the journey to taking on a healthier lifestyle. In doing this, the cause for prevention against childhood obesity became dear to my heart. And honestly, that didn’t happen until I relocated back down south. Relocating opened my eyes to a lot. Not only are the children overweight, but so are the staff. We, as teachers should want to be a better example, be more active and live a healthier lifestyle. Children are with us 40 hours a week. That’s a lot of time to make a difference, to teach children about the importance a healthy lifestyle and the importance of good nutrition. As I began my healthy journey, I realized that it is not just about me and my results, but it is also about the children’s lives I will touch in the future and also teachers lives as well.


Childhood Obesity in Spain
Trends in the prevalence of childhood obesity and overweight in Spain have continuously increased in the last three decades. Obesity and overweight currently affect 15 and 20% of Spanish children, respectively, and these percentages are among the highest in Europe. (SESPAS, 2010)

Spain is the third largest level of childhood obesity in the world. (Williams, 2010)
Statistics reveal that a staggering 40 per cent of youths aged between 13 and 18 never practice sport. (Williams, 2010)

Modern Spanish families are moving away from the traditional Mediterranean diet and eating more fats and sugars than ever before. According to Roberto Sabrido from the Spanish Food Safety Agency, people have changed how they eat. He said: “People no longer eat as a family and the food and the time dedicated to eating is not the same.”Moreover, with so much exposure to the internet, television and video games the younger generation is getting lazy. (Williams, 2010)

Just they way the people of Spain have changed their diets over the years, are the same for the people of the U.S. We have to find the time to teach our children and/or even ourselves about the importance of nutrition and how great it is to have a home-cooked meal. We have lead by example, and become more active. We, the educators, parents, guardians, etc have to step away from the tv shows, video games, internet or anything else that is taking time away that could be used for something more useful like playing with your kids, exercising, or even just preparing dinner together. All these little things will have huge impact in the future and together we can fight this disease and keep our children and ourselves here a little bit longer.


*Fun Fact*

The U.S is not the leading country in Childhood Obesity, Greece is! According to an article in Takepart. United States in number 5 on the list!


Resources
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21074906
http://www.obesityaction.org/understanding-obesity-in-children/what-is-childhood-obesity
http://www.takepart.com/photos/these-10-countries-lead-world-childhood-obesity-nope-us-isnt-no-1/5-united-states
Wendy Williams http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2010/10/16/obesity-public-enemy-number-one/