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Childhood Obesity Reaches Epidemic Proportions
Our nation
can no longer deny that childhood obesity has reached an all time high.
Nor can we afford to placate ourselves anymore with the old beliefs that
chubbiness in a child will melt away as they get older and grow taller.
Do you know who can ill afford such denials and complacency about the
damaging affects of childhood obesity even more than we can as the
taxpayers shouldering the financial burdens from the medical costs of
treating this problem are? It is our nation’s children.
It is the
children that are now suffering from the ravages on their health that
results from obesity, and the numbers of children at high risks for
developing obesity, that are the most vulnerable to the obesity epidemic
that is looming over us all. It is high time that we deal with this
problem head on. Enough with our old ways of thinking and doing,
purposeful ignorance and indifference to this serious matter is how we
got the children and ourselves into this mess. It is our responsibility
as adults to do everything we can to protect all child from preventable
disasters. Childhood obesity is preventable and can become an affliction
of the past when we make the conscious choice to make that happen.
Obese
children face more than just the unrelenting ridicule from other
children and other emotional and social consequences. Childhood obesity
places children at astronomically high risks for developing major
medical and health issues. Too much fat in the body can damage major
body organs such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver severely.
Diseases once believed rare for children to get are unfortunately all
too common for obese children. Childhood obesity increases the risks for
children to develop, insulin-dependent and non-insulin dependent
diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, clogged arteries, strokes,
heart attacks, liver cancer, COPD, and many other potentially deadly
medical and health issues. We all have to come together and begin
working on stopping this epidemic from further growth and making the
necessary changes that will eradicate this blight on the fabric of
childhood and our nation’s children.
Children
did not come to be obese in greater numbers than a minority of children
having healthy weight and fat compositions on their own. They learned
how not to take care of themselves and place their health and lives in
grave danger from the people around them. Children do what they see the
adults in their lives doing. Instead of teaching children about what
real nutrition and regular physical activity is and about its
significance in healthy and long living, we allow them to eat junk food
and play video games. It is not that we do not know better. It is often
more a matter of convenience and so we just let them and do not worry
about what consequences may be down the road. Wake up because down the
road is no more. The disastrous consequences of childhood obesity are
here and now. They are happening every moment of every day to a
staggering number of obese children. Some may be difficult to detect
until what may be irreversible damage occurs. However, it is happening
despite all the attempts to deny and delude ourselves into believing
that childhood obesity in this country has not reached epidemic
proportions.
Join with
me in helping to make childhood obesity something of the past. The
children of our great nation deserve to have all the guidance, support,
and cheerleading they need to make healthy choices for themselves and
live better and longer lives. In turn, we will all receive many
benefits. Stock up on sound nutritional and fitness educational
materials, as well as a pantry and fridge full of healthy foods and get
that body moving so all the children watching you will get moving too.
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