Trenton Dierkes tries to educate his own children on the importance of eating right and getting regular exercise. He has seen alarming statistics on the child obesity problems here in the United States, In fact, according to the CDC, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. In 2012, studies showed that more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.
Obesity is defined as having too much excess body weight for a person’s height and body mass. Most of the time obesity is the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed. Unfortunately the children of today are not getting nearly enough exercise. Couple this with poor eating habits and the result is obesity.
Between 1971 and 2011, obesity in children more than tripled. This alarming trend is causing great concern among both doctors and parents. Obesity is now the No. 1 health concern among parents in the United States, topping drug abuse and smoking.
Doctors are seeing a broad range of health problems in obese children that were once only seen in adults such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and elevated blood cholesterol levels. Those suffering from obesity also suffer from psychological effects such as low self-esteem and depression.
There are ways to help end the obesity crisis in our youth. The first step is to encourage healthy eating habits by:
Limiting the amount of sugar intake
Choosing leaner meats and including beans
Provide plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole-grain products.
Choosing low-fat or non-fat milk or dairy products.
Drinking lots of water
Eating smaller portions
The American Heart Association also recommends that all children and teenagers get plenty of exercise. They suggest at least 60 minutes a day of cardio activities such as jumping, running, playing soccer, dancing or any other physical activity.
Trenton Dierkes has made sure that his kids got the proper amount of exercise growing up. As a family, they always went hiking and camping. He encouraged them to get involved in sports as well. He feels these are keys to keeping our youth healthy.
About: Trenton Dierkes is a factory worker at a glass plant who sees trouble ahead for our youth.
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