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.
