Childhood Obesity-Who’s to Blame
I teach math at a middle school in an adjoining county and I am continually amazed at the number of children that face obesity issues.
You can’t turn on the TV or radio without seeing and hearing about childhood obesity and how it has grown in epidemic proportions.
American families spend their time at fast food drive-through windows, shoveling food in front of the TV, or munching away on unhealthy snacks in front of video games.
Just the other day at school, a young lady in my class had a large beverage she brought from home, in a very cool retro designed can. It must have been 30 total ounces of liquid. I had to keep it for her because students are not allowed to take food out of the cafeteria.
Keep in mind this beautiful, smart young lady is about 5’4” and weighs about 180 pounds so my first concern was—what was in the “cool” can that could possibly benefit this bright young student?
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Upon investigation, I found the contents of the can had a total of three servings inside. That means the appropriate serving is 1/3 of the contents. She could and should share that beverage with two friends.
I also found it contained 100 calories per serving which upon first glance doesn’t seem so bad but when multiplied by the number of servings which, by the way, most people forget to do, the calorie content tripled to 300.
It’s probably worth mentioning that, in addition to the mega-beverage, this student opted for the school lunch that day.
It consisted of chicken tenders w/1 or 2 whole wheat rolls, macaroni & cheese, a plum, a cookie and a choice of milk.
The caloric content of lunch plus the humongous, “cool” can of peace and love, (according to Arizona drink company), this student, that is supposed to be mentally ready to actively learn and absorb information, has probably eaten no less than 1,000 calories, a gazillion grams of sugar and sodium, and probably around 40 grams of fat during ONE sitting. YUCK!
No wonder we have a childhood obesity problem. No wonder some children have difficulty learning.
In my perspective, parents who have not given their children the tools and information to help them live a healthy lifestyle, they are, in a sense, abusing them. They are setting them up for failure and causing them to have medical issues that can potentially lead to diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease.
Jamie Oliver has exposed this American problem in his own reality TV show called “Food Revolution.” He visits school cafeterias to investigate what government regulations have done to our cafeteria food and to our children. He reveals the truth about how school lunches have poisoned our children’s bodies and minds.
In one episode, he replicates the process of making school chicken nuggets by blending together the “leftover” parts of the chicken, including the gristle, fat, skin, and tendons. He mixes it with a chemical food-like substance that holds it together. He then forms it into a nugget and is able to make it into any shape that might be interesting to a child.
Then the perfectly shaped chicken food is breaded and fried. As the children watch the process, he is certain they will be too disgusted to eat the cooked product. However, much to his surprise, the children can’t wait to try it. YUCK!
Some children didn’t even know what a piece of real chicken looked like. He interviewed one class to find out that they knew what a french fry was, but had no idea it came from a potato. Some were so unfamiliar with vegetables, the only one they were sure they had tried was a carrot.
They had no idea what the whole vegetable looked like because the only way they had seen or eaten it was from the can, out of the freezer, or battered and fried.
This is a must see television show. Just don’t watch it while eating chicken nuggets and fries and drinking an Arizona beverage. You might not be able to keep it down.
The truth is, Americans have lost their way. We went from harvesting our food to forming it into dinosaur shapes and frying it. We went from working the fields, to surfing the internet. We used to cook our foods from scratch, now we eat pre-cooked food from the freezer.
It is not too late. We are a country that remembers how it was, historically repeats those patterns, and continuously changes. We share a will to be stronger and learn from our mistakes.
It is time to heal our nation of childhood obesity. I am certain through awareness, education, willingness to change and the desire to see our children lead better quality lives; we are ready for the challenge.
Now . . . . . go do the right thing.
Please share questions or comments with me at: suzanne_mcginnis@bellsouth.net.