Teach Children About Food

Hey Everyone,

Here is a live talk titled Teach every child about food. The speaker is Jamie Oliver, a British celebrity chef who shares his opinion about how we can end obesity and how sugar is killing our kids. It's a pretty interesting talk. The best thing we can do is educate, educate, educate. Let me know your thoughts.

Brochure

Get the Facts

An Epidemic

As we all know, childhood obesity remains a growing problem in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014), approximately 12.5 million children and adolescents between the ages of 2-19 are obese. It's scary to know these children are at risk for developing other chronic conditions including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer.

Facts

• In the past 30 year childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents
• The percentage of obese children between the ages of 6-11 years increased from 7% in 1980 to 18% in 2012
• Th percentage of obese adolescents aged 12-19 years also saw an increase from 5% to 21% during that same time frame

(CDC, 2014)

So what has happened? How did we get to this point?

• Walking to and from school has been replaced with car and bus rides
• Gym class no longer exists
• Parents have become more busier
• Less home cooked meals and more eating out
• Children now spend more time playing with electronic devices than running around outside
• Portion sizes have EXPLODED

(Let's Move, n.d.)

Now versus Then

The Let's Move Campaign website (n.d.) created a list of how children are spending their time and what they are consuming.

• 1 in 5 school age children have up to 6 snacks a days
• The consumption of 20 ounces of sugar-sweetened beverages is normal
• 8-18 year old adolescents spend an average of 7.5 hours a day using electronic devices
• One-third of high school students get the recommended amount of physical activity

30 years ago children were far more healthier and getting the recommended amount of daily activity. Fast food was a treat and playing outside after school was the norm.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Childhood obesity facts. 

                    Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm

Let's Move. (n.d.). Learn the facts. Retrieved from 

                   http://www.letsmove.gov/learn-facts/epidemic-childhood-obesity

Introducing...

Hello Everyone!

My name is Lauren Fennell and I am working towards my Masters of Science in Health Studies with a focus in Community Health. This is my last and final class before I graduate! It seems like yesterday I was applying to TWU for graduate school and here I am with 3 hours remaining. I have a 4 month old daughter who is the apple of my eye and recently started sleeping through the night (for those of you who are parents, this is a HUGE deal). Now that I’m a mom, I hope to be the best parent I can possibly be to my little girl. I’m excited to experience the world through her eyes.

I've always had an interest in childhood obesity. When I was a kid I watched my cousins gain weight from eating too much fast food and the over consumption of sugary drinks. Luckily they were able to shed the weight from incorporating healthy eating habits and exercising. Today I see the same situation happening to my nephew and it is heartbreaking. 

It is because of these experiences that my blog will focus on what is being done to prevent the childhood obesity epidemic and where we need to go from here. I will cover such topics as the recent controversial school lunch debate, how our eating habits have changed over the years, and how the food industry plays a major role in what we eat.