[Child] Obesity

According the to National Library of Medicine, "Obesity means having too much body fat. It is not the same as being overweight, which means weighing too much. A person may be overweight from extra muscle, bone, or water, as well as from having too much fat".

Obesity is so common in America that we've been nicknamed the "fat country" by other nations. Obesity is an epidemic, it is the cause and effect of various health conditions that millions of people suffer from. Obesity is a growing problem, and there are scientists and doctors dedicated to finding causes for obesity as well as treatments or prevention.

I think this is something too difficult to narrow down or blame on one thing or another. It is a combination of things, and every person is different. Sure, there are some links to why someone may be overweight or obese (when I say overweight in this post, I mean significantly overweight yet not obese), such as genetics or social environments, but if we are so aware of these things, why isn't the number of obese people going down? Why does the number of obese children and adults keep growing every year? I personally hate seeing severely overweight children, because that is not just genetics, that is a parent not controlling or monitoring their child's diet and/or exercise time.

Here are some facts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years.^{1, 2}
• The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2010. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to 18% over the same period.^{1, 2}
• In 2010, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.¹
• Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors.³ Obesity is defined as having excess body fat.⁴
• Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.^5,6

Those numbers are scary. Overweight and obese children are a result of how they are raised. Yes, children can be picky eaters (I know, I was one of them!), but don't cave in and buy them McDonalds instead of them eating that chicken cutlet and broccoli on their plate! Or don't give them desert or a treat even when they didn't finish their main course! When I was a kid, if I didn't eat all of my lunch or dinner, no snack or desert for me. If I didn't want what was for dinner, I didn't get a substitute. My parents would always tell me how when they were kids, if they didn't eat what they were given, they starved. No exception. Now some parents may call that cruel, but you know what, if you leave the kid sitting at the table until they eat something off that plate, they'll pick at it a little bit. It may take some time, but their natural instinct of hunger will outweigh their stubbornness.

Also exercise or physical activity is important. Don't drag your kid to the gym, but enroll them in some kind of sport so they can socialize, and get their bodies moving. Or in the nice weather, bring them to the park and let them run around, or pump those legs on the swing. Anything to get them moving! It sucks because the way technology is now, kids don't want to leave their rooms. They've got HD TVs, Xbox or PlayStation, iPads, iPods, etc. As I was growing up, a lot of the technology was new, so it was cool to have, but not common, and it was also expensive. It was also OKAY to play with my GameBoy while I was inside or on a long car ride, but if it was nice out, you can bet my butt was outside. You need to have that happy medium, since we cannot escape the technology advancements, it is a part of our everyday lives, but kids need to do other things and not be so dependent on them. I can't locate it now, but I saw a meme that said "Our society is more prepared for a zombie apocalypse than a power outage". It's sad, but true. We lose power for a few hours, people freak out, but I bet if there was a zombie outside people would be all "fuck yea!". Which is absurd. I hate zombies and this obsession people have with zombies.

Anyway, I was always a little "big boned" as the doctor said, a little meatier than some other kids. Not necessarily fat, but not skinny either. When I was young I didn't really know, or care to notice. It wasn't until maybe third grade, one summer while sitting in church for religion class, this girl sitting next to me asked me why my legs were so big. Sitting down, they flowed out, like most legs do that aren't twigs. Hers were twigs, she didn't have excess skin or fat being pushed out at the sides when she sat down like I did. I didn't say anything, I just stared at my legs and that's when I started to think I was fat. That same summer, I was also teased for having "boobs", if you can even call them that at that age. I was a little chubby, so I had boobs when no other girls did.

I started to know I was fat in Middle School. But I ate my feelings, and it was this vicious cycle, where I'd be upset about being fat, then eat because I was upset, then get upset for eating, and so on. I used to hide under dark and baggy clothes, it was the only way I felt semi-comfortable. I'll never forget though, in seventh grade, these two boys used to taunt me (along with a few other kids) for various things (my hair, clothes, being "goth", etc.) until they called me fat to my face. It was like being slapped in the face. I didn't cry, though I felt the tears coming, but I couldn't let them see they got to me.

I know now that my being overweight at that age was in part due to hormones/puberty, but I also know it was because of poor eating habits and eating choices. Also, because of genetics, a lot of people in my family lineage were overweight. I don't want to blame my parents, but I think they are partially to blame, especially when it came to being rewarded with food. I know we'd go out for ice cream or something whenever I did good at/with something. It used to be, and maybe still is, a common reward. 

Good report card - let's get ice cream. Soccer team won a game - let's get pizza. Lost chess match - well you did your best, let's get milk shakes. I'm sure this happens for a lot of people. I think there needs to be a substitute for food as a reward.