Who's to Blame for Childhood Obesity?Fast food?

Question

umm the

-parent
-Fast food Restaurants
-advertisements
-or the consumer

and i need 3 reasons for one

Answer 1

There are a lot of problems with our society that make childhood obesity quite prevalent.



Good, healthful foods cost more money and take more time to prepare. In our fast-paced society, it's often much easier to drive through a McDonald's than it is to cook a meal and eat it. Poorer people have it especially bad- would you rather get a few fresh vegetables from the produce department, or five cans of ravioli for the same price? Unfortunately, cheaper foods are easier to acquire- but they lack nutritional value and are high in calories and fat.

Answer 2

Misinformation. People want everything fast, they don't want to waste time cooking or waste money on healthy food. So they buy the fast food, prepackaged meals, and junk food, without realizing what they are doing to their bodies. Many people are not aware that not only are trans fats bad for you, but saturated fat is also very bad for you. People who want to grab a chocolate bar when they are hungry do not realize that many times they are eating at least half of the saturated fat that they should eat in a day. I believe that if we took the time to sit down and tell people that you should only have x number of calories a day, and no more than 20 grams of saturated fat, they would never touch fast food again. Also, food is not the only reason people are obese. Believe it or not, some people actually are genetically obese, and will be overweight their whole lives no matter how hard they work at it. There are also many people on antidepressants, which can have horrible effects on your weight. So, obesity is not the only issue which we need to work on when it comes to fast food. I know skinny people who eat it three or more times a day, and do not even realize the irreversible damage they are doing to their bodies. Despite the fact that they will probably have heart attacks when they are in their late 30's or early 40's, it is somehow considered ok for them to eat that much fast food, just because they are skinny.

Wow, that was a rant. Essentially, the only thing that can be blamed for any adverse health problems related to food is misinformation, or a lack of information. If we were all a little educated on just how bad for us the food is which we put in our bodies, many would simply put down the whopper or big mac, instead picking up a pot or pan to cook healthy food.

Answer 3

That is not a link. Those are concurrences. Someone needs to slap that writer's hand. A link is when at least one of the two coincidences shows a direct causual relationship on the other which ties them somehow. There could be any number of things that happen simultaneously. There is no more evidence proving in that article that working moms cause obesity than that obesity causes working moms. You need to estabish an independent variable and a dependent variable to make a link via experiment.

Answer 4

Frankly, I think that our culture is to blame. But it sounds like you are doing something for school, so one of the above are my only choices. I will say "parents."



1. Most moms work, so food is often fast food or convenient food. We all know that this kind of stuff is high in calories and low in nutrition.



2. Kids are often left to their own devices which is usually staying inside and playing video games or watching TV.



3. Kids rarely walk or ride their bikes places. They are driven by a parent and picked up.



Frankly I think our culture is the problem. In my day, it was safe for kids to play outside, go to the park, ride their bikes all over the place, and walk to school. Nowadays, in lots of places, these things are not safe to do. As a result, kids stay inside and play video games and watch TV. Mom does not have time to prepare nutritious meals because she works because it takes 2 incomes to maintain the lifestyle; or else she is a single mom who has to work for the family to survive. It's a cultural thing.

Answer 5

Hi,



I had to chuckle when I read the first three answers. It is so much common sense, that the parents buy the junk food for the kids leading to obesity in kids under the age of 6, after 10 the kids have a little more control of their lives, and can make themselves obese or start smoking cigarettes and put themselves at cancer risk.



It is no wonder that we "Think" that diabetes and obesity and heart disease and cancer all are inherited from our parents.



They feed us either healthy or unhealthy foods, smoke around us or don't smoke, and this leads to "Inheritance" of their bad habits as well as their heart conditions, diabetes, and cancer.



Happy New Year !





PS: Yes I am saying that I can avoid dying from cancer (both of my parents died and smoked, none of the 5 kids ever got cancer yet - none will ever think of smoking)



We can also eat healthy and avoid diabetes, my aunt lost two toes, her kidney function, and died, yet her kids eat healthy and live wonderful lives. No other history of diabetes in our family.



My aunt that doe not smoke is 75 and very healthy, no hint of diabetes, cancer, or heart disease, all in her family tree. Her mom (my grandmother) lived to 92, no cancer, heart disease, or other problems).



I know that I have to eat healthy or die. So I will not "Catch" The diabetes that my aunt had, I know how bad it is to deal with it, so I skip sausage, animal fats, and will live a long life (hopefully).

Answer 6

the parent



they are the ones buying the food

they are the ones who let the kid eat the food

they dont make their child exercise

they let their kid sit on their butts all day in front of the TV

and they dont make healthier food choices for the family

Answer 7

parents. not to many 5 year olds walk themselves to McDonald's to buy their own food.

Answer 8

parents



for example mine

-overprotective never let me run cause i might fall

-always fed me because they wanted me to be healthy

-you can't go buy yourself some hamburgers the parents do