Obesity

Cause and Effect of Obesity
Childhood obesity is a major issue in society now and keeps increasing.   There is never anything good that comes out of child obesity; it is a sick, unhealthy disease.   Obesity is an abnormal accumulation of body fat, usually 20% or more of an individual’s ideal body weight (“Obesity”).   Childhood obesity is caused by eating unhealthy foods, doing too much snacking, being lazy, and genetic disorders; the effect of these are very dangerous and serious conditions that could be life threatening.
Children's dietary habits have moved away from the more healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, instead to a much greater reliance on fast food, processed snack foods, and sugary drinks (Read what).   Fast foods are used daily for obviously a fast snack, but without the realization of the harm it is doing to the body.   While people agree that fast food is delicious, does everyone know what that fast food is doing to their bodies?   Fast food is very high in fats, sugars, salts, and calories.   When going to McDonald’s the meal I normally order is a number 2, it includes two cheese burgers, french fries and a large sweet tea.   All together the calories in this meal is 980, calories from fat is 330, cholesterol 80mg, sodium 1670mg, and sugars 49g (Home::McDonalds).   Talk about an unhealthy meal!   That takes up over half of what my daily consumption of food should be.   A child doesn’t realize the dangers in the foods they consuming (Montgomery). Fast food is a major risk factor for hyper tension, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, and many types of cancer (Health food guide).   Just like fast foods, processed foods are just as bad.   Processed foods include anything that is bagged, boxed, canned, or jarred and has a list of ingredients on the label.   Everyone eats these processed foods every day.   Heavily processed foods are usually higher in sugar, fat and salt, and lower in nutrients and fiber than the raw foods used to... [continues]

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