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1. I agree. Parents also encourage this by telling their kids they can't go outside because it's too hot/cold. For me, it didn't matter. I went outside if it was blazing hot or bitterly cold.
2. I agree. Most of the welfare class are surrounded by cheap food and cheap food is normally bad for you and junk.
I might add more children growing up without fathers. I'm not sure exactly why I think children of single mothers would be more obese but probably single mothers are more timid about their children being outdoors, going hiking and camping, boating and might feed them more to make up for the lack of the other parent.
I think intact families would have more traditional meals but without a dad coming home expecting a good meal, the kids might learn to eat fast food kind of meals sitting around a television or never leaving the television to sit at a dinner table with a real dinner. Meals are likely more informal and constant, kid gets bored with the video game and instead of shutting it off and going outside, he gets up to grab another rice-krispie bar or bag of chips.
A friend and I were just discussing this yesterday. We are both 68 and both noted that growing up we did not remember anyone who was obese. Our mothers cooked fresh food three meals a day. Fast food was unheard of. My sister and I walked to school most days;~ a mile each way. When we were in elementary school we played outside although we lived in a hot part of the country. I remember coming in after a day of play with dirt sweat rings under arms and around neck. Not quite sure where it all went wrong but I don't see a quick fix since habits learned as child are hard to break. Case in point I recently went to high school reunion and noted only one person who I would consider obese and a couple of more who were noticeably over weight. All in all the vast majority were in pretty good shape for their age!
The biggest issue is not enough exercise. When I was a teen (15-18) over the summers I would eat two...count 'em...TWO banana splits EVERY day. I was not fat because I was physically very active at work and after work, so the calories were burned off constantly.
Of course it's better to eat healthy food as opposed to unhealthy food, but even if you eat the junk you can burn it off by getting off your butt and being physically active.
I think technology is a cop-out. I had plenty of friends who were total tech geeks in high school who were also not unhealthy. They weren't ripped but they weren't obese or super weak either.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jaxontwinz
Childhood obesity, well obesity in general, is rapidly growing and oesn't show signs of stopping. There are several causes of it, but what do you think is the greatest cause, the one that has the most significant force on obesity. Here's my list that I believe are the causes in order:
1. Technology- video games, computers, TV
2. Parents not setting a good example or don't take any action to stopping their child from becoming obese.
3. Junk food. Everywhere you look, kids are getting junk food. Parents don't monitor their kids eating habits and kids don't know how bad it really is for you.
4. Lack of recreation near homes and businesses, there are some areas that have lots of recreation, and there is a lot that don't. This would encourage excercise.
5. Unwalkable suburbs. Most of America lives in suburbs. If suburbs, were walkable then we would all get more excercise. I know that in St. Paul there are many kids walking to houses and to the nearest mini mart and even to their summer jobs. I'm sureo ther dense cities, that are safe, do the same thing. We need to encourage suburbs to do so also.
So anything you like to add to this would be great or tell me what your causes are.
It's not the use of technology that makes people fat. It's the use of technology and doing nothing else, that makes people fat.
When I was working corporate, sitting in front of a computer 10 hours/day... I put on weight. I'm just under 6 feet and was weighing upwards of 190. Certainly not obese. But I quit that job, started playing tennis every Saturday (4 hours of it), and am now gutless again. It's really the lifestyle you choose.
This applies to teens as well. If your teen comes home from sitting at a computer in school all day to sitting in front of one at home, then they're likely to put on some pounds. But if that teen has tennis lessons, karate, or something, they're likely to be of better health. Let's face it, kids don't ride bikes for hours on end up and down the street like they used to when you and I were a kid. They find a piece of technology to sit in front of. So it's up to the parent to put an activity in their schedule.
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