Unless you are lucky enough to live in a peaceful log cabin somewhere with no electronics and no newspapers or news source of any kind, I would have to bet that you have heard of the obesity epidemic that not only the United States faces but the entire world.
There are some pretty scary numbers being thrown around in the news about the rising number of chronic illnesses out there and the affect this has on our nation’s health care system and economy.
What
is really unnerving though is the increase in obesity levels AND
health issues facing our children today.
Notice the AND in that last sentence?
The fact is that you can and may very well have a skinny and unhealthy child.
Unfortunately...
...obesity should not be the only concern we have when dealing with the health of our children.
If your children are grown adults now, then think of your grandchildren.
Or if you never had kids then think of your future because the health of generation Z (yes we are at the end of the alphabet folks and this generation was born between 1995-2012) WILL affect it.
First, let’s review some numbers regarding childhood obesity taken from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
These numbers are not good considering the fact that, again according to the CDC, obesity has both immediate and long-term effects on the health and well-being of these kids. The immediate effects being:
Not scary enough? Maybe this will scare you and let me remind you that we are talking about kids here, not adults. The long term effects are:
Ok, now that I have grabbed your attention, I want you to guess what the other big health issue is facing our kids........
INACTIVITY!!!
A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that not exercising is a higher risk factor for all-cause mortality than being overweight or obese (Ekelund et al. 2015).
So, take all of those risk factors listed above for obesity and now apply them to kids who may not be obese or overweight at all but are inactive.
In today’s tech savvy society kids are just sitting in front of some electronic device more and more.
Gone are the days...
...of being thrown outside by your parents to play until it is dark out.
Or get this, maybe walking to a library to get your homework done.
My own kids laughed at me when I tried to get them to learn to use a real dictionary, you know the kind that is made with paper!
They just run to the computer to find whatever they need for school.
Now add all of that time spent in front of a: