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Emma Henderson

Professor Sharyn Hunter

English 1201

7 September 2019

Childhood Obesity

When I was younger, I gained quite a bit of weight. I remember feeling uncomfortable

with my body and wanting to be healthier. The habits I had made were mainly my own fault.

Fast food was a daily part of my life, as well as lots of sweets. Most days I would spend hours on

my laptop or watching television after school. The extra pounds were something I was able to get

rid of easily after growing tall so quickly. However, I have seen many children struggle with

obesity to a much more serious extent than I ever did. A few years ago, my brother was

diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and when that happened my family became very cautious with

what we put in our bodies. We took on a whole new view of food and our health. I learned a lot

about food and nutrition through the transition with my brother. Health is something that I take

seriously and nutrition is something I am extremely interested in, as I am entering the health field

with a nursing major.

I feel bad for the children who struggle with being overweight due to the circumstances

they are in that they cannot help. I understand how hard it can be to afford healthy groceries and

make nutritious meals, however, spending five or more hours staring at a television is not going

to help anything. Considering I haven’t done the research on this topic yet, I think that the main

cause of childhood obesity comes from the parents allowing their children to make bad habits
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with electronic devices. I also believe the easy access to fast food and junk food are a large

contributor as well. I believe that childhood obesity in America could be so easily avoided by

properly educating parents and children throughout America with the right tools to stay healthy

and active. I know that childhood obesity is not easy to magically fix, but I know that with the

right education and effort childhood obesity rates could plummet.

I am very interested in spending time researching this topic and learning more about it. I

plan to read scholarly articles on this issue, digging into the true causes for this issue and also

research the medical point of view on it as well. I am interested to know what main factors have

led to obesity crisis in American children and what, if anything, should schools be required to do

anything to address it? I also am curious to know what factors junk food, fast food accessibility,

and school lunches have to do with this issue.