“Over the past three decades, the childhood obesity rate has more than doubled for preschool children aged 2-5 years and adolescents aged 12-19 years, and it has more than tripled for children aged 6-11 years. At present, approximately nine million children over 6 years of age are considered obese.”
– Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2004)
How can you not read the above statement and not find it alarming? For the past 30 years, the number of overweight and obese children in America has climbed. Steadily. This is a complex problem, as there are a number of contributing factors to this problem. Additionally, there are a growing number of known long-term health risks associated with obesity in children and teens. Here, I’d like to briefly discuss some of the more common factors that contribute, some of the risks that obesity presents, and how one of our weight loss camps can be an ideal solution.
Contributing Factors
Poor lifestyle habits is one of the biggest contributing factors. Children today are less active than children from generations past. Consider the “average day” of a child today: They roll out of bed and sit down to eat breakfast. After breakfast, they either ride the bus, drive, or get a ride to school. At school, the spend 90% of their day sitting at a desk. They then ride home from school and sit down at home to do homework. After homework, they sit down for dinner, then spend the evening watching TV, playing video games, doing more homework, or playing on the internet. After that, they go to bed. Where is the activity? How are they expected to burn calories when they spend the majority of their day sitting down?
Toss an increasingly unhealthy diet in there, born out of our modern need for convenience over health, and it should be no surprise that we have more obese children than ever before. Further, consider the kinds of foods that we’re constantly bombarded with via advertising. When was the last time you saw a commercial encouraging you to eat more fruits and vegetables? I can’t remember either. But, I can tell you all about the commercials for candy bars, junk food, super-sized fast food, and so on that I see every day. Given how much TV children watch these days, it comes as no surprise that kids typically choose these kinds of foods over healthier alternatives.
Risks that Childhood Obesity Present
With each passing year, more and more studies are released that confirm connections between childhood obesity and some pretty serious, potentially fatal, health concerns. Worse is the fact that the long-term results of these issues haven’t been completely realized yet since obesity is a relatively recent big problem that warranted scientific studies. Some examples of the kinds of diseases and conditions that have been linked to childhood obesity are: Cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, mycardial infaction, Type II Diabetes, joint problems, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and several others.
The Solutions
Today, the solution to obesity is no different than it was 100 years ago – people need to eat well and exercise often. It’s as simple as that, in most cases (genetic causes aside). Instead of allowing children to spend an entire day playing on their Playstation, we need to encourage them to go outside and kick the soccer ball around with some friends. Instead of eating fast food three times a week for dinner, families need to find a way to eat healthier.
At our weight loss camps, we provide the perfect environment to develop those healthy habits. Our meals are well planned and healthy. Children have plenty of fun ways to exercise, and they are surrounded by a staff of caring individuals and peers that are going through the same struggle that they are. Many families report that changes are much easier to make at home when their child returns from camp and is motivated to make some changes on their own instead of doing so because Mom and Dad say so. Our camps are also nationally accredited, which not all weight loss summer camps are, meaning you know you’re making a sound investment.
