Every time I go out to a restaurant, I take a gander at the children’s menu offerings. I have no children, nor am I out to lunch with a niece or nephew. I choose to look at the menu offerings for children to see how balanced these meals are for their growing bodies that have very specific nutritional needs. Let me clarify that statement by saying that I am NOT a dietician nor do I have any training in the nutritional field. Rather I do this little experiment to examine what restaurants deem nutritional to growing children as a worried member of the general public.
Childhood obesity has become a dangerous epidemic in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) , defines obesity as having excess body fat. This excess fat can cause medical difficulties throughout an individual’s life including diabetes, arthritis, pain, and cardiac problems. According to the CDC, the rate of childhood obesity has doubled for children and quadrupled for adolescents in the last 30 years. This is a negative trend that has been worsening due to access to fatty and fried foods, decrease in health education in schools, and home environments. This is not to say that if a child is obese it is due to laziness or the parent’s fault. Obesity can also be a side effect of many diseases as well, such as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or Hydrothyroidism.
As a country we should be encouraging these young people to be leading healthy, balanced lives with appropriate nutrition and physical activity leading to the development of healthy eating habits as adults. If you are concerned about your child’s weight, talk to the pediatrician about any tips or suggestions that can be made at home to create a well-balanced diet and to motivate physical activity.
Hi Sarah,
I am really glad you approaching this problem of childhood obesity. Also I have never thought about checking out the children’s menu every time I go out but when I think about the average meals on the children’s menu it is all unhealthy. The same fried food and the same fatty food. The problem is, is that the unhealthy food is cheaper and easier. It is too bad that the healthy foods can’t be cheaper and the bad foods can’t be expensive. I know I would choose the healthier foods every time if they were cheaper. Now that technology is gaining more “power” as these years go on, children as sitting more than they used to. Starting off with video games, then cellphones and etc. Sometimes I wish these things didn’t exist because then we wouldn’t have a choice of sitting down and watching TV or going outside or riding a bike. If we didn’t have all this technology then kids would want to go outside more and ride their bikes. Also today both parents are working and they come home take care of the house, dinner and the kids and are sometimes too tired to play outside with their kids and it is sometimes easier for kids to just sit and watch TV. I don’t have kids but I have babysit for over 10 years and I can say when I wouldn’t feel too well or was too tried to babysit I would find that the child watching TV was easier. I am all for children having the privilege of watching TV but of course everyone does their parenting different and I don’t feel it is my right to judge. Overall you are right about education and how it needs to be given more. Also I really enjoyed how simple your blog is but how it does give informative facts. Great video also there were some facts that I didn’t know about and I am glad I do now. Definitely learned something! Great blog!