Why Are Kids So Fat These Days?
There are more overweight kids in the U.S. today than ever before. Why? First, children's preferred modes of entertainment have moved from active pursuits to sedentary ones like TV, the computer, and video games. Second, kids are often fed fatty, salty foods. Finally, American life is more geared toward driving than toward walking: without exercise built into kids' everyday lives, they begin to gain weight.
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Television and Computer Use
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Most homes in the U.S. have at least one television. There are multiple channels geared toward children, and the overwhelming majority of channels air 24 hours a day, seven days a week. According to the website KidsHealth.org, children under 6 are now spending, on average, two hours a day in front of the TV, while children over 6 have four hours of TV time a day. This includes time spent in front of the computer screen. When such a large amount of time is spent sitting down rather than being active, children won't burn as many calories, and so more of their food intake will be stored as fat.
Video Games
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The first home video game consoles became widely used in the early 1970s. Most video games since then have involved sitting on the sofa or the floor, holding a controller or joystick, and watching a TV screen. This sedentary form of entertainment has often replaced playing outside as a child's main recreational activity, leading to less exercise and more weight gain. As video game systems became more sophisticated, the occasional physically oriented game was released: Dance Dance Revolution was one of these. With the advent of Nintendo's Wii system, video games have become more of a physical activity: the controller can be used as a simulated tennis racquet, golf club and other sports equipment. Wii Fit is a game that gives the player a physical workout while measuring fitness levels and weight.
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Unhealthy Eating Habits
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Home-cooked meals have become more of a rarity in recent years. This is due to parents' increasingly busy schedules. Often, both parents must work outside the home to make ends meet, leaving less time for cooking. Kids, too, have packed schedules, attending sports practices, after-school classes and playdates. Sometimes it just seems easier to hit the drive-thru than to make a healthy meal, or pack a premade meal than make a wholesome homemade lunch. Fast food, however, is loaded with fat, sodium and sugar, all of which can contribute to childhood weight gain.
Driving vs. Walking
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Many cities in the U.S. are now geared towards driving rather than walking. Places like school and the grocery store are often too far from home to be walkable. Walking used to be a necessary, built-in everyday exercise for both adults and kids, but now that it's been replaced by car rides, kids are storing the calories they'd otherwise be burning on those short walks.
Prevention/Solution
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Overweight kids have a 70 percent chance of being overweight or obese adults. If one or both of their parents are overweight or obese, their chances grow to 80 percent. It's important to nip this trend in the bud. There are plenty of ways you can combat weight gain in kids. First, limit the time your children spend watching TV. Pick a few shows they can watch, or a time of day when it's okay to have TV time, and keep to those limits. Do the same for video games. If your kids have a video game system that offers physically active games, encourage them to play those games--participate yourself, if that makes it more fun.
Next, fast food doesn't have to be fatty food. Send your kids off to school with food that's both healthy and quick to prepare, like peanut butter sandwiches on whole-grain bread, or carrots and celery with yogurt dip. Pack fruit and granola bars in their lunches instead of giving them premade lunch packs.
If you can, walk places you'd usually drive with your children. If those distances are too great, take recreational walks after school. If your children are old enough, teach them to ride bicycles. You can go longer distances on a bike in a smaller amount of time than you can on foot, making biking a happy medium between driving and walking: it's faster than walking, but much more active than driving, and should help your kids get where they need to go while also burning calories. Make sure they wear the appropriate protective gear while biking. Join them on bike rides for more family active time.
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