In today’s society, childhood obesity is becoming an issue that can no longer be ignored. The reasons behind this problem are numerous, starting from the education children receive at home. This essay will discuss the factors that lead to childhood obesity and the measures individuals and governaments may take in order to tackle this issue.
Nowadays, life has become more and more frenetic. In a such fast moving world, some important things such as eating habits can be overlooked. In fact, finding time to cook healthy home-made meals is a real challenge, especially for parents who have to take care of their children and deal with work duties at the same time. Most of the time, buying already cooked food at the supermarket or fast food can be seen as a conventient option in matter of time. In this way, kids are exposed to a not nutritious diet and, without parents’ supervision, they may continue to choose junk food over healthier options. However, this matter does not limitate to households. On the countrary, because of frequent cuts to schools, canteens may provide less vegetables and fruit and increase the usage of low-quality food, which may contain high levels of sugar. These factor may result in the growth of obesity rates in children.
In order to face these problems, individuals can start by preparing meals in advance. Once ingredients are bought, parents can plan their weekly meals, cook them and freeze them. In this way, food that requires time to be prepared, can be unfreezed and eaten right away. In addition, the governament should start an awareness campain aimed to influence consumers purchases towards an healthier life-style. The governament should also reduce the cuts and invest in providing better quality food to schools’ canteens. Finally, some sport programs should be promoted in schools, allowing students to exercise at least twice a week for free.
In conclusion, it is parents and instituions’ responsibility to guide kids towards a healthier diet and physical education. As for the parents, time can not be used as an excuse to overlook this matter: through planned meals, they will be aware of the food their kids are consuming. On the other hand, school’s canteens should be regarded as a priority by the government, which should invest more.