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My SMART goal has been to walk to school and work 5 times a week. I had a good week and accomplished my goal!
This week was full of successes and lacking challenges all around. The only thing I faced that is somewhat of a challenge was one day it was kind of misting out, but that didn't slow me down. Some successes I had were to continue using my i-pod on the walk, makes it go by so much faster. Also, on early mornings I drank coffee in a to-go mug. It hleped keep me warm and awake in class. Lastly, the weather this week cooperated. A couple days were kind of rainy but that was no big deal.
I felt good this week about my success. I actually feel like I made a lifestlye change that is here to stay. I am just so much in the routine of walking and it doesn't bother me at all. My plans for next week are to continue with my current goal. The weather is supposed to start getting cold so that could affect my progress.
Blogged for the Eco-chic Lifestyle Change Week 8 hosted by http://ecochicwithamy.blogspot.com/
What is the Issue?
The issue I am foucusing on is obesity in children and adolescents. Currently 84% of these groups are moving away from the target Healthy People 2010 goal related to childhood obesity, that is a startling amount.
I found the bill H.R.2044, which is the STOP obesity in schools act of 2009. It focuses on reducing the current trend of obese children.
Who is affected by the issue?
I would have to say that the children and adolescents that are obese are affected most by this issue. The young children don't know any better, it is the way they were brought up in this "obese friendly" society today. These kids lose quite a bit from this issue; most importantly they could lose their long term health as a result of diabetes or another nutrition driven disease. They could also lose their self confidence by ending up being not happy with they way they are. Fast food industries and the manufacturers of snack food are the ones that gain from the issue. They care about one thing only, their profit. So they market purposely directly to young children.
What are the consequences?
The consequences for the people most affected are unquestionably the health concerns. Becoming obese in childhood or adolesence can lead to a long life of battling diseases; diabetes, cardiovascular disease, heart disease, being obese is a risk factor for many diseases. Their families will struggle by having to witness their child go through this. The parents also often have a feeling that is their fault that this has happened. Society as a whole will also suffer from this issue. If it continues at this rate, there will be even more fast food chains and junk foods released, since this is what is selling they will continue to make more and more.
What is the economic impact?
The economic impact would not be good, it would consist of people spending, spending, and spending money. First you spend money on overly priced non-nutritious food, then you might have to buy new bigger clothes, then enventually you have to pay for expensive maedical costs. And it would be the consumers, the average families bearing these costs. Once again it would be the manufacturer of the foods and fast food chains that would be benefiting from this spending.
What are the barriers?
A barrier for this issue would be just to change the mindset of the youth. Adolescents would be veyr upset of soda machines were removed from their high school cafeteria, and it would be hard to convince a 5th grader to eat an apple instead of a bag of potato chips. I think the bes way to overcome this barrier would be to take small steps towards it. Gradually transition into providing healthier alternatives in the school lunchrooms, and perhaps begin teaching health classes and stressing human nutrition at an earlier age.
What are the resources?
A powerful resource will have to be just spreading the knowledge about healthy eating and living. These resources could be tapped in a number of ways. Perhaps having a person of authority addressing the importance of the issue, such as a mayor or principal. Another way would be to have programs in the community that promote good health, such as a walk for diabetes. Or even just programs at the schools, such as a week at a school where the kids can't use any electronics so they would be encouraged to be outside and be more active.
What is the history of this issue?
This issue has been gettin steadily worse over the past decades. The percentage of obese children in America has been rising each year. However, there has been past efforts to control childhood obesity. McDonald's and other fast food restaurants began to start offering healthier choices, such as milk and apples instead of soda and french fries. The percentage that children actually choose these healtheir choices is low however. Therefore there has not been much success in controlling the issue.
Allies & Opponents
The list of supporters for this issue would be rather long. Parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, children, adolescents, grandparents, hopefully politicians, and many more would all be in big support of this bill. Most of the people that would oppose the issue would be the people making money off of the way things are going and also non-obese kids/teenagers who don't think this issue affects them.
My recommendation
I would encourage policy makers to vote for the STOP obesity in schools act of 2009. It would hard not to see this epidemic going on all over the country, and to think of the many that would benefit from it. I would plea to the policy-makers to not only help the current struggling children but also do it for future generations.
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