29. Commonplace Article

I read an article “Fat and Happy,” written on the Commonplace website by Jennifer Gallat. This article focused on the relevant issue of obesity. Obesity is a growing problem in the United States and the issue is starting with the current generation. Children these days are eating unhealthy foods and gaining weight at a very young age. The problem is partially the parent’s fault. Many parents will feed their kids fast food because of the obvious reason; it’s fast! Also most food in school cafeterias is horrible for children and has almost no nutritional value. We need to focus on teaching the new generation how to be healthy because they are the ones should be caring for their parents in the future. At this rate, children today are expected to live on average five years less than their parents. Children look up to their parents and other adults. If the older generation takes initiative and starts to make changes, they can teach the younger generation ways to be healthy. Obesity is costing the Unites States about 150 billion dollars every year. The cost of type 2 Diabetes that overweight children develop is a main contributor to that amount. Kids these days spend most of their time sitting at home on the couch watching TV or playing video games. Not many children are getting the recommended amount of activity daily. Obesity is the number one preventable cause of death so we need to be proactive and help our kids stay healthy!