Search Results for: blog childhood obesity

Global Obesity Bigger Concern than Hunger

I often blog about hunger in my Green blog because not only are people all over the world going without food, there is hunger in America as well.  But, I also realize now that sometimes the lack of food also doesn’t mean out-and-out hunger but a lack of healthy food and some people who are from food-insecure homes are actually overweight. That may have something to do with a recent study conducted by almost 500 researchers for the Global Burden of Disease that said that globally, obesity is a bigger health concern than hunger. One of the co-authors of the … Continue reading →

Study Shows Link Between Sleep, Obesity, and Learning Problems

A study finds that there is a connection between lack of sleep, learning difficulties, and childhood obesity. The existence of one of these three factors increases the risk that a child will also experience the other two factors. It could mean that reducing one factor can decrease the risk of developing the other two. A study was done at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. It included 351 elementary school kids. The average age of the children in this study was eight years old. There were some variables that were the same with all of the children in … Continue reading →

Special Needs Children and Obesity

I have heard a lot of talk about obesity in children. Advice to prevent that ranges from “feed your child better foods” to “turn off the video games”. Parents of kids who have certain special needs require more tools than those pieces of advice. Your child’s medications could be affecting his or her weight. Kids that are extremely overweight, or obese, face certain health risks. They may develop insulin resistance, hypertension, or type 2 diabetes. These kids could be experiencing sleep apnea, which means that they are unable to get restful sleep. Some children who are overweight will begin puberty … Continue reading →

Another Reason Why Obesity Runs In Your Family

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Obesity is one of the health conditions that runs in families. Some of the reasons why are environmental, and have to do with patterns of behavior that a person learns from his or her family. Other factors that influence obesity have to do with genetics. Researchers have found what they are calling the “master switch” gene for obesity. It has been established that if a person consumes more calories than the person burns, that this will lead to weight gain. We live in a society where it is easy to get large quantities of fast food for a very low … Continue reading →

Rare Genetic Deficiency Causes Obesity In One of a Pair of Twins

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Are their twins in your family? I’ve heard it said that the possibility of having twins tends to run in families, but there is some debate about if that is fact or fiction. It’s also been said that obesity tends to run in families. A rare genetic condition has caused a teenage twin in the UK to be obese, even though the other twin is not obese. Could both of those genetic factors run in families? There are two types of twins: identical, and fraternal. Identical twins share the exact same DNA with one another. A pair of identical twins … Continue reading →

Childhood Obesity

It has been estimated that 1 out of 5 children is overweight. That is alarming. Childhood obesity is becoming the norm rather than the exception. As a mom of a child who is “at risk of being overweight”, I know how quickly this can happen and how diligent we need to be with portion control and what foods our children eat. My pediatrician told me on my child’s annual visit that he has the talk about childhood obesity at least five times or more a day. The Obesity Society says that childhood obesity is regarded as the most common prevalent … Continue reading →

National Campaigns to Fight Childhood Obesity

It all started with Michelle Obama. Her “Let’s Move” campaign kicked off earlier this year with the hope of helping to stop childhood obesity. Now the effort is expanding to include some famous stars that many kids look up to. Last Saturday was the “Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day” which announced its fitness campaign for kids. Some of the stars that came out and hope to be a positive influence in the importance of a fit lifestyle included: Jonas Brothers, Tony Hawk, Demi Lovato and former American Idol contestant David Archuleta. In addition there other top sports figures like Roger Federer, … Continue reading →

Obesity Affecting Our Police Force

Obesity has become such a problem in America that it’s even affecting our police force. I recently read a story about police officers who are failing their physicals, having to retake them. To be honest, considering what we expect from police officers I was very surprised. Their physical is not that difficult, in light of what we expect them to do for our cities and towns, in protecting us. These fitness exams consisted of push-ups, one and a half mile run, obstacle course and a flexibility test. For someone who is going out to serve and protect, this really doesn’t … Continue reading →

Avoiding Childhood Obesity

Helping your children to make good food choices when they are young will help them to avoid future health problems and specifically problems with childhood obesity. From the day that they are born you are your child’s first teacher. It is only normal that they would want to mimic the people that they love most in this world—their parents. Your children will learn how to establish healthy eating habits most directly from you. Although it is tempting to grab a high-calorie, empty food snack try to avoid this whenever possible, especially when your children are around. During mealtimes, eat as … Continue reading →

Avoiding obesity in the teen years

By the time your kids get to their teens years, they have taken over control of their schedules, and keeping them active is a feat of monstrous proportions. With today’s’ technological advancements, they are much more content to stay inside than we were at their age. They are attached to their computers, video games, and cell phones. There is no need to visit with friends or to go outside and play. Back when I was a teen, I walked two miles to the library, or a half mile to my friends house and then took the stairs to her fourth … Continue reading →