Blog Feed

Childhood Obesity

Children in America are becoming fat. “Childhood obesity is best tackled at home through improved parental involvement, increased physical exercise, better diet and restraint from eating.”  33 percent of children and teens are currently obese.  Obesity is among the easiest medical conditions to recognize but most difficult to treat.  Parents feed their children technically twice a day. They feed them breakfast and dinner, but even though they are not there during the school day, (they can control what their child is eating in between the time.) What they can't control are the snacks they eat while they're not in their parents supervision. Unhealthy weight gain due to poor diet and lack of exercise is responsible for over 300,000 deaths each year.The reason most children in America are becoming obese is either because they are following in their parents footsteps or they have no control of the food they are eating.Excess weight and obesity in childhood and adolescence has become a serious public health concern in the United States.  Most  of a child’s diet is controlled by the parents, parents should be held responsible for childhood obesity.

Weight loss is not a good approach for most young children, since their bodies are growing and developing. A restrictive diet may not supply the energy and nutrients needed for a normal growth and development. Parents and caregivers can help prevent childhood obesity by providing healthy meals and snacks, daily physical activity, and nutrition education. Increased physical activity reduces health risks and helps weight management.This is an easy way of maintaining your childs diet because between the ages of 6-13 because around those ages whatever your parent does more than likely,your child will also.Parents play a role model in their childs life.By excersising and making it fun, cutting down snacks and junk food this will play a good role and great beginning in there childs life. There is a lack of ready access to healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein.  Families in poorer communities often live in “food deserts” where supermarkets and grocery stores are scarce or charge higher prices for healthy foods than processed foods. Families with less income must often rely on convenience stores and small neighborhood stores that offer few, if any, healthy food choices. To make matters worse, many underserved communities, particularly in urban areas, have an overabundance of fast food establishments that are often located near schools and playgrounds.Parents also need to monitor amount of calories their child consumes.By the age of 13 an average child should be consuming 1,600 calories a day, and a more active child should consume about 2,000.  However, children began consuming more calories in 2007-2008, they began consuming 16 to 20% more calories a day. Surprisingly for an average child to become obese they need to consume 64 calories more than a normal child per day. By applying proper nutrition, better eating habits and physical activity, any child can live a healthy life.     

Artist Statement  

It was a beautiful day in April at the outdoor flea market outside of the Eastern State Penitentiary when I first saw it. In the 2 years I had been attending this flea market I had never seen anything like it. It was love at first sight, radiant as it sat on the old creaky side table while its owner argued about prices and worth. It had so much history, someone’s “suitcase”, the box that once held their belongings, held in their nervous, excited palms, sweating with anticipation. I love thinking of the stories behind the person that left me with this object; the solid clink of metal as the gold clasps are undone, the smell of adventures, dreams and people forgotten escaping through the cracks. I believe this is much more than just a box, it once carried someone on a journey.  Whether they were just taking a vacation or running from the CIA makes no difference to me. I now carry my life in it, (though I don’t actually carry it around in my room) it holds everything that I cherish in life. I am creating my own history with it.

This box represents me because it has a certain nomadic presence to it, like at any moment you could fill it up with a few things and just go. Thats how I feel I am, like I could pick up my things and go anywhere that the wind would take me. The lights represent my future. When I open the box and the lights come on it makes me think about my life in the future. I think about the places I want to travel to, the experiences I want to have, the job I want to have, and who I want to become. I also like that the lights will illuminate all of the things that I place in that box that I value. The objects have to do with my present and past which will consequently affect my future.

I love the quote by Lana del Rey, “I belonged to no one who belonged to everyone, who had nothing who wanted everything with a fire for every experience and an obsession for freedom that terrified me to the point that I couldn't even talk about and pushed me to a nomadic point of madness that both dazzled and dizzied me.”  I feel like this box represents the freedom to do anything and go anywhere.

In today's job market, education is what counts. Having a college degree will make or break a resume. As demand for higher education rises, so does the difficulty of getting it, everyday, colleges are flooded with thousands of applications, the majority of which they must sadly decline. The criteria for acceptance has varied over the years, today it is those with the most attractive background who get accepted. While this is very good for encouraging diversity in the classroom, it is actually a discriminatory act. By only accepting a certain number of students from each category, they are denying students from each category the chance at getting in. Colleges should look at the resume of a student before viewing the name or race, so that there is no bias based on the applicants background.