Childhood Obesity Persuasive Essay

1239 Words5 Pages

The epidemic regarding nutrition may seem like it only affects poverty-stricken third world countries, unable to acquire food due to their monetary circumstances. This belief must be put to rest, because by turning a blind eye to the nutritional issues that we as Americans (or any other first world country) face, we’ll be unable to resolve nutritional obstacles and misconceptions. Although the connotation is ever changing, the term “nutrition”, as of 2016, is commonly associated with exclusively eating fruits and vegetables, while simultaneously excluding all types of gluten. sugars, and dairy. With easy access to social media, today’s millennials are able to follow celebrity diets, promoting the idea that losing 20 pounds in two weeks is …show more content…

In the past 30 years, childhood obesity has doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents, and its growth is steadily going upwards. The causation behind this upward trend can be blamed on a multitude of new variables in society. To begin, the popularization of fast foods in today's media has allowed companies easily target to young customers and promote their unhealthy products (“Childhood Obesity”). Childhood obesity doesn’t only cause physical problems like cardiovascular diseases and joint problems, but it can also be detrimental to a child's self esteem and psychology overall. With society promoting the ideal figure through various social media outlets, studies show that children are beginning to diet as young as the age of 10 (Moorhead). Body anxiety has had a recent spike in younger generations over the years and this can lead to future eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nerviosa. Statistics show that over the past three years, nearly 600 children under the age of 13 were treated for eating disorders in England with more than 1,500 children being between the ages of 12 and 15. (“Children’s Eating”). The belief that cutting calories equates to reducing the growth of child obesity is false due and generally leads to eating disorders in the long run (“Fatal