National Childhood Obesity Month

National Childhood Obesity Month: Something that needs to be addressed during EVERY month of the year!

Living life in the eyes of a child does not include daily calorie counting, cardio exercise, and always eating your vegetables.  Things like this didn’t seem vital when it came to raising children half a century ago, but the reality of today’s society is highlighting the importance of teaching children to eat healthy and get a daily dose of exercise. In 2010, President Obama declared September as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and the research behind this wave of obesity responsiveness and prevention is astounding.

Over the past thirty years, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. Just sixty minutes of active movement each day makes a gigantic difference to a child’s health but proper exercise is only half the battle. Obesity is an imbalance between calories in food and drink and calories burned (exercise and daily activity).  Major contributors of a food consumption imbalance now compared to then include larger portion sizes, routine snacking before meals, and higher calorie foods.

There are many serious medical conditions that correlate with children and weight problems and they can include: diabetes, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, and asthma. Although many of these facts can seem a bit alarming, the good news is many organizations including The Community Health Center, Inc. are creating programs to target  childhood obesity in exciting ways.

Recess Rocks is a program partnered with CHC that delivers twenty to thirty minutes of fun, dynamic movement to a student’s day and contributes to their motivation of being healthy and staying fit. Michelle Obama also founded the national campaign called “Let’s Move” promoting a healthier generation for kids.

Childhood Obesity can be a sensitive subject to address towards the younger demographic and it is still a new phenomenon that many parents might have questions about. To address this, our Patient Files cover some of the underlying facts that are grouped together with Childhood Obesity such as “body mass index” (BMI), other harmful factors, and ways to prevent obesity. For more information on Recess Rocks, the Community Health Center, Inc. program, you can check out their website at http://recessrocks.com/