Our most absurd conditions often present themselves through routine occurrences. Recently I had such an experience while driving my Metro bus.
I stopped to pick up passengers, then glanced at a nearby news-stand headline on childhood malnutrition. As riders boarded my coach, a heavy woman with her similarly proportioned children commanded that I lower the bus. My perplexed expression must have invited her subsequent outburst. "OK, so I am fat!" she growled. Startled by her blunt yet accurate assessment, I hastened to comply with her demand.
Watching this mom and her brood struggle to board the bus, juxtaposed with the news article, epitomized the Grand Canyon-sized dichotomy between obesity here vs. starvation in the impoverished world.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of body fat: 25 percent for boys and 32 percent for girls, numbers that have been rising precipitously. In comparison to children four decades ago, obesity is now three times more prevalent. The three-headed culprits-lack of exercise, sedentary activities and poor eating habits-go a long way in accounting for our children's bulging waistlines.
The implications of this health problem are alarming. These children are at risk for an array of serious medical complications, including Type II diabetes, pediatric hypertension and liver disease. Obesity contributes to daytime sleepiness as well as adding stress to the body joints, thus increasing the chance for injuries.
Less obvious yet equally debilitating are the psychological impacts associated with obesity. These kids are magnets for ridicule and bullying from other children. As a result, many overweight youngsters shun active group play in favor of more sedentary routines. To compound matters, these youngsters tend to placate their feelings of unhappiness by eating high-calorie comfort foods, creating a vicious cycle of more weight gain and a worsening sense of hopelessness.
For parents who do not encourage an active lifestyle and the eating of nutritious foods, the chances for weight loss among their obese offspring are quite low. Schools that are entrusted to help our kids often exacerbate this phenomenon of childhood obesity. Since President Bush's 2001 "No Child Left Behind" Act (which requires students to be at grade level for math and reading), many schools have curtailed physical education (PE) in an effort to improve academic performance.
The emphasis on testing at the expense of PE will actually have the opposite effect. In Eric Jensen's book "Enriching the Brain," the author demonstrates that regular physical activity stimulates the brain, enhances memory and improves problem-solving skills-all essential components for successful learning.
Second only to smoking as the most expensive health care cost, obesity is a malady that impacts us all. According to the CDC, around 12 percent of our national medical bills, or $93 billion, goes toward obesity related disorders. In the wake of our looming health care crisis, where millions of people have no medical insurance, the idea of spending billions in treating an essentially preventable health malady is a bit much to swallow.
In gross contrast to obesity-our dilemma of affluence-are the millions of yearly childhood deaths occurring in much of our underdeveloped world. A Cornell University report determined that under nutrition resulted in more than half of the child deaths worldwide. Children who are under nourished have depressed immune systems, putting them in mortal danger from common childhood ailments like diarrhea and respiratory infections. This report concluded that ensuring every child is well nourished-which is both scientifically and economically feasible-would reduce dramatically the number of children dying needlessly.
The pursuit of knowledge without action is pointless. Reminders of this contradiction between children in need of less food to thrive, vs. children needing more food to live, are everywhere. As individuals, we have the capacity to address our current Dr. Suess-like state of affairs by simply living healthy so that others can simply live.
Central Area writer Joe Kadushin may be reached via editor-@sdistrictjournal.com.[[In-content Ad]]
