Thesis

Childhood obesity seems to be becoming more prevalent in today’s society. It’s reported more often in the media. The Free Medical Dictionary online defines obesity as “an abnormal accumulation of body fat, usually 20% or more over an individual's ideal body weight. Obesity is associated with increased risk of illness, disability, and death.” The number of obese people in the United States seems to be increasing more rapidly than before. The article “Changing the Tide of Childhood Obesity” written by Zephyr Crenshaw shows that since 1980 the percent of obese children between the ages of 6 and 11 has increased 6.5 percent, almost 14 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 5, and a little bit over 17 percent of children 12 to 19 years of age. How can our society stop these percentages from increasing? Our society needs to lead healthy lifestyles because the children are looking at us as role models and are copying what we do.