Unhealthy Eating

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Diet is the most critical factor in the health of an individual. Eating healthy foods allows us to live a full and healthy life. A healthy diet means less visit s to the doctor and a more comfortable lifestyle. It is no secret that today more than ever, many people’s diets are unhealthy and this has resulted in infinite problems. The most worrying fact is perhaps the fact that even young children are overweight or obese, and this is a sure sign of serious health problems in their future. Are we helpless in this situation? Most of the research carried out has clearly outlined the causes of unhealthy diets and what can be done to avoid it. Despite all this, little has been done to adequately address the matter. Coming up with a solution will involve scrutiny of the causes of unwholesome diets such as advertising and poor regulation as well as what can be done to improve the situation.

A lot of articles and journals have highlighted the issue of obesity and overweight in many regions of the world, and Canada is among these countries. Children today would rather have MacDonald’s for dinner rather than eat vegetables. The children grow up not knowing the value of healthy feeding habits, and this will cost them dearly in the future. An iPolitics journal sheds light on the direness of the situation stating, “In Canada, an unhealthy diet is the single leading risk factor for death. Millions of Canadians have diet-related disease, costing the public purse about $26 billion in 2015.”(Bronson & Reynolds 2018). Such a statement should be enough to galvanize the whole country into action, but this is regrettably not the case.

To further highlight the seriousness of the debate on healthy diets, we shall begin by examining some of the effects of unhealthy food. “Nearly half of all adults have preventable chronic diseases attributable to modifiable risk factors. Promoting healthier lifestyles for all—rich and poor—could cut deaths from cancer, diabetes, and heart disease in half.” (Gostin 2016). These include obesity and overweight, which makes it difficult for a person to carry out the most mundane tasks such as walking up a flight of stairs, taking a walk or cleaning their home. Obesity leads to further health complication such as heart disease, high cholesterol levels, hypertension, among many other life-threatening conditions. Being overweight also lowers a person’s self-esteem considerably, and this is prevalent among children. In school, children can be bullied for their weight, and such children’s confidence will plummet, affecting their performance in school. Interaction with other people even among adults is awkward for obese people as they have a negative self-image. Experiences like this can cause depression among the obese and the overweight, further complicating the situation. From all these, it is clear that unhealthy diets will prove to be quite costly in the long run.

It is clear that this problem begins right at home. It is the duty of parents to ensure that their kids take balanced diets with an adequate amount of fruits, vegetables, milk, and other nutritious foods. Balanced, healthy diets will ensure that the children grow as they should and develop healthy bodies and a strong immune system. Parents are often too busy at work and leave the matter f taking care of their children to nannies who care little what the children eat. When the parents come home from work exhausted, they do not have the energy to fight with their young ones on eating vegetables and fruits. It is a known fact that children find fruits and vegetables distasteful, but it is all about maintaining a healthy diet and teaching them the importance of a balanced amount of all kinds of food. “Intervention studies suggest that parents are often the key to successfully changing child eating behaviors, and many interventions focus on feeding.” (Miller et al. 2018)

The media also plays a huge role in promoting unhealthy habits, and this primarily affects gullible young children and young people. Cartoon characters can often be observed talking about pizza, ice-cream, burgers, candy, chocolates among others, and this leads the kids to glorify such kinds of diet and consider them to be cool. Children are known to have a preference for salty and sugary foods as explained by a study. “Children are especially vulnerable to current food environments because they have a biological preference for salty and sweet foods. Children’s recognition of food brand logos increases with age, and overweight children are more likely to recognize fast food restaurant logos compared with other food logos.” (Kraak & Story 2015). With constant badgering and advertisements form fast food franchises such as the world-famous MacDonald’s, it is no wonder children demand food from these places. This also affects teens and young adults who are faced with peer pressure in choosing the kinds of diet they take.

Some of the suggested solutions include regulating media on the kind of diet they promote especially to young children. Advertisement for fast food should be minimized especially around children such as n kids programs. Efforts should also be made in encouraging healthy diets; for example, a well-known cartoon character can encourage the kids to take a daily portion of fruits and vegetables. The influence that these cartoon characters and other influential kid’s figures have on their choices should not be underestimated. A child may refuse to listen to their parents but look to their favorite cartoon character. “The IOM and US White House Task Force (WHTF) to Prevent Childhood Obesity recommended that licensed cartoon characters should be used only to promote healthy foods to children.” (Kraak & Story 2015).

Parents and teachers also have a significant role to play towards instilling the value of healthy diets in children. Kids should be taught for a young age how important it is to take healthy foods even when they are not the sweetest. Children should be motivated by explaining the benefits of balanced diets which include good health, positive self-image and the ability to go about their daily life with ease. Some obese and overweight children find it challenging to run around in the playground with their peers, and this might make others make fun of them, thus lowering their self-esteem. Teachers can influence eating behavior among children by persuading them to take up healthy eating as a lifestyle. Healthy foods including vegetables and fruits should be served in school cafeterias.

The government should take actions such as increasing taxes on some types of food that contain high levels of surer, sodium and starch. The effectiveness of this measures is highlighted in a World Health Organization publication, “In practice, a tax of about 10% on sugar-sweetened beverages in Mexico and an increase in the tax on such beverages in Chile, from 13% to 18%, are both estimated to have reduced national consumption by about 7%” (Thow et al. 2018). Other government regulations should also come in the form of labeling requirements where packaging shoes that a product contains higher than recommended levels of a nutrient.

Unhealthy diets have a significant impact on all areas of our lives from our mental, physical and social wellbeing. The root of the problem is the home where parents and guardians slack off in ensuring that their kids get a balanced and healthy diet. If this is allowed to continue and is reinforced by aggressive advertising of fast food and peer pressure, the risk of diseases and other challenges grows by the day. Everybody has a role to play form parents, teachers and the government. Public awareness and promotion of healthy ways of living including diets are essential in combating the global menace of obesity that results mainly from unhealthy diets.

References

Bronson, D. & Reynolds, J. (2018). Big ideas or Big Food? It’s time for Canada’s Healthy Eating Strategy. iPolitics.Retrieved from https://ipolitics.ca/2018/11/05/big-ideas-or-big-food-its-time-for-canadas-healthy-eating-strategy/Gostin, L. O. (2016). “Big Food” Is Making America Sick. The Milbank Quarterly, 94(3), 480.

Kraak, V. I., & Story, M. (2015). Influence of food companies’ brand mascots and entertainment companies’ cartoon media characters on children’s diet and health: a systematic review and research needs. Obesity reviews, 16(2), 107-126.

Miller, A. L., Miller, S. E., & Clark, K. M. (2018). Child, Caregiver, Family, and Social-Contextual Factors to Consider when Implementing Parent-Focused Child Feeding Interventions. Current nutrition reports, 7(4), 303-309.

Thow, A. M., Downs, S. M., Mayes, C., Trevena, H., Waqanivalu, T., & Cawley, J. (2018). Fiscal policy to improve diets and prevent noncommunicable diseases: from recommendations to action. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 96(3), 201.