Advocacy Project: Concepts Relating to Obesity in America Learning Activity

PURPOSE:

To make aware ideas, concepts, and facts that correlate with obesity and to bring about the seriousness of the disease.  And also to comprehend the idea that the trend of obesity is steadily rising and something needs to be put into place to hault this trend.

BACKGROUND/REASONING/EVIDENCE: 

There is a vast amount of information known about obesity and the negative aspects that come along with it.  According to Down to Earth, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that obesity in adults have increased by 60% within the past twenty years and obesity in children have tripled in the past thirty years.  This is a crazy incline that needs to be turned around!  Unfortunealty, obesity-related deaths have increased to more than 300,000 a year, which is second to tobacco-related deaths.  Down to Earth states in their article that Native Hawaiians have the highest rate of obesity, being that 20% of Hawaiian children are overweight.

As the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry states, through techological advancement, America has found ways to produce food in large amounts, leading the quality of food to lessen drastically.  The highly processed foods are loaded with sugar and hydrogenated oils, which are not good for our bodies.  Another terrible statistic is that the average child sees more than 10,000 food ads on TV each year, most for high-fat, high-calorie, and high-sugar meals.  Children's socialization skills are also greatly hindered when they are overweight, as they usually are the ones at school to be made fun of, leading to these impairments.

Accoriding to ObesityinAmerican.org gives plenty of facts about obesity in America.  One being that a raging 33% of children in the USA are obese!  That means 1 out of 3 children are considered to be abnormally overweight!  It also brings about the fact that social economic status is greatly correlated with the risk of becoming obese.  It is also important to realize that obesity is a life long treatment, so it should be concerned as a serious issue.  There are many complications obese people face, such as hypertension, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, high cholesterol, etc.  Some physical complications can results in difficulties breathing, walking or running, pain in knees and back, increased sweating, and gallstones.



Netdoctor suggests that there are a couple causes of obesity including: overeating, irregular meals, lack of daily physical activity, and hereditary genes.

INSTRUCTIONS:

I had originally planned to create a word find for these facts and definitions, but sadly this post would not let me copy and paste the puzzle I made into this document.....so here is plan B....

After reading the above summary of the reliable links and resources I found, please take the time to answer these seven questions dealing with obesity in America today, by referring to the above information (there is no need to click on the links, I summarized the articles for you).


1.)  Obesity can cause ________________ referred to as high blood pressure and can harm the arteries.

2.)  ______________ are highest at risk for obesity.

3.)  _____ percent of children in the US are considered obese.

4.)  Obesity is a _______   ________ treament.

5.)  Obese children's __________________ skills are greatly hindered, mainly due to the disease.

6.)  _________   ___________ is positively correlated with the risk of becoming obese.

7.)  Increased consumption of ____________ foods have assisted to rise the trend of obesity.

*If I can figure out how to get my word find puzzle on this post, you should try that out as well!