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Teen nutrition in America has changed drastically since 146. Some of the
things that have caused this change are the initiation of a school lunch
program, sedentary lifestyles, and changes in the type of food that people eat.
This has resulted in obesity, type II diabetes at an earlier age, and eating
disorders.
The nation's school lunch program was issued in 146. It opened in order for
schools to "improve the nutritional health of the nation's children" (American
Kids Diet of Danger). It is said that the lunch program feeds about 7 million
kids and over 4,000 schools every year. Right after the lunch program started,
people were eating healthier, but this didn't last long. After about two years,
the lunch program began to decline in how healthy it was. Nowadays, schools
serve salty snacks and fatty foods. One of the reasons that schools serve these
kinds of food is because "schools get high fat foods for free or little amounts
of money, but for the less fat foods, they have to pay large amounts of money."
"On the average of the school lunches everyday, about 40% of the food is fat"
(American Kids Diet of Danger). Teens really don't eat fruits and veggies at
all "except perhaps the iceberg lettuce sandwiched between the slice of tomato
and the pickle decorating the hamburger they purchased at the local fast-food
restaurant" (Krebs-Smith, 81-86).
In 160, President Kennedy proposed that all schools in the United States were
to exercise everyday. In Kennedy's speech he stated, "…All of you as
individuals and as groups will participate in strengthening the physical
well-being of boys and girls…" Before he gave his speech, people had been eating
on a 'meat and potato' diet. They ate fries, burgers, and shakes and didn't
care anything about it. President Kennedy saw this and also the fact that
children were not exercising as much as they needed to. After a while the
exercising too became a low priority. Although people might think of it as a
low priority, it most definitely isn't. The more you exercise, the more
calories you burn. Also, exercising daily can reduce the chances of blood clots
and heart diseases (American Kids Diet of Danger).
Today, the nutrition of teens has also been affected because the school PE
requirements have changed. Some people may ask, "why exercise?" Well,
exercising burns off calories and according to a survey in American Averages,
some of the more obvious reasons that make sense to teens include "being able to
better maintain weight loss, improving balance and coordination, and gaining
more control over one's life." "…Exercise also helps maintain and improve
flexibility, offering such benefits as increased concentration and energy in
sports and outdoor activities (Frissell and Harney, -100)." The only state
that still requires exercise every day is the state of Illinois. Thus, meaning
that most students of the United States are not physically fit. Studies show
that "about 40% of kids from the age of six to seventeen cannot do a pull up…"
and that "girls about fifteen years ago were able to run a 50 yard dash faster
than girls today" (American Kids Diet of Danger). Other studies show that more
than one third of all meals are eaten away from home, with the majority of these
meals eaten at fast-food restaurants.
Because of the nutrition levels being so low, people are becoming obese. More
and more people are becoming obese because of eating too much, exercising too
little, poor eating habits, and heredity. Eating too much does necessarily mean
the amount of food that you consume, it means eating too much of the wrong kinds
of food. For example, if one were to eat half a salad, vegetable soup, rolls
and cookies for dinner, the person would probably not become obese. But on
the other hand if one ate slice of pizza, breadsticks, and ice cream, one
might become obese over a long period of time. Exercising too little can also
be a cause of obesity. Without moving around and being active your body cannot
burn off excess calories that one has gained. "American teenagers spend about
twenty-two hours a week watching television and playing video games. Some
experts have found that watching lots of television can be connected to obesity.
Teens who watch lots of television expend less energy and are less physically
fit than teens that watch less television. So, it is no surprise that 1
percent of teens, age twelve to nineteen, are overweight" (Update, 1).
Exercising is also important because it boosts the body's metabolism. Two
people can be the same size and eat the same amount of calories, but one is
overweight and one isn't. This is because the overweight person does not get
exercise and burn off calories and the thinner one either has more muscle or
exercises more. Another explanation for the recent upsurge in obesity is the
change in eating habits of Americans. More people are eating at fast food
restaurants, which are usually extremely high in calories. Also, people are
eating on the run and need to eat so one grabs a bag of chips, cookies, or other
high fat snacks. One of the last things that can lead to obesity is heredity.
"Scientists in the past five years have discovered an important hormone called
"leptin." This natural substance appeared to trigger a slimming process when
given to rats. It appeared to boost energy levels so the rats ate less food.
As a result, the obese rats became normal weight. Incorrect levels of leptin in
the body may be linked to the inheritance of obesity. (Frissell/ Harney, 14)."
One effect of obesity is type II diabetes. Little states in her book that
"Excess fat interferes with the work of insulin. Insulin receptors become less
sensitive to the hormone's presence. The receptors also become defective and no
longer securely bind insulin molecules to the exterior cell walls. Without a
secure binding, the insulin cannot effectively draw glucose from the bloodstream
and transmit it to the cell's interior. Glucose levels remain high, which
triggers the beta cells to produce even more insulin" (47). This means that fat
in an obese person's body makes it hard for the body to get the amount of
insulin it needs because the fat is building up and blocking the passage that
the insulin flows through. If people started exercising more, and eating
healthier foods, there might not be as many obese people and type II diabetics.
These days, the society and media of everyday life is bombarding people. Young
people today are increasingly overwhelmed by countless "perfect" body images on
TV, in the movies, and throughout magazines. Many teenagers compare themselves
to these unrealistic standards and lead to the conclusion that they are losers
because of how overweight they feel. The feeling that they are losers leads to
eating disorders.
The three eating disorders are known as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and
binge eating disorder. Estimates are that one of every two hundred females
ages ten to thirty years suffers from the serious eating disorder known as
anorexia nervosa. Anorexia has appalling drastic results, for instance, the
sight of a once-lovely teenager, now skin and bones, looking like a refugee from
a concentration camp. Even more shocking is to hear this person insist that she
is "too fat" and needs to lose more weight, so he or she starves himself or
herself. Another eating disorder is bulimia nervosa. A teenager with bulimia
looks normal, because he or she does not become more emaciated as does an
anorexic. This is because the methods to lose weight do not work very well,
though the impact on the person's health is very real. Recovering bulimic
people have to spend a lot of money on repairs to their teeth from vomiting.
The last eating disorder is the binge eating disorder. Experts know the least
about binge eating. It is like the other eating disorders because it involves
feelings of low self-worth, guilt, shame, and powerlessness. It is most like
bulimia because it involves eating large amounts of food in short amounts of
time and using food to soothe or distract himself or herself from painful events
or feelings. An expert summarizes it as "If a person can focus on weight, body
size or food, she doesn't have to focus on problems that seem unsolvable. She
doesn't have to find appropriate problem-solving skills. She has the 'perfect
solution' to decrease painful feelings…at least temporarily" (Frissell/ Harney,
0). However, unlike the bulimia, someone with binge-eating disorder does not
try to purge the food by vomiting or exercising. As a result, someone with this
disorder may become overweight.
In conclusion, teenagers in America are facing such things as obesity, type II
diabetes, and eating disorders as a result of changes in lifestyle and eating
habits of this country over the past 56 years. Some of the things that have
affected these changes are the initiation of a school lunch program, sedentary
lifestyles, and changes in the type of food that people eat. Simple changes
such as eating healthier foods and being more physically active could improve
quality of life and avoid life-threatening diseases.
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