Childhood Obesity

Childhood Obesity
Nasstashia Lindsey
Darin Youngs
March 16, 2015

Title: Childhood Obesity
Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about childhood obesity
Audience: General audience
Organizational Pattern: Sequential design
I. Introduction:
A. Attention-getting introduction: Obesity affects one in every three American children ranging from 2-19 and does not discriminate on the basis of race, social status, or any collective standard
B. Thesis statement: Obesity is, easily, America’s fastest growing health concern. This condition, though, is not limited to American adults. Doctors have recently found nearly 13% of all American children suffer from this problem, and the statistic seems to rise each and every year.
C. Establish credibility: As a Healthcare Administration major this topic is very close to me because I will see a lot of this in the field I am studying.

II. Body:
A. What exactly constitutes obesity among children and what might be some causes?
a. Obesity if defined as an abnormal accumulation of body fat that has an adverse effect on health
b. For a child to be considered obese their Body Mass Index (BMI) must be in the 95th percentile
c. Poverty is considered a major factor in the lives of obese children, because fast food is cheaper than healthy choices.
d. Lack of physical activities because kids are into video games and cell phones.

B. Paths being taken or could be taken to better the situation. a. In February 2010, Michelle Obama launched the “let’s move” campaign to end the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation b. Wal-Mart, announced a five-year plan to make the food and beverages it sells healthier and more affordable c. Only by working together collectively can our nation truly succeed in the battle against childhood obesity.
C. What health problems can become a factor? a. Studies show that for the first time in two centuries, the current generation has a shorter life expectancy than their parents. b. Heart disease rates increased in the youth by 10% in the rate of cardiac death among children under the age of 4 c. Type 2 diabetes is the top disease in childhood obesity.

III. Conclusion: by advocating healthy diets, exercise, and education, the rapid increase in childhood obesity throughout the country can be ended.

Reference
Let’s Move.(n.d.). Retrieved March 16, 2015, from www.letsmove.gov
American Dietetic Association. (n.d). Retrieved March 16, 2015, from www.eatright.org