Obesity is a notorious epidemic that has plagued America for decades. In the land of plenty, visitors from near and far usually stare aghast as they are bombarded with jumbo meals. In our world’s infamous ‘fast food nation,’ members of the public have crushed weighing scales and added on hundreds of pounds of processed foods. The issue has not gone unchecked: vigorous exercise plans, more awareness of calorie content and advocacy of healthier lifestyles are all aimed at increasing our collective knowledge of our eating habits and associated health implications. Evidently, more drastic measures need to be taken to eradicate the problem, particularly in children. In the case of an 8-year-old boy from Ohio whose weight surpasses 200 pounds, the solution presented was taking the child and placing him in foster care.
In this specific case his mother chose to ignore numerous warnings from medical professionals, therefore creating an environment detrimental to her child’s health. According to an article on Time.com, experts believe undernourishment is a cause for foster care, and now overnourishment should be too. Nevertheless, is displacing a child from his home a reasonable answer to tackling obesity? The delicacy of confronting an impressionable child’s weight issues goes beyond health risks or physical appearance; displacement could have devastating psychological effects on him as well. While our existing culinary attitudes are certainly to blame for our deteriorating health, the responsibility to instill good eating habits in young children is that of parents. Perhaps society should stress more prevention measures for parents in homes as opposed to passing the puck to complete strangers once the problem is already out of hand.
Navigating a maze of unhealthy food advertisements, a growing culture of nutrition needing to be fast and convenient and a penchant for cheap, processed food only perpetuates obesity in our culture. Therefore, it is imperative that adults take responsibility for protecting their children from being doomed to a life of much larger health complications. Should nothing be done, there is no doubt that we will bear witness to many more cases like this one. And with the recent classification of pizza sauce as a ‘vegetable,’ there is no doubt that this is an uphill battle. Let’s hope people can preserve their internal organs well enough to make the climb.
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