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Does Childhood Obesity Really Reflect On What Vending Machines Offer?

There are many problems with our kid’s diets in today's age. Although determining the scope to what causes these problems can be very difficult. Many people might blame the parents, but many try to blame the snacks. It may seem a bit unnerving to blame the source, instead of the cause. Perhaps many people think it is safer to blame the snacks instead, the snacks cannot really give a defense, or a response. It is most likely easier to blame the source then, because the source is something tangible and able to be felt. Blaming the parents might lead to arguments or problems not otherwise found with blaming something else. I am not trying to say the parents are the main cause of childhood obesity. However, I am trying to stipulate that there are many different causes of it. These causes could be a combination of things that lead to your child becoming obese.

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So, what really is the problem? The problem is that we as a community of individuals see that our kid’s health is failing for some reason. We see that many kids are simply overweight or have other dietary problems. Now first, we must really discern if this problem. It may sound outrageous to even think this is not a problem. However, let us look at the honest facts. They are as follows. Kids have always been known to eat badly, no matter what the condition or time period. I am not saying all kids haven had bad diets throughout eternity. What I am saying is that kids generally opt for something unhealthy. Kids simply love good tasting food. It is not unlike parents who like tasty food. After all, it is sort of a human quality. We do not really want to eat food that displeases our tastes buds. If you think about it, the only time we really had (or were required to) eat food we probably did not like was when we existed in much earlier times. In hunting and gathering groups, we searched for food that only we could find or hunt ourselves. Thus, we see two different times in the human existence. One time, where we had to live and in order to live we ate food that we could find and hunt. The other, a time where we eat food for leisure, for fun or how good it tastes.

Additionally, look at all the products that came out of our humanly conditioned eating habits. Stuff like foie gras, bacon, chocolate, potato chips, steak... am I making you hungry yet? Obviously, this list should make you hungry. Because after all, we have created this stuff for that main reason. So we cannot really blame the source can we? If we have created food for the benefit of our leisure. Is that not the focus for tasty food? We want to please our appetites with something well made, or aesthetic. Some people may generalize by saying, "but these vending machines give our kids super fatty, salty or sugary things!" I say, well of course they do! I guess there might be a problem with generalizations in the fact that they generalize and do not really focus on the problem. I mean to say that, do we think kids are a bunch of uncontrolled beast-like humans that will automatically and always choose something unhealthy because they just want to please their appetites. Well of course not. What I am trying to say is that even adults (and humanity on the whole) may place blame incorrectly, just for the sake of convenience.

So what things do constitute as problems? Well first off, implying that there are problems can be a daunting task. I could ask the question of is there really is a problem? After all, there are plenty of kids or families who do not struggle with their weight. Should they be used as a canvas for explaining any problems? I guess what may be a better word is, attitude. Instead of childhood obesity being a problem it simply is an attitude difference. Obviously, we know attitudes of diet are direct indicators to health. So why not say attitude instead? Now we have to deal with the problem of what constitutes a good attitude versus a bad one. When we place opposite things together, we rather find ourselves at a crossroads. Because good and bad are very general, we may never really arrive on what is truly good or bad (or perhaps what a universal conscious declares this as). Instead of good and bad, let us sum it up as what is healthy. Because saying a healthy attitude is much more reflective on our purpose than saying what is a good or bad one. We can somewhat more agree on what is a healthy attitude because it is a more concrete term. Therefore, that is what we will stick with.

Now let us discuss the aspect I have most wanted to. Does childhood obesity really reflect on what vending machines offer? Now our difficult task is to explain two seemingly independent things. These are childhood obesity and vending machines. In addition, we have to combine these two independent ideas. That is what I will try to do. First off, childhood obesity is increasing. This is a fact that is supported by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Here are some solid facts: since 1980 the amount of obese kids has tripled, over 9 million 6 - 19 year aged kids are obese now and 15% of kids are at the risk of becoming overweight. These numbers simply point to a growing concern.

Now that we have the facts, let us consider the reasons. Since we have based our growing concern based on the start of 1980, we should evaluate what has happened since then in eating attitudes. First off, since 1980 computer and similar technologies have literally skyrocketed in fame. People are spending an ever-increasing amount of time involved in their gadgets and other related computer tasks. There might be some issues with being so involved in those tasks. Most of the time, at least at a computer, we are sit down for extended periods and are not being very physically aware. While sitting down, we do not really exercise any important muscle or improve our health. Therefore, what I am saying is by not spending time aware of our health, we are harming it. That is why things that draw our attention away from healthier things might be more of an issue. Also since 1980, many job-related and family environments have changed. Although in 1980 we had plenty of busy workers and strong family units, there are some differences to note. Many families simply have less time to do things. More households have both parental units working. This leads to drawing attention away from our health. We are spending more time involved in other tasks.

Simply put, we should not blame the vending machines and what they offer as the source of our issues. What we might want to look at is how things draw our attention away from healthy attitudes: exercise, eating better and getting outside. These could improve on childhood obesity.