Child Obesity May Not Be Caused By Video Games

KidsHealth states that since the 1970s, the percentage of overweight kids and adolescents in the United States has more than doubled. Today, 10% of 2- to 5-year-olds and more than 15% of children between the ages of 6 and 19 are overweight. If you combine the percent of kids who are overweight with the percent of kids who are at risk of becoming overweight, about one out of three children are affected.

The reasoning behind the increase according to the site is that kids are spending less time exercising and more time playing video games. This is where I have to disagree as the cause of the obesity rate. My generation was raised on tv, it was the new thing. We started seeing video games at a young age, but we too spent a lot of time in front of a television.

I would like to propose a different reason for obesity in children and even adults for that matter. Busyness. American go more than ever before. Kids are shuffled from school to activities. Parents are working then running home to work some more. I think kids just do not get nutritious snacks or meals because we are always on the go.

According to MSNBC, Americans now spend roughly half their food budget dining out, and restaurants expect revenue of more than $537 billion in 2007. That's a 67% increase since 1997. Add to that the revelation that restaurants serve some of the fattiest foods around. Restaurants load even their healthiest fare with butter and other calorie-heavy add-ons. Restaurant meals average 1,000 to 1,500 calories,  Milton Stokes, a registered dietitian and spokesman for the American Dietetic Association, told MSNBC. That's roughly two-thirds of the daily average calories recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And according to a recent study, women who eat out five times a week consume an average of 290 additional calories per day.

Though most Americans assume that fast food is the worst offender, similar fare at casual sit-down restaurants can be even more caloric. The classic burger at Ruby Tuesday, for example, has a whopping 1,013 calories and 71 grams of fat. The McDonald's Big Mac, with its 540 calories and 29 grams of fat, seems downright diet-worthy by comparison. Apparently, Ruby Tuesday evens butters the hamburger bun.

So the more busy we get, the less nutrition we offer is having a detrimental effect on our kids. The increase in obesity for two to five year olds can not be caused by video games because that age group really does not have games suitable for their age for the most part.

I have two kids who do play video games, but do not suffer from obesity. Kids get exercise. Besides, all the extra activities we sign them up for is definitely providing exercise. I am proposing a change of thinking to solving this national problem. Instead of taking away the video games that can be educational, provide hand-eye coordination as well as offer exercise in such systems as the Wii or Smartbike, why not change our lifestyle?

Parents need to slow down! We are teaching horrible habits to our kids. There are some nutritious meals that are easy to make and can be made quickly. Look online even for meals that can cook in a crock pot while you are at work if you need to, but quit putting fast food and restaurant foods into their mouths.

Teach them about the five food groups. Go for a walk with your kids after dinner and get to know more about them. As parents, we have to be role models and set good examples for our children.

I know you are tired. I am too. I think with baseball practices, school activities, extra work and church activities, we ate at home one time this week. I can honestly say my kids had no vegetables the entire week. That is sad! That is what our society has become. It is killing our budget and it is honestly killing our kids. The obesity rate is only going to go down if we as parents change our attitudes. So this is what I am proposing for my family in hopes that it will set us on a healthier lifestyle.

We will eat at home nutritious meals at the table with each of the five food groups represented in the meal.

We will slow down and get adequate amounts of sleep so that my children are not eating or drinking more so that they can stay awake and function.

Budget for eating out only once a week and bring from home fruit and possibly carrot sticks to go along with our meals so that we are still eating healthy.

We will half entrees at restaurants so that we have more realistic portion sizes.

We will drink only water or milk with dinner. My family does not drink a lot of sodas so this will not be hard, but sodas are full of sugar and just a waste to their health.

These are the start of implementations in my family. I know we have a long road since our society demands that we are on the go continuously, but it is a start that hopefully will become a lifelong change. I don't want to pass on my obesity to my kids and their kids.