Chirag Jethanandani

Health
F Period
10/4/10
City’s Efforts Fail to Dent Child Obesity

According to Google Health, obesity is the term used to describe body weight that is much
greater that what is considered healthy based on body mass index. Obesity is a national concern
today because many kids are inclined to eat at McDonald’s or other fast food restaurants more
often than having a few servings of fruit. New York City schoolchildren are the worst of the
cause, having the highest obesity rate in the nation. The city’s Fitness gram program collected
data from children kindergarten through 8th grade by taking their height and weight. This was
than converted to BMI, Body Mass Index to find percentage of body fat in one’s body. For the
2008-2009 school year, about 250,000 children were found to be overweight from kindergarten
through 8th grade. The previous year included the same percentage of kids overweight, which
brought a concern to New York City and Mayor Bloomberg.
Mayor Bloomberg has tried on his behalf to make school cafeterias healthier and eventually
improve kids dieting and exercise routines. Kids should be exercising daily, at least 20 minutes a
day to increase their heart rates. They shouldn’t be sitting down and eating nonchalantly just
because they are bored and have nothing to do. Of those New York City schoolchildren that were
overweight, 22 percent were obese, compared with 19.6 nationally. The fitness gram program
also broke down the statistics by neighborhood, concluding that less-affluent neighborhoods had
the most severe problems. Corona, Queens had the highest rates in the 2008-09 school year; 51
percent of schoolchildren residing in the area were overweight or obese. Harlem had the 2nd
highest rates with 48.5 percent follows by Washington Heights with 47 percent. In distinction,
the city’s wealthiest areas had the healthiest children including the West 60’s near the Hudson
having the least share of obesity, 11.7 percent.
This lack of change in New York City’s schoolchildren has been a high concern for the health
department and its nutrition and exercise programs. Banning Trans fats and posting calories of
foods isn’t enough for people to understand what they are eating and how it’s ruining their lives.
After collecting the data from the fitness gram program some initial changes were made to
improve school cafeterias. One percent milk was substituted for regular milk, skim for chocolate
milk and even banning sugar sweetened items from the vending machines. The school system
has also banned bake sales to once a month. The school system was also trying to train 3,000
teachers in exercises their students can do while on break. The city is trying their best in order to
decrease the rate of obesity, but at the end of the day it’s in your own hands.
Obesity should definitely be in the back of everyone’s mind especially if it’s in your family.
Genetics are another thing, but you can control what you eat and how much you exercise. Eating
fast food isn’t healthy because the food is fake. The healthiest food you can eat is some servings
of fruits, eggs and even some cold cut sandwiches. You shouldn’t be ordering a few big macs
and than consider going to the gym because you see an increase of fat in your body. It all starts
with how you control what you eat and your daily intake of protein, fruits and even vegetables. I
think that obesity can be dealt with by education, because many don’t know the harm they are
doing to their body. Even though calories and fats are posted in every fast-food restaurant,
people don’t understand the numbers and the harm they are causing. The number one effective
way to decrease obesity would be exercising and eating healthier. The number one case that
everyone knows about is Jared from Subway; he lost 245 pounds by a combination of both and is
now training for his first marathon.