Eating Healthy

March 3, 2010  
Filed under Feature

It is hard to deny the growing obesity rate in the United States. Teens especially, who have grown up with these eating habits, find it is harder to stay fit. Why is that?

“There are too many options of unhealthy food. Even in the school cafeteria the food isn’t the greatest. When deciding between a turkey wrap and pizza, most kids would choose pizza, which is the unhealthy choice. Many kid’s diets don’t balance their carbohydrates with proteins, as well as not drinking near enough water.” school nurse Lisa Shea said.

Healthy eating is becoming increasingly unpopular. However teens 30 years ago did not have these obesity issues because they did not have the same options we do.

“As a teen, it was a rarity to eat out at a restaurant. We also only had soda on special occasions.” Shea said. But now, eating out is a typical meal for most teens, and soda is a normal beverage.  Times are changing, and the food people eat are changing also, but not for the better.

According to the studies of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, eating at fast-food restaurants more than twice a week causes weight gain in otherwise healthy young adults.

Not only do we consume more calories now, but we also exercise less. Besides those who play sports, most teens do not get the recommended 60 minutes of activity. Instead, many students fill their free time with TV, video games, and Facebook.

Just as teens 30 years ago did not have the fast food options, TV and video games were also limited.

“As a teenager, I rode bikes with my friends to the library and the swimming pool. I read recently that kids watch 32 hours of TV a week. When I was a kid we only had three channels.” Sharon Geiss, mother of two, said.

If you travel even farther back in time, to when Mary Ann Jamison, mother of three and grandmother of 12, was a teen, obesity rates were even lower.

“When I was a kid, you did not see obese kids. We all did more work and our daily lives included more exercise than kids today. We didn’t have video games and TV; we had cows to milk and had to walk to school.” Jamison said.

Since eating has increased and exercise had decreased the result can be seen as you look around a classroom. Children and teens are becoming more obese than ever before. The medical effects of this weight gain can be deadly. Children who are obese have an increased risk of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, and strokes. Many kids do not realize the consequences for their health habits now.

There are various reasons people consume more calories than they used to. One of the reasons is the huge portion sizes we have today. Portions have nearly doubled since the 1970’s. Two slices of pizza used to be 500 calories, but today two slices are 850 calories. A bagel has increased in size and now has 210 more calories for the morning meal.

“You used to think a McDonald’s hamburger, small order of fries, and a coke was a meal. Now, kinds think it all has to be supersized. The sizes of regular soda are also twice as big as they should be,” said Steve Geiss, father of two.

Because of the growing portion sizes at restaurants, portion sizes at home have also increased. This is because we have grown accustomed to large portions served in restaurants and our view of a serving size has changed.

Sometimes without even knowing it teens are consuming way over the recommended amount. If one goes to Burger King and eats a whopper, medium fries, and a large coke, most people would classify that as a typical meal. Yet that ‘typical meal’, is 1414 calories, or 71% of how many calories a teen should have per day.  When a person eats three meals with this amount of calories, it is easy to understand why Americans are so large.

Even though eating healthy might be considered hard in the American society, it is not a lost cause. If you make the right choices, and reduce your portion sizes you will be much healthier. Even though fast food is so fattening and caloric, that does not mean you cannot eat fast food again.

A crispy chicken sandwich from Sonic has 560 calories; however, if you order grilled chicken, you consume over 100 calories less. It is simple, but effective.

“I work at Burger King, and I choose to eat a side salad rather than a greasy burger for my meals,” junior Jessica Swisher, said.

Another way to make yourself healthier is to increase the amount of exercise you do. There are simple ways to add exercise to your life, and still burn extra calories. These include parking farther away from the store and taking the stairs whenever possible. During the commercials of your favorite television show, try doing a few push-ups or sit-ups. Even ‘twitching’ or ‘bouncing’ you legs under your desk can burn a few extra calories; anything to get your body moving.

Besides the extra subtle movements, you can also attempt to get a workout in a couple times a week. For students, the easiest way is to take a P.E. class or join a sport. If that is not your cup of tea, then try taking a walk or jog after school a couple times a week. Soon you will be able to go faster and increase the intensity. This sounds like a lot of work, but with a little motivation anyone can be healthier.

Yet, some people do not work out or worry about calories and always have a trim waistline.

How does that happen for them? They have a high metabolism. Metabolism, in basic terms, is the rate your body burns calories. The lucky people can eat whatever they want, whenever they want. These people have a high metabolism because they are very active, or have had the trait passed to them in their genes.

“I eat whatever and it doesn’t ever affect my weight because of my metabolism and genetics,” sophomore Kari Zimmerman said.

Even if you are not lucky to be born with a high metabolism, you can still raise it by sleeping more, drinking lots of water, having small frequent meals, and exercising.

Living healthier now can benefit your well-being as an adult. Your self-esteem will also improve because you are healthier and feel better about yourself. With a few small changes, everyone can be healthy.

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Chelsea Jamison

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