B1 – Intermediate
The number of children suffering from obesity is increasing. It is considered a major health concern, especially in developed countries. But what causes childhood obesity?
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Discussion Questions:
1. How do you know if your child is overweight or obese?
2. Would you say that some children in your country are suffering from obesity or becoming overweight?
3. What causes a child to become overweight or obese?
4. How can you prevent your child from becoming overweight or obese?
5. What should the government do in order to prevent children from having serious weight issues?
22 replies on “Childhood Obesity”
1. How do you know if your child is overweight or obese?
If his BMI is higher than 25 he will be considered overweight, and if it is also higher than 30 he will be considered obese
2. Would you say that some children in your country are suffering from obesity or becoming overweight?
Yes. For what I have heard from the media, there is a worrying percentage of children overweight in Spain
3. What causes a child to become overweight or obese?
If they consume more calories than the ones they need they are in risk of becoming obese. Therefore, eating too much sweets and junk food or the lack of physical activity, may make them become obese.
4. How can you prevent your child from becoming overweight or obese?
You need teach your children to have healthy habits, like eat fruits and vegetables and do exercise. Also, you should be an example for them taking healthy habits in your life.
5. What should the government do in order to prevent children from having serious weight issues?
Governments can take measures like regulating what kind of meals can children have at their schools, or limiting the exposition of children to junk food advertisements. Also they can invest in campains that show healthy habits to both, the children and their parents.
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1. How do you know if your child is overweight or obese?
we can use the BMI index and be estrict with the age, weight and height relation but the most important think is to check and asure that the daily activity, diet and resting are adequate for their age.
2. Would you say that some children in your country are suffering from obesity or becoming overweight?
Yes, it is a normal disease nowadays, the change of the life style in the modern world has this consequences, more TV, social networks and computer hours and less physical activities and sports.
3. What causes a child to become overweight or obese?
the exigence in the families an schools about the daily phisical activity is becoming less and less important. we prefer our chidren at home playing videogames than motivate them to go out there playing with others and face the supposed risks of the streets.
4. How can you prevent your child from becoming overweight or obese?
We have to try to ensure a balanced diet and stimulate them to do physical activity or sport at least twuice a week. to teach to enjoy doing sports with friends and family is a good practice to growing up healthy children.
5. What should the government do in order to prevent children from having serious weight issues?
Including this good practices in the daily schools activities and prioritizing outdoors spaces of socializing and easy and cheap access to fruit and heathy food for children.
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1. How do you know if your child is overweight or obese?
By his body mass index.
2.Would you say that some children in your country are suffering from obesity or becoming overweight?
Yes, the rate of overweight in children over 15 years of age, despite having decreased slightly in recent years, is somewhat high and especially in areas and families with low purchasing power.
3. What causes a child to become overweight or obese?
The main causes that can explain the overweight are:
– Genetic aspects., lack of exercise and an excessive and nutritionally unbalanced food intake.
4. How can you prevent your child from becoming overweight or obese?
With a balanced and varied diet and enhanced physical activity and reducing the time spent in front of television.
5. What should the government do in order to prevent children from having serious weight issues?
Actively promoting physical activity and sports practice, and promoting actions that encourage a healthy, varied and balanced diet.
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1. How do you know if your child is overweight or obese?
The article has helped me, the body mass index (BMI) is a formula to measure obesity. It uses a combination of height and weight. A BMI score of 25 or higher shows that you are overweight and a BMI of over 30 indicates obesity. https://www.calculator.net/bmi-calculator.html
2. Would you say that some children in your country are suffering from obesity or becoming overweight?
I think that there are more obesity children than before but there are more athletic children than before too, the rank is wider.
3. What causes a child to become overweight or obese?
The principal cause of obesity is the lack of physical exercise, our children don´t play outdoor usually and their foods habits are poor (fast food and processed food)
4. How can you prevent your child from becoming overweight or obese?
It´s complicated, the lifestyle of our children is very different now, they need computer skills for their lifes, internet is a open window to all the world that solve all their needs, physical exercise is a challenge for them althougt many children choose to be athletes. The families haven´t healthy eating habits at home and the fast food is the first resource. It´s necesary time to dedicate them.
5. What should the government do in order to prevent children from having serious weight issues?
Actually, the goverment has put taxes for sugar drinks and has limitated the marketing for preparated foods (cookies, pizzas…), has requested healthy menus in schools.
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1. How do you know if your child is overweight or obese?
You can know if your child is overweight or obese by looking at his or her BMI score. If the BMI score is higher than 25 the child may be considered overweight, and if the BMI score is higher than 30 the child has obesity.
2. Would you say that some children in your country are suffering from obesity or becoming overweight?
I think in my country there are more cases of overweight children and not so much of obesity yet, but the numbers are increasing every day.
3. What causes a child to become overweight or obese?
There are many factors that cause overweight or obesity like genes, lack of physical exercise, lack of confidence, bad eating habits, unhealthy lifestyle in their families.
4. How can you prevent your child from becoming overweight or obese?
You can prevent your children from becoming overweight or obese by teaching them healthy habits, such as including physical exercises on their everyday routines, feeding them with healthy food, restricting the amount of hours they spend in front of TV or movile devices, playing sports with them.
5. What should the government do in order to prevent children from having serious weight issues?
I think government should promote healthy lifestyles, giving more access to playgrounds, parks and outdoor gyms. Also it think it would be very helpful if government could lower prices of healthy food and restrict the sales of junk food and candies at schools.
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1. How do you know if your child is overweight or obese?
You can know if you child have a overweight or obesity, Through to body mass index .
For this, you can calculate it taking the tall and weight; if the result is more that 25 is overweight and over 30 is obese.
2. Would you say that some children in your country are suffering from obesity or becoming overweight?
Yes, where I live it is a real problem in the child population; but the school helps promote healthy eating and sports.
may be we problems is that haven´t time for a healthylife, and we prefer fat food because is more easy and quicly take the phone and call for a pizza or hamburguer.
3. What causes a child to become overweight or obese?
an unhealthy diet, a high intake of sugar and saturated fat. lack exercise. And There is also a genetic factor that influences in the childhood overweight.
and our responsibilities as parents is care all the factors that can influences negatively in the child.
4. How can you prevent your child from becoming overweight or obese?
We try to get my daughters to exercise regularly. my eldest daughter practices swimming and handball and the little one practices swimming and multisport twice a week. And they have a healthy diet. (based on fruits, salads, fish, vegetables, legumes, cereals, among others)
They eat sweets but not often. And fast food too, as hamburger or pizza, they eat once or twice a month. But It’s not frequently.
5. What should the government do in order to prevent children from having serious weight issues?
the government should promote healthy living, improve parks and playgrounds for children. lower taxes for healthy eating and be more strict with unhealthy foods.
Too make programs free that promote activities sport.
When i was child, the activities sport extra no wasn´t pay. you had options to practice sport at the school. today that is not possible, because all activities are pay its.
The cost of the life is very high, and many families can´t pay activities for your children can doing exercises.
At the same time, technology is doing too much harm, because children spend too much time in front of the television or the computer.
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1. I think you can have an idea of obesity having a look a the person , could not be exact but it would be near of the reality
2. yes , it is an issue that is increasing every year becuase children don’t play outside like in the past.
3 . The major problem is the feeding , there are a lot of fast food and ultra-processed foods. We need to educate our children to feed in a health way
4 . I think we can offer them more fruits and vegetables but in
a different way more attractive for them
5. The goverment should restrict th e ultra-processed foods and
enhance the sport in schools and even as a good leisure alternative
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1. According to article, knowing your child weight and height you can calculate the BMI. If the result is between 25 and 30, your child is overweight. If the result is higher than 30, your child is obese.
2. Yes, I’m sure of that. Current families have less time to take care of children and they appeal to quick resources like fast food. In addition, videogames are getting stronger, and it seems to be more interesting for children than playing out from home. Physical activity is not a requirement for day to day activities.
3. They don’t do sport enough and eat a lot of unhealthy snacks. They are not aware of the importance of this.
4. Having good habits regarding food, physical activity and stress management. They learn from their parents so, I f they see healthy behaviour in their parents, they have a good model to copy.
5. I think government should prohibit unhealthy snacks machines at schools. Having mandatory sport classes would be an interesting option too (but including activities for all levels to avoid children frustration). Providing a dining room service option would be helpful too. In addition to add some classes to teach good habits.
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1. How do you know if your child is overweight or obese?
Following the article it is measured through a ratio body max index. Usually the pediatricians follow the growth of the children, and indicates if the child is growing well and give some recommendations in their nutrition.
2. Would you say that some children in your country are suffering from obesity or becoming overweight?
Yes, I think is more severe in USA, but in my country as well. Also the diseases regarding nutrition have increased.
3. What causes a child to become overweight or obese?
I think the main reason is because the parents did not used to spend enough time with their children and do not check what is the child eating. The children usually choose less vegetable and more palatable meals with more sugar than the body needs. And another reason is because the children has changed the play habits, expending more time in front of TV or video games and less playing outside with physical exercise.
4. How can you prevent your child from becoming overweight or obese?
Following medical recommendations about balance meals, and schedule them during the week, follow it up and encourage to continue playing outside instead too much time expended on tv or video games.
5. What should the government do in order to prevent children from having serious weight issues?
I think this is a parent issue, not directly from governments. But the adds regarding fast food, could be restricted a bit. And also check the agreements from the schools, to confirm than the diets are good enough for the children and well balance. And to avoid the vending machine in the schools, where the parents cannot review what their children area eating or not.
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1. How do you know if your child is overweight or obese?
I can track their BMI using growth charts, which show the national percentiles for children by age.
2. Would you say that some children in your country are suffering from obesity or becoming overweight?
Yes, I would say that some children in my country are suffering from obesity or overweight
3. What causes a child to become overweight or obese?
The causes are the lifestyle, little sport and fast food.
4. How can you prevent your child from becoming overweight or obese?
It is important that the energy child takes in through food and drink is balanced with the energy they use up. Eating healthy, fresh food and fitting in regular physical activity can help to keep your child’s weight in the healthy range.
5. What should the government do in order to prevent children from having serious weight issues?
I think it is more important what should the parents do instead the government. I think it is very important that parents or school help child to understand this problem and the best way to have healthy habits.
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1- A BMI score of 25 or higher shows that your child is overweight and a BMI of over 30 indicates obesity.
2- Yes, indeed.
3-The lack of physichal exercise and wrong eating habits.
4-Health eating habits at home, practise regular exercise all the family.
5- Applying taxes to Junk food and sugar drinks.
Promote healthy habits , easy access to Sport activities.
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