Obesity

            The Mid-South has a high number of citizens with diabetes and heart disease related to obesity and overweight children who are inactive. Secondly, the state of Tennessee is ranked number twelve in the nation’s obesity rankings. The problem with obesity starts with a person’s environment and what they have been taught to eat and how to live. Anti-obese efforts should start in the home rather than the educational system. Adolescents’ greatest influence is the parents and family members. Behavior and family environment play a role in childhood obesity. Adolescents are more likely to become overweight if their parents are obese. Parents who are obese should see that they are also putting their child’s life at risk for obesity by influencing unhealthy eating habits. Long hours of watching television, binging on unhealthy snacks, and no physical activity contribute to being overweight and obese. As the rate of obese children increases, so does the rate of children having the same medical problems that were thought to only affect adults. With these factors, life expectancy among adults will possibly decrease. Obesity can have both physical and emotional effects. Obese adults go into a state of depression which they blame for their lack of inactivity, physical exercise, and continuance of unhealthy eating habits. Unless it is taken care of at an early stage, obesity and the various diseases associated with this plaguing epidemic will take over the lives of children and teens into adulthood.