This next article that I want to quote from is something that affects me. I understand why this is such a problem, and really, there is no quick fix. As long as we sit to play on the computer, or gaming consoles, we will never change. The children in the rural areas are affected just the same as urban and inner city children. The more convenient the world becomes the less we need to work to achieve a goal as simple as eating. This is the first true generation of the technical era. We know the error of our ways, now the question is; How are we going to fix this?
For first time, Canada's younger generations are expected to live shorter lives than parents
More Canadian children are overweight and for the first time the country's younger generations are expected to live shorter lives than their parents because of obesity, says a new Commons committee report made public Committee MPs said they were "shocked" to learn about the increase in overweight children, from 12 per cent to 18 per cent, and obese children, from three per cent to eight per cent, between 1978 and 2004.
That makes about one in four Canadian children overweight or obese.The report said most Canadian children spend too much time in front of TV and computer screens; don't get the expert-recommended 90 minutes a day of exercise; eat too much fat and junk food; consume too many sugary drinks and don't eat the recommended five daily servings of fruit and vegetables. The committee also reported the"distressing" and "most alarming" number of 55 per cent of First Nations children living on reserves, and 41 per cent off reserves, are overweight or obese.There is so much poverty among First Nation and Inuit people that many people cannot afford nutritious food, especially in remote northern communities, the report said.
New Democratic Party MP Penny Priddy said by chronicling links between poverty, poor diet and lack of exercise, the report busts a myth that overweight children all sit around playing on computers and watching TV. She cited the example of children in poor families being fed Kraft Dinner instead of going to bed hungry.
For first time, Canada's younger generations are expected to live shorter lives than parents More Canadian children are overweight and for the first time the country's younger generations are expected to live shorter lives than their parents because of obesity, says a new Commons committee report made public Committee MPs said they were "shocked" to learn about the increase in overweight children, from 12 per cent to 18 per cent, and obese children, from three per cent to eight per cent, between 1978 and 2004.
That makes about one in four Canadian children overweight or obese.The report said most Canadian children spend too much time in front of TV and computer screens; don't get the expert-recommended 90 minutes a day of exercise; eat too much fat and junk food; consume too many sugary drinks and don't eat the recommended five daily servings of fruit and vegetables. The committee also reported the"distressing" and "most alarming" number of 55 per cent of First Nations children living on reserves, and 41 per cent off reserves, are overweight or obese.There is so much poverty among First Nation and Inuit people that many people cannot afford nutritious food, especially in remote northern communities, the report said.
New Democratic Party MP Penny Priddy said by chronicling links between poverty, poor diet and lack of exercise, the report busts a myth that overweight children all sit around playing on computers and watching TV. She cited the example of children in poor families being fed Kraft Dinner instead of going to bed hungry.
The report waswelcomed by the Heart and Stroke Foundation, which has long warned "fat is the new tobacco."
