This picture was also taken at the Ralphs Supermarket. This area displays a variety of apples. Richards’ family loves to eat apples. Richard loves red apples while his sister loves any of the lighter colored apples. They usually buy a number of apples that they consume per week. Richard normally takes an apple a day or in two days, whereas his sister takes at one per day. Apples are very nutritious to children’s health. They are very low energy foods and in particular lower than that of vegetables.
Since apples have high water content it’s not possible to consume much and as a result their consistent consumption can not lead to being overweight. Fruits contain vitamin E (one of the antioxidants) which revitalizes cells in the body organs after eliminating oxidants (John A. Milner & Richard G. Allison, 1999, p2095). Apples also contain antioxidants which eradicates oxidants in the body. The darker the fruit the more antioxidants it contains. Red apples have more antioxidant content than the light-red ones, which likewise have more antioxidants than the yellow apples.
Even though Richard’s family consume almost regularly, I advised Richard to at least take the red apples he likes at least once daily. On the other hand, his sister should preferable take the red apples also because of their higher antioxidants content (Ebbeling, Pawlak, Ludwig, 2002, p476-478). This picture I took at the Albertsons Supermarket. I went to buy some yoghurt for Richard’s sister, who loves them so much. She takes at least takes a 250ml or 500ml packet of yoghurt once a day or in 2 days. When she takes the 500ml packet she normally consumes a portion then leaves some for another time.
This mode of consumption is rather regular and can be sustained without accumulation of extra energy that will require expending. Dairy products vary in energy density where yoghurt is 4. 2 kilojoules per gram whereas fluid low-fat milk is 1. 6 kilojoules per gram (Adam Drewnowski & SE Specter, 2004, p8). Yoghurt is a low energy food as compared to dry cheese or chocolate, which are high density energy foods. It has a very low sugar and fat content. Regular consumption of yoghurt is healthy to children due to its calcium and iron content. The mineral content in yoghurt is useful for the growth and strengthening of the bones.
Its low energy density means that it is highly hydrated and therefore not possible to consume in large volume at ago. In that case it poses no threat to contribute to being overweight and subsequently to obesity. This is a photograph of the coke drink. I took it at Albertsons Supermarket when I went to buy some for Richards’ family, who love to drink coke. Richard has been taking carbonated coke, which is a high energy drink all along. Carbonated soft drinks and in particular coke is a popular drink all over the world. It is sugar-based or has high sugar content and therefore contributes to being overweight and later obesity in many children.
Since Richard enjoys drinking coke I discouraged him from taking the carbonated brand and instead encouraged to take the diet coke. Diet coke is nutritious to the body and therefore it’s worthy to be encouraged as a healthy drink. The obesity-related harms of sugar-sweetened soft drinks are likely to far outweigh any theoretical harm of the artificial sweeteners found in diet soft drinks. The substitution of sugar-based soft drinks with diet soft drinks in vending machines in schools and hospitals would be one small but achievable step in the right direction.
There is considerable public misconception about the possible hazards of artificial sweeteners used in diet drinks. The most prevalent sweeteners in diet drinks are aspartame and acesulfame potassium. Both have shown to be safe for consumption in humans including pregnant women, children and the ill (Emme Chacko, Ingrid McDuff & Rod Jackson, 2003). This is photograph of packed fruits taken at Albertsons Supermarkets. Richards’ family love to always have fruits after dinner. They usually purchase a pack of freshly prepared salads of a variety of fruits.
Richard likes salad with apples, peaches, grapes, apricot, bananas and plums. His sister prefers salad with grapefruit, grapes, apples, pears, lemons and olives. Fruits are rich in fiber which helps improve digestive processes as well as arrest many forms gastrointestinal disorders in the body. The fiber also creates a form of fullness as such the easily reach satiation. In this manner the tendency to be overweight is greatly minimized. Acids found in fruits also tear down cholesterol levels in the body (Ebbeling, Pawlak, Ludwig, 2002, p476-478).
A reduced cholesterol levels diminishes the risks associated with cardiovascular diseases. High fruit intake has been associated with a lower risk of many cancers (SA. Smith, DR. Campbell, PJ. Elmer, MC. Martini, JL. Slavin, JD. Potter,1995). I recommended to Richard’s family to improve the range of fruits they by consuming fruits that are rich in antioxidants like pomegranates, currants, mango, melons, oranges, cherries, papaya, limes, and dried fruit among many more. This is Christine in the photograph. She’s Richard’s sister, I took her picture watching television at their house.
Christine Chow is 3 years old and currently studies at Tutor-Time Child Care Center. She really likes to watch television while eating chocolate. She spends a good part her time in the house watching cartoons and other children episodes. Her frequency of eating chocolate is likewise high while viewing. I have been encouraging her to spend time, once in a while, playing outdoors cycling, run, chase and play ball with her friends. This will not only expend her extra energy, but also reduce her high energy consumptions, like chocolate, subsequently maintain a normal body mass index.
Television viewing is one of the most easily modifiable causes of obesity among children. American children spend more time watching television, video movies and playing video games than doing anything else except sleeping. Two primary mechanisms by which television viewing contributes to obesity are reduced or almost negligible energy expenditure as a child withdraws from any form of physical activity and an increased dietary energy (high calorie) intake, either during viewing or as a result of food advertising (Thomas N.
Robinson, 1999, p1561, 1564). This is a photograph I took of Richard playing computer games as Christine watches. They both love to play computer games online. Most children spend time viewing television or video movies, and playing games on the computer or online. Unlike viewing television or video movies, which are energy conserved activities, playing computer games is the very opposite. Playing computer games demands substantial energy expenditure since ample physical activity is involved.
The mind, eyes and hearing has to be focused to be accurate on decisions and targets. The demand for maximum concentration and light-speed decision making are nothing to be ignored. Some computer games demand more physical activity than others. Other computer games need a high mental concentration with an average physical activity, while others need less mental concentration, but more physical activity (M Wake, K Hesketh & E Waters, 2003, p133). The later tend to develop aggression or violent eruption in a child.
In all any manner of energy expending activity has the advantage of reversing tendency toward being overweight. During such play any form of high energy intake, whether sugar or fat based, is either very minimal or absent completely. As a result tendency to increase adiposity is avoided and a child is able to maintain average body size. Naturally, this eliminates the possibility of a child becoming overweight and subsequently obese.
References Richard J. Deckelbaum & Christine L. Williams (2001); Childhood Obesity: The Issues, Obesity Research Vol. 9, Supp 4. Nov 2001, http://www. nature. com/oby/journal/v9/nlls/pdf/oby200125a. pdf C. S Berkey, HRH Rockell, MW Gillman, AE Field & GA Colditz (2003); Longitudinal Study of Skipping breakfast and weight change in adolescents, International Journal of Obesity, http://www. nature. com/ijo/jouranl/v27/n10/pdf/0802402a. pdf M. B. Schwartz and R. Puhl (2003); Childhood obesity: a societal problem to solve, Obesity Reviews 4, The International Association for the Study of Obesity, http://www3. interscience.
wiley. com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118899394/PDFSTART. pdf Adam Drewnowski and SE Specter (2004), Poverty and obesity: the role of energy density and energy costs, American Society for Clinical Nutrition, http://sakai. cfkeep. org/uploads/malnutrition_reading_assignment_with_cover_sheet. pdf Cara B Ebbeling, Dorota B Pawlak, David S Ludwig (2002): Childhood obesity: public-health crisis, common sense cure, The Lancet, Vol 360, August 10, 2002, http://www. commercialalert. org/childhoodobesity. pdf
Emme Chacko, Ingrid McDuff and Rod Jackson (2003); Replacing sugar-based soft drinks with sugar-free alternatives could slow the progress of the obesity epidemic: have your Coke® and drink it too, Journal of the New Zealand Medical Association, 24-October-2003, Vol 116 No 1184, http://www. nzma. org. nz/journal/116-1184/649/ Thomas N. Robinson (1999); Reducing Children’s Television viewing to prevent obesity, JAMA, Vol 282, No. 16, October 27, 1999, http://jama. ama-assn. org/cgi/content/full/282/16/1561 M Wake, K Hesketh And E Waters (2003); Television, computer use and body mass index in Australian primary school children, J.
Paediatr. Child Health 39, 130–134, http://www3. interscience. wiley. com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118891741/PDSTART. pdf John A. Milner and Richard G. Allison (1999); The Role of Dietary Fat in Child Nutrition and Development: Summary of an ASNS Workshop, The Journal of Nutrition, http://jn. nutrition. org/cgi/reprint/129/11/2094. pdf Stephanie A. Smith, Deborah R. Campbell, Patricia J. Elmer,, Margaret C. Martini, Joanne L. Slavin, John D. Potter (1995), Journal Article; http://www. springerlink. com/content/mq043r1nq216310l/