Changing the Environments to Fight Childhood Obesity

The environments, we normally occupy, expose us to the food we wind up eating. In fact, to a great extent, these environments dictate the kind of food we eat. For elementary school children, the two most important environments are the home environment and the school environment. Therefore, changing the food in these two environments is important to curtailing childhood obesity.

For some time, experts have suggested that elementary school cafeteria food in America’s schools should be improved to fight childhood obesity. And recently, President Obama signed into law a bill that increases elementary school children’s access to nutritious food. The name of the bill is the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kid’s Act of 2010.”

The bill enlarges the number of children who will have access to federally funded meals. The bill also sets national standards for the food sold in school cafeterias. So indeed this bill will change the food in elementary school children's environment.

However, in order for the change in food to have the most effect, a concurrent change in the food made available at home must change for many elementary school children. This means that the whole family must agree to a weight loss or weight management program.

The role the family must play in maintaining a child's healthy weight is important. The family must create a home environment, where the child is exposed to healthy low calorie food. By creating, and maintaining, a healthy diet environment, the family will be working with the elementary school to lessen the rise in childhood obesity.

And where possible, medical weight loss practitioners should play a role here. The practitioners can get involved with community groups who are fighting childhood obesity. The practitioners can work with these groups to help them sync up with elementary schools in the childhood obesity fight.

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Tags: strategic management, environmental scanning, balanced scorecard, swot, strategic analysis