Introduction
On average, a tune of $147B is spent on treating obesity cases in the United States (United States Department of Agriculture, n.d). Healthy eating-related issues are becoming a significant challenge in the world's superpower, notwithstanding eight in ten Americans perceive healthy eating advice to be conflicting. It is, therefore, imperative to note that most obesity cases start in the early stages of life (Fong, n.d). Growing up, obesity patients become susceptible to comorbidity by contracting a myriad of other chronic diseases. Healthy eating education is crucial to children as they are easily vulnerable to chronic diseases such as obesity in their early stages; this is because they hardly have power over what they ingest. Early education on healthy eating will enable children to attain comfort at school, develop appropriate and integrated eating habits, and finally save vast sums of money for both their current and future life. Adults should adequately engage children in matters pertinent to healthy eating for the betterment of their children.
Changing The Culture
Bad eating habits elicited by children in contemporary society can be attributed to bad parenting and rampant advertisements by junk food vendors. Children also develop bad eating habits from their peers in social places such as birthday parties. It is, therefore, difficult for children to avoid information leading to unhealthy eating habits (Fong, n.d). Parents should play their part by principally exposing their children to healthy foods. Children should also be involved in cooking procedures, particularly those that perpetuate healthy eating. Considering that most children are already predisposed to unhealthy foodstuffs such as junk, it is difficult to cut short such delicacies from their diet promptly. In that case, parents should consider providing such meals occasionally during special events. Encouraging good eating habits is, however, not a complete solution to preventing children from contracting obesity and its related diseases. Physical activity, coupled with healthy eating habits, can go a long way in enhancing a healthy life, sufficient mental, social, and emotional paybacks. Coupling healthy eating habits with physical activities will not only prevent children from contracting obesity, but the combination will also boost children’s critical thinking capabilities.
Education Wellbeing
Critical thinking skills are best established in environments where children are both physically and mentally fit. Obesity is a daunting disorder that reduces children's self-esteem, especially in learning institutions. Overweight children are mostly scolded by their peers, thus becoming susceptible to low self-esteem. Producing exemplary performances in such environments where children feel demeaned becomes a huge challenge to their education. Obesity has also been deemed to be one of the main threats of American society, capable of killing parents to school-going children and their close relatives (Oliver, 2010). Such situations as losing parents and close relatives lead to children growing up with traumatized mental faculties, which affects their academic life negatively. Improving the wellbeing of children entails collaborating with crucial stakeholders, particularly parents and teachers. At home, parents are obliged to encourage their children to consume mainly healthy meals, particularly through leading by example. Schools are also morally responsible for educating children about the advantages and disadvantages of healthy eating. Educators are obliged to involve young ones in physical activities through education programs. Following healthy eating guidelines will, therefore, enable children to perform well at school. Conversely, they will pass the positive, healthy eating habits to future generations.
Social-Economic Factors
Advantages accrued from healthy eating are not limited to academic wellbeing and helping children develop a healthy eating culture, but they also have economic implications. Treating obesity is an expensive endeavor. Interestingly, investing in nutrition improvement is far cheaper than treating conditions such as obesity. It is estimated that a $10 per person investment in nutrition is capable of yielding $ 16B in as far as medical expenditure savings are concerned (United States Department of Agriculture, n.d). Investing in improved nutrition is easier said than done, considering unhealthy eating habits are deep-rooted in the society, needless to say, it is practically attainable. Improved nutrition requires replacing fatty, sugary, and processed foodstuffs with vegetables, fruits, and consuming foods low in fats. Such healthy meals should be prepared at home to ensure freshness as well as educating children on how to make healthy meals. In financial terms, healthy meals will facilitate both individual and collective medical expenditure savings on managing obesity. Parents should, therefore, consider introducing their young ones to healthy eating practices early in life.
Conclusion
Healthy eating education is beneficial to children in various ways. The training will help the young ones excel in their education, develop an improved eating culture, and enable them to make savings on medical spending. Bad habits elicited by the young generation is a difficult habit to break. Breaking the retrogressive practices thus calls for collaboration among key stakeholders, particularly parents and educators. Children should be taught how to cook and engage in physical exercise for improved wellbeing. Healthy eating, coupled with physical activities culminate in improved critical thinking skills and eventual encouraging results in schools. By keeping obesity and other chronic diseases at bay, children will make considerable medical savings. Involving children early in healthy eating matters is therefore beneficial for their current and future lives.
