As we are all aware there is a epidemic spreading across this land of ours, I am not talking about the common cold or swine flu I am talking about obesity. In the last few years the number of obese people has spiralled out of control, this is now costing the national health service billions of pounds every year. This condition is not subject to any age group, race or gender it doesn’t care who it affects, obesity is a condition that does not happen over night in-fact obesity takes shape over a long period of time.
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Being a Dad, I know just how tough it is to keep my boy’s hand out of the cookie jar or reach for a chocolate bar instead of an apple. His lack of enthusiasm about going down the park and kicking a ball about is frightening plus its only recently that he got back on his bike – a bike that has sat idle, shining like a new shilling, since he received it last christmas day. So, when I read headlines about weight loss camps for children doubling their intake – it doesn’t suprise me in the slightest, but it does get me thinking…

The fact that parents (and plenty of them) are willing to fork out between £3,500 and £8,000 to send their kids to a British ‘fat camp’ for the majority of the summer holidays shows just how desperate these families have become.

It’s easy to say fast food, television, computers and electronic console games are destroying our childrens health. But chew over this fact for a bit : By the time a child is ready to start primary school, one in six of them will be overweight and parents mistake obesity in their child for what is lightly termed as ‘puppy fat’. What is also worth considering is that ‘families on poor income’ have a higher risk of raising an obese child and this rate is growing, rapidly.

Education seems to be the key, more information about eating fruit and veg, proper excercise and more parental interaction with their kids is a positive start. Look, if we don’t start trying to communicate and educate our children about weight gain – even at very early years – we are going to see more ‘fat camps’ spread all over the UK.

When we put on weight our bodies go through certain changes, our heart has to work harder to pump the blood round our body. Kidneys and liver are both put under pressure to cope with all the extra food we consume and our joints take more strain with every step we take.

If we continue to eat we will become obese, obesity is measured by your Body Mass Index (BMI) which
measures the amount of excess fat that is stored in your body. People become obese with lack of exercise and when the amount of calories taken in is far more than your body requires. Being obese and overweight, in the most extreme cases can cause death, below are the most common health problems brought about by being overweight and obese.
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