America: To be or not to be fat.

Abstract
Our society is getting fatter year by year. Our children are suffering from a lack of exercise and a sedentary life nowadays. America must change how its children look at food or America will be forever fat. This paper examines what we have done in the past to help it and what we are doing now to help it. It also talks about why we are getting fat. “We are now eating 31 percent more calories than we were forty years ago–including 56 percent more fats and oils and 14 percent more sugars and sweeteners. The average American now eats fifteen more pounds of sugar a year than in 1970.” (Let’s Move (n.d)). America now more than ever has becomes a society of not much movement and way to much fast and or processed food. It makes America one of the fattest nations on earth. Obesity in America is on the rise but if we change the way our children look and think about food we will change out society. The government is trying very hard to change our children. The single person I think that has the most impact on our children’s live so far is the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. She has started a program called Let’s Move. This program is for our schools and it helps implement a healthy eating program. But that is not it; it also works with the school officials to help develop ways to gets kids moving again. This can be done in a variety of ways from walking or riding a bicycle to and from school instead of riding the bus or in a car. Also, we can add more physical education programs and lastly we could allow the kids more recess time during school. Another program that was implemented by the government was the C3 curriculum. This program is much like the Let’s Move program however; it focuses more on teaching the individual. The C3 curriculum is Choice, Control, and Change. The first part of it is choice, which is best described, as what one puts in their mouth is a choice. It teaches one what food does to ones body when consumed. The next part is control. This is exactly what it seems. It teaches the individual to have control in what and how they eat. I believe that this is where the saying, you can eat anything as long as it is in moderation, comes from. The last part of the curriculum is change. This is the hardest part of the program. We all know that habits are hard to break so in order for us to stay healthy we must change the way we eat, change the way we think about food, and change the way we act. If this is not done then the whole program will not work. Rabbit and Coyne (2012) state, at least 2.8 million adults die each year as a result of being overweight of obese. Nurses provide a great neutral medium to help families and children change their eating habits. Most children’s eating and exercise habits develop at a very young age and are learned from their parents. In order to change the eating habits of our children we need to be able to change the habits and minds of our families. It is better received by the family when a third party, someone the family does not know, comes in to help teach the family how to eat again. Another thing that needs to happen is the whole family has to be onboard and supportive of the change. It is easy to say that one is onboard and supportive but in this case one actually has to participate in eating healthy because one weak link will break the chain. One reason America is so obese is the access to fast food is easier than ever. Fast food chains are growing exponentially from year to year thus making food more accessible to the busy consumer. Another reason why America is becoming more obsess is the lack of exercise. With the growing technology our children spend more and more time inside playing video games and playing on the computer and less and less time playing and running outside. This is where nurses come into play with their knowledge of how to eat and their non-threatening