Essay

Unhealthy eating and lack of physical activity cause obesity. Obesity can contribute to diseases and other health problems. Fast food, mostly unhealthy, has become a primary meal in our daily life because it is very affordable and available everywhere. Educating people about nutrition and the dangers of diseases connected with eating unhealthy food could help solve this problem. Dangerous diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol could be controlled. Physical activity is important to reduce obesity. Obesity has been an issue for sometime around the world especially among children.

The author of the article claims obesity is caused by many things such as lack of physical activity, personal health knowledge and a nutritionally balanced diet. Fast food has too many calories and it contains less nutritional value than needed. However some people still choose unhealthy fast food because of its availability and its convenience. She says the increase of obesity in children is associated with lack of physical activity due to entertainment options like TV, video games, and other indoor activities. Today children’s lifestyle is more sedentary and they prefer playing video games or watching a TV show instead of playing outside. Reducing the time using technology, less active entertainment, will affect their lifestyle and increase time for physical activity. Furthermore, lack of discipline and lack motivation in families to encourage their children to involve themselves in physical activity has increased their chance of obesity.

Obesity in children has caused a massive increase in health care costs. According to Teresa Anne Power childhood obesity is a common, serious and costly issue.  She says direct medical costs due to childhood obesity are over one hundred billion dollars. Children are not well prepared to face and overcome their obesity and the unhealthy environment.

The author explains how yoga has been shown to have a positive affect on obesity and has been successfully used to reduce obesity in children. There are ways to improve children’s health and fight obesity by motivating them to do simple exercises such as yoga and develop healthy eating habits. Yoga relaxes the body, mind and spirit and it can also be practiced individually. She comments that recent research shows that yoga has a great health benefit for people. Practicing yoga can be done at any age because it is based on slow movement and inhaling through the nose, which can calm the children. Yoga can help children succeed in school. Yoga is the most practiced exercise in the nation. It can help children develop healthier habits build self confidence and awareness. Parents could participate in yoga with their children and this would motivate both children and parents.

In conclusion, this article shows a strong argument for yoga as a good way to combat obesity. I think that there are other direct health related issues affecting the cost of health care not just obesity. I know bicycling, walking and swimming are good exercises, maybe better than yoga. I think unhealthy eating habits are not the problem. People choose the food they eat based on availability, taste, cost and personal knowledge of nutrition. These are not habits these are personal choices. She says unhealthy eating habits are the problem. There are many problems, which lead to obesity. Yoga is a single solution that the author shows to be a good choice to solve these problems.

Power, Teresa. Could Yoga Be The Answer?. USA Today, 2013.