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Our family

My baby will come home to two different houses. It will split time between my mom’s house, where it will just be my mom, my stepdad, and me. At my dad’s house it will be my dad, my stepmom, my stepbrother, and me. There will be two dogs at my mom’s house and a dog and a cat at my dad’s house. All in all, I have a very loving family that will make my baby feel welcome.

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Blog Post #9 INFOGRAPHIC

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Civic Action Assessment of Childhood Obesity

1) Our roles as citizens are extremely important for overlooked issues such as childhood obesity. Close to no one in government is even addressing the issue let alone dishing out new ideas to stunt the problem. They are not going to all of a sudden pour all their efforts into an issue they have shown no interest in. That is, unless we give them a reason to. If we want this issue to be heard we need to voice our opinions, by joining interest groups and contacting local representation. However, we cannot place all our hopes in government. As citizens, it is our duty to participate in civic action, whether that be volunteer work, fundraising, or even protesting.

2) Nothing is going to change if we don’t lead the way. I didn’t realize just how many issues (not only my own) are overlooked in government. I guess I figured that an issue like childhood obesity would be somewhat “covered” as former first lady, Michelle Obama, placed so much importance on it. But just a few years later, a government official even mentioning the issue is virtually unheard of. While I would like to see this change, I understand that members of the executive and legislative branch have placed their priorities, and cannot funnel time and money into every single issue. They have determined it is not important enough to do so, which leaves the power to the people. Before this project, I assumed all problems were, at the very least, being looked over by a government official somewhere. Boy was I wrong. I now understand just how important every single person is in our democracy. In order to spark change, we need to stand up and show our government just how urgent this issue is.

3) I think it is my civic obligation to help address the problems my civic issues have created. After everything that I wrote before, it would be somewhat hypocritical to say we should all take a stance if we want change, only to sit back and watch others do it. This mindset is why we get stuck at dead ends with nothing getting done. If every person that really cared about the issue just took an hour of their time to contribute to their cause, they could spark the change they have been advocating for.

4) I volunteered at the local food bank in Concord. Most, if not all of the food we packaged here got sent to single mothers below the poverty line. This directly relates to childhood obesity because a large majority of kids suffering from this epidemic come from low income households, and cannot afford nutritious food and extracurricular sports. We packaged food to be sent off to these families to provide a healthier alternative than cheap “filler foods”.

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Executive Action Assessment of Childhood Obesity

1) Trump proposed a National School Lunch Week in which students focus on eating healthier meals, and people take time to appreciate the nutritionists working for schools. He talks about how much he values children’s health, recognizing we owe our efforts to fix this problem to the children. He doesn’t speak much about exactly how this will change the course we are on right now, rather that it is necessary out of respect to nutritionists.

2) I personally do not agree with Trump’s “plan” to help the childhood obesity epidemic because I don’t think it is really going to make a very big difference. I think it is a good idea, but it should be an addition to an implemented plan to actually develop long-term healthy choices. I think we need someone like Michelle Obama to really put time and effort into helping these children.

3) The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services most closely relates to my topic.

4) “It is the mission of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans. We fulfill that mission by providing for effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services.” I think that this relates to my issue if applied to it. This branch should cover the “health and well-being of all Americans” which includes children. There is no reason childhood obesity should be skimmed over, yet it remains incredibly neglected.

5) Alex M. Azar II is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Before accepting this position, he was an attorney focusing on advancing on advancing healthcare reform. I think while Azar may not be the best pick for the job, he is qualified to lead this program.

6) Prevention and Wellness (specifically Nutrition and Fitness or Healthy Lifestyle) would best fit my topic. Both of these categories focus on educating people on leading healthy lifestyles by eating healthy and creating a manageable fitness routine.

7) Surprisingly, I am actually more satisfied than usual on this topic. Most of the time I can’t even find any mention of my topic, so it was somewhat of a success to find people specializing in health, specifically childhood obesity. That being said, I do not think Trump cares about this topic, nor will he put any money into it. That is why I think it so important we have other people of power that care about this issue, otherwise it will be completely neglected, and spiral into complete oblivion.

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Blog Post #6 Legislative Action

1A)

Congressman Desaulnier does not have any information on childhood obesity, however he does believe that every American should be entitled to affordable health care. He also is very involved in bettering public schools, which shows that he would probably be in support of improving the health standards at these schools.

Senator Harris has not shown any perspective on childhood obesity. She is in support of healthcare, which does have a connection with the issue.

Not surprisingly, Senator Feinstein has not openly expressed an opinion about childhood obesity. She has spoken out about her belief that children’s engagement in younger grades directly affects their engagement and success in later grades. This would suggest that she feels the same about implementing healthy lifestyles early on.

1B)

Congressman Desaulnier signed a bill in favor of establishing an at-home healthcare system. While this does not really relate to my issue, it was the closest I could find.

Senator Harris has not passed any bills relating to childhood obesity. She did sponsor a bill protecting medicare, however, which ties into my issue.

While Senator Feinstein has not sponsored any bills relating to my issue (shocking I know), she passed a bill increasing funding into children’s education, hopefully suggesting she would be willing to do the same for their health.

2A)

There is one bill that pertains to my issue. It is called the House Bill 6312. It debates; Should Expenses for Gym Memberships, Exercise Classes, and Youth Sports be Tax Deductible? There is also an article on; Health and Wellness Are Booming, but We’re Fatter Than Ever – Should Congress Do More to Combat Obesity? (this is not actually a bill just an article in this section suggesting we take action on the issue).

2B)

House Bill 6312

2C)

The bill wants to allow people to use money from tax-prefered health savings accounts towards gym memberships, exercise classes, and sports. This would make these programs cheaper, making them more accessible to the public.

2D)

As I said above, it would make the programs cheaper, giving people the resources necessary for them and their family to stay active.

2E)

I would vote yea because I think it is important that we make these programs more accessible to everyone because it allows people a healthy lifestyle that they choose for themselves, rather than it being forced upon them. This way, people are more likely to continue with a healthy lifestyle if they are initiating the effort. Choosing a healthy lifestyle already has so many obstacles and drawbacks, financial burden should not be one of them. The best part of it (in my opinion) is making children’s sports more affordable because this is a fun way for kids to get active at a young age. I think that in giving people that opportunity, it paves the way for a healthier future for Americans.

2F)

The bill started in the House. Five days later, there was a “Committee Consideration and Mark-up session held”. Since then the bill has been amended and awaits a vote. The senate has yet to look at it.

2G)

I am not at all satisfied with our current Federal legislation on my issue. There have been basically no bills shown taking action on my issue. It is extremely overlooked, as I usually can’t even find someone acknowledging the issue. While there are hundreds of thousands of articles showing the horrific downward spiral the childhood epidemic is headed down, no one seems to want to attempt to help the situation.

3) SACAPS

Childhood obesity: America's 'true national crisis' measured state by state

Subject: This article discusses the breakdown of childhood obesity rates throughout the country. It addresses interesting topics, like the different ethnicities’ percentage of obese children, as well as the among the states. It also suggested solutions such as providing more help for low income families, enforcing at least one hour of physical activity daily at school, providing better school meal plans, and reducing marketing for unhealthy foods among children.

Author: The author of this article is Jacqueline Howard. I have actually read another one of Howard’s articles regarding this issue and wrote about it in a previous blog post. As I said before, Howard is a writer and on air broadcaster that specializes in topics such as health, nutrition, and education. She has a masters in journalism from USC and has worked at a number of news networkings, so it is reasonable to assume she is qualified to speak on this topic.

Context: This article was published on October 24, 2018. It is very recent making it relevant to society today.

Audience: I think this article was intended for federal legislatures, as it gives suggestions into ways we could improve the problem. I would assume Howard is fed up with the neglect legislature shows this issue, and has decided to not only lay out a breakdown on the issue, but list out possible solutions.

Bias/Perspective: Howard used to work at Huffington Post, which tends to be fairly unbiased, however can sometimes be skewed a bit to the left. While this “bias” could play a role in this article, it seems more like a call for action to be taken against a page of straight facts.

Significance: Rather than her usual wake up call to Americans, this article is a plea for our lawmakers to finally address this issue. I think Howard wants more than anything for this extremely dangerous issue to finally be taken seriously, as it should be.

Agree? I agree with Howard. First of all, she basically lays out a bunch of statistics that I really can’t argue with. Secondly, I agree that no matter what the solutions may be, it is time we at least address the issue. No solution can be successful if it is never tested.

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Blog Post #5 State Action

1)

A) Assemblywoman Baker has a takes a very bipartisan stance on politics. While she is a registered Republican, she supports bills she believes in, rather than only those that fall under her party’s ideology. She is very supportive of improving childhood education. While she does not specifically mention childhood obesity, she speaks of strengthening our children’s education funding to better our future. It is reasonable to assume she would support enforcing children’s health in schools as she views schools as the base of our country’s growth.

B) I strongly agree with Baker’s view on school funding. I believe that schools build our nation, as that is where our youth grows. It is important that along with strengthening their education, they develop healthy lifestyles. Rather than waiting until it becomes a problem and then pouring millions of dollars into trying to aid the issue, why not prevent most cases from happening in the first place?

C) For each year she has served as Assemblywoman, Baker has “authored and voted for legislation increasing state education funding” and “lead the successful fight to repeal the harmful cap on our school district reserves”.

A) Senator Glazer tends to take a more liberal stance on most policies, but is very bipartisan. Similar to Baker, he is flexible with issues generally looking for the most beneficial solution, rather than solely what his party advocates for. He has not specifically taken any action on childhood obesity, however he does serve on the Human Services Committee, which covers topics like healthcare. It is reasonable to assume that he falls under pushing to increase funding going into reducing childhood obesity rates. Q

B) It’s hard to say whether or not I agree with his stance on childhood obesity as he hasn’t really advocated for either side. I would agree that it is an issue schools and our government need to address (rather than solely the medical field) if that is where he stood. However, I am also assuming he probably falls under the more liberal view of supporting pouring millions of dollars into healthcare, without regard for where/who they are taking it from, which I do not agree with.

C) Senator Glazer has not sponsored any bills related to my issue.

2) a) SRC-52 (Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 52)

b) June 27, 2017

c) On June 19, 2017 The bill was adopted and ordered to consent calendar.

d) This bill is referred to as “Every Kid Healthy Week.” Essentially this bill dedicates the last week of April to promoting healthy lifestyles for every kid. I agree with this bill, because I think it is a good way to enforce that everyone places importance on the issue, even if it just for a week. If it just one week, most people are more likely to dedicate time to the issue, which would help educate children on the issue. Of course this won’t completely stop the issue, and we have a long way to go from here, but small initiatives like this can build up to really make a change.

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The 3 Ps Assessment: Parties, Political Interest Groups, and PAC’s

Republican- While the Republican party does not explicitly state their opinion on childhood obesity, they do share their views on healthcare and parental consent. They essentially say they do not believe the government should fund federal programs involved with abortion. They do not think the child should be able to get these services without a parent’s consent. While I agree with that, I don’t think that means we should cut funding of these clinics. I can assume that because they have these views on healthcare and abortion, they would feel the same about programs to regulate foods at school. They would probably take the position that the children cannot choose for themselves and therefore we should not enforce food restrictions in school cafeterias. I do not agree with this. I think that while yes, the programs should require parental consent, we should still invest time and money into this issue. I think that using the word parental consent is just a cover for an opposing moral view on abortion and healthcare as well as not wanting to pay for it. But if money is the issue, in the long our economy would actually benefit from raising a healthy generation.

Democrat-The Democrats also didn’t specifically mention childhood obesity, but they do share their views on healthcare. They believe healthcare should be a universal right in hopes of building our country up from the bottom. As perfect as this sounds, they don’t mention where all this money would be coming from. While it would be ideal for the government to support every person into good health and prosperity, it simply cannot happen without pouring billions of dollars into the program. What would end up happening is the wealthy will be taxed for healthcare which they would not receive. While I am all for helping those in need, I think we need to assess what that really looks like and who is truly in need of our support. Otherwise we are funneling money into something that does not promote growth, rather a generation dependent on others. In terms of childhood obesity, I think it is important to build from the bottom, but to gradually release this support until they are able to thrive on their own. That is why I think it is important we incorporate these health programs into schools. Teaching the children from a young age is the only way to develop these habits, rather than trying to correct already poor habits.

I don’t identify with either of these parties’ views on the childhood obesity epidemic. The Republicans are too extreme in simply giving the issue a cold shoulder, while the Democrats are too set on pouring billions into trying to fix every little issue. I fall somewhere in the middle where I think that we need to acknowledge the overall issue, but the way to do so is while they are still in the developmental stage, aka their childhood. Neither party even acknowledges childhood obesity, which is where the entire obesity epidemic originates. If we can halt childhood obesity, we can significantly lower all obesity rates.

Childhood Obesity SIG

Food Policy Action

This group wants to promote healthy eating primarily starting in schools. They also recognize that affordability is a big reason why people opt for unhealthy options, which is why they are pushing for lower prices on healthy food. This would originate with promoting local farms and farm raised, grass fed animals.

This group is working on preventing this issue from becoming a partisan issue. They are in the process of passing a bill in Washington that would assure affordable, healthy food for all. The goal is to lower fresh food, as they explained when stating “And, it should ensure that healthy food is not a luxury. A tomato should not cost more than a package of cookies at a convenience store. But today it does.” This bill would hopefully severely reduce obesity rates, as that often goes hand in hand with poverty. It’s main topics to promote are agriculture and food, animals and wildlife, environment, food processing and sales, and health and health care.

I couldn’t find where this interest group is based out of but I did find a get involved page that basically says they have activists organizing activities all around the country.

I couldn’t find any volunteer opportunities I could attend but I signed a petition to enforce healthier options at school.

Health Access-California’s Health Consumer Advocacy Coalition

California’s Health Consumer Advocacy Coalition

This group is very liberal, pushing against acts like Trump’s attempt to repeal public charge (taking away access of healthcare to a portion of Americans). It doesn’t really have anything to do with childhood obesity but it was the closest I could find.

They have proposed quite a few bills, mostly trying to protect the right of healthcare for all Americans. In 2018 they have proposed 5 bills; Stop the Trump Sabotage, Health Care Costs, Quality, and Equity, Expanding Health Care Access, Improving Health Care Affordability, and Prescription Drugs.

One specific act they are endorsing is called “Make Health Care Prices Fair.” They are essentially arguing that while we keep pouring billions of dollars into healthcare (far more than any other country) the quality of the care is not improving. Their solution is to set up an independent commission to put more money into the issue.

They are based at the California Legislature, at state agencies, in the media, and in public forums. I did not see any meetings I could attend but it does have an option to send letters to “targeted legislatures”.

The only steps to action I could find were sending a letter to the legislatures or submitting your story online.

Comparison

The obvious difference between the two organizations is their coverage of the childhood obesity epidemic. While neither explicitly cover the issue, the issue falls under the realm of the national group. The state group probably wouldn’t really cover the issue in depth. Beyond that, the state organization seemed way more liberal. The national one seemed to try to stay somewhat bipartisan, even though it was probably a little left. I agreed way more with the national level one, because its solutions seemed well thought through and reasonable. The state level basically just wanted to pour money into the issue to try to fix it.

PAC

Children’s Health, Life, and Development

They are definitely more democratic, as they have only donated to the left side this year. They support lowering prices of healthy options, and supplying schools with healthier meal plans.

They have spent $6,044. They have no cash on hand.

100% of their budget is spent on democrats. 0% is spent on republicans.

This year no large donations have been given yet, but in 2016 they had a lot. The Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles donated $250 then $500. They had some other donations, the largest being KABC-TV, with a donation of $1,500. This tv station also originates out of LA, so it reasonable to assume that this PAC is fairly small, gathering local supporters, but not much more than that. While they may have a small impact on politicians, they do not have enough sway to completely change any outcomes.

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Constitutional Issues

Unfortunately oyez.org did not have any cases regarding childhood obesity (or obesity in general).

I was also unable to find articles about childhood obesity on @andersquad ‘s twitter so I used an article from CNN instead.

Childhood Obesity is Getting Worse, Study Says

SUBJECT

This article talks about the rise in childhood obesity. In the past years, it has seemed like childhood obesity rates were declining or at least remaining steady, but recent studies have shown it is in fact increasing in kids ages 2-5. This increase seems to be correlated with the exponentially increasing obesity rate among adults.

AUTHOR

The author of this article is Jacqueline Howard. Howard is a writer and on air broadcaster that specializes in topics such as health, nutrition, and education. She has a masters in journalism from USC and has worked at a number of news networkings, so it is reasonable to assume she is qualified to speak on this topic.

CONTEXT

This article was published in March of 2018 so it is pretty recent. That means that most of the information regarding increases in obesity rates are probably still accurate.

AUDIENCE

The intended audience are the American people. Rather than speaking of medical advances we need to make to prevent obesity she speaks mostly of the correlation between adult and child obesity rates. This implies that it is up to us as a society to fix this problem we have brought upon ourselves.

BIAS/PERSPECTIVE OF AUTHOR

The author used to work at Huffington Post. While CNN and Huffington Post tend to be fairly unbiased, they are sometimes viewed as skewed slightly left (Huffington Post in particular). It can be assumed the author takes on these similar views which would ultimately skew her view on the subject.

SIGNIFICANCE

This article is a wake up call to Americans. In fact, I believe Howard uses that exact phrase in her article. It shows just how out of control this epidemic has gotten. It is spiraling out of our reach, so we need to do something FAST.

DO YOU AGREE

I do agree with Howard. While she didn’t really offer a whole lot of solutions to the problem, she showed the frightening statistics on just how bad this problem has gotten. She essentially is just saying that this problem has gotten so out of hand, and something needs to be done. While people may argue over how that should be done, I think everyone would agree that this is a huge problem that needs to be addressed.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/26/health/childhood-obesity-in-the-us-study/index.html

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Media Assessment of Childhood Obesity

Should Schools Be Responsible for Childhood Obesity Prevention? -The Atlantic, LIBERAL SOURCE

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/should-schools-be-responsible-for-childhood-obesity-prevention/277810/

SUBJECT

The main point of this article is how it is a lot more challenging for schools to deal with this problem than it may seem. It looks into schools’ failed attempts to address childhood obesity as well as how the issue is prevalent beyond just school.

AUTHOR

The author’s name is Emily Richmond. She is clearly qualified, as she is the public editor of the Education Writers Association, host of the EWA Radio podcast, and was named Outstanding Journalist of the Year by the Nevada State Press Association. She is a presumably high class, caucasian female.

CONTEXT

This article was published on July 15, 2013. While it has been five years since its release, the article is still relevant because if anything the issue has only heightened. It only strengthens the article’s point that we keep failing to address the problem, as here we are five years later with no progress.

AUDIENCE

This article was intended for tax paying Americans. Because the main focus is schools, and their responsibility to withhold a health standard for students, it can be assumed the author was intending to speak to those who fund schools. Aka taxpayers.

PERSPECTIVE

This article seems fairly objective because it bases everything off of fact. Of course, it is somewhat skewed as it is clear she believes schools play a large role in the epidemic, but she never flat out says her opinion. The title also clearly states the article will discuss schools’ culpability in the issue, so it’s only natural she would only address schools, rather than all the factors. I agree with her point of view. I think schools play a huge role in this epidemic, so I like that she really dove into that. I also agreed with her point that it’s not just about forcing kids to eat healthy when they’re young. It’s about teaching them to maintain a healthy lifestyle because they will eventually grow up and need to make decisions for themselves.

SIGNIFICANCE

The author uses quite a bit of evidence, then proceeds to analyze it. She uses a good balance of both.

Obesity is Rising Among Children and Needs a More Aggressive Multi-pronged Approach -The Hill, CONSERVATIVE SOURCE

http://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/360803-obesity-is-a-rising-among-children-and-needs-a-more-aggressive-multi

SUBJECT

The main point of this article is the health factors of childhood obesity. Not only what the effects are, but how we need to prevent it rather than cure it. The author focuses on the responsibility doctors hold to prevent the epidemic.

AUTHOR

Dr. Angira Patel is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Cardiology) and Medical Education at Northwestern University. Contrasting to the Atlantic’s author, Dr. Patel specializes in the field she is advocating for, but is not a writer/journalist. This could affect the passage because she will be very  educated on why the medical field is responsible, but will also probably be biased towards her profession.

CONTEXT

This article was published on November 17, 2017. While it is more recent than the past article, they are both equally relevant as the issue has only grown as time goes on. There are not really any current events that would significantly change the course of this epidemic, as it continues to exponentially grow.

AUDIENCE

This article is intended for other doctors, or professionals in the medical field. This affects the article because there are quite a few calls to action, solely directed at people within her same profession.

PERSPECTIVE

This article seems to be more subjective than the previous because it promises a “multi-pronged approach” in the title, then proceeds to only discuss one factor of the issue. While the previous article also only addressed one issue, it mentioned that would be the case in the article. This article may be misleading because it makes it sound as though the medical field is the only profession that can make a change.

SIGNIFICANCE

This article has A TON of evidence. It clearly backs up its claim with tons of statistics.

Mom’s Lifestyle Could be Key to Childhood Obesity, Study Suggests-USA Today, IMPARTIAL SOURCE

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/07/05/moms-could-blame-childhood-obesity-harvard-study-suggests/759055002/

SUBJECT

This article gets right to the point. It addresses the idea that parents, mothers in particular influence their child’s habits and ultimately their lifestyle. They essentially claim that if the mom leads a healthy lifestyle, the kid most likely will as well.

AUTHOR

This piece was written by Brett Molina, the producer, editor, and co-host of USA Today. He is qualified and trustworthy.

CONTEXT

This article was published on July 5, 2018. While it is very recent, I don’t think that the date plays a very large role in the relevance of the article. As long as it’s within the past couple of years, for this topic it seems like it is pretty relevant.

AUDIENCE

This article is clearly intended for families to read. It almost guilts mothers into leading a healthy life of their own, for the sake of their own.

PERSPECTIVE

This article is objective because it shows no bias. It simply reports facts from a study and lets the reader think what they want of them. I completely agree with this article, but I don’t think this is any groundbreaking news. I thought it was pretty obvious that a kid’s lifestyle generally mimics that of their parents’.

SIGNIFICANCE

This article has a good amount of reliable and relevant statistics/studies.

What are the main similarities/differences between these three articles?

I feel like they were all pretty similar in the sense that they reported on what they saw to be a factor (if not the only) of the childhood obesity epidemic. I did however notice a difference when I read the article published by The Hills. It seemed like that article was a little more subjective than the other two as it claimed to address the whole issue, then proceeded to only talk about the medical aspect.

Which source do you identify with most and why?

I identify mostly with the first source I read. I agree that schools are the biggest issue that we can fix in order to make progress. Contrary to the second article’s claim, I don’t agree that the way to prevent childhood obesity is investing in medical work. I think doctors are extremely important in treating and curing the epidemic, which is just as important, however I don’t agree that they would be the most effective in preventing the issue. Lastly, I completely agree with the idea that moms play a huge role in their child’s lifestyle, however that doesn’t really offer a source of the problem. Sure, the mom may be to blame, but that brings us back to square one, addressing a way to fix the problem before it happens. In my opinion, the most effective way to do that is through schools.

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Conceptualizing the Issue and Assessing the Types of Action

I chose the childhood obesity epidemic because I think it is a very overlooked issue. I don’t think it is taken as seriously as it needs to be, as children are the future of our world.

Childhood obesity is a huge problem because it is a gateway into serious health issues, like high blood pressure, type two diabetes, and high cholesterol. Along with many other physical risks, childhood obesity also takes a psychological toll on children. Many obese children deal with anxiety and depression, as well as low self esteem. It doesn’t stop there. The issues the children face during their adolescence often follows them into adulthood. People that have been obese their entire life usually experience far more severe health risks than those who developed it later in life. People with obesity face life threatening conditions like heart disease, type two diabetes, and cancer. We can’t let this problem get out of hand. We can’t wait until it’s too late. These are human lives at stake; something needs to change.

In order to address this issue there are a lot of changes that need to be made. In my opinion, schools should play a large role in the prevention of childhood obesity. The government cannot control how parents raise their children, but they can control how schools implement health into their systems.That means changing cafeteria food, enforcing a required amount of exercise daily, and educating both the children and parents about personal health from the beginning of their schooling. Outside of schools, there are many other approaches we could take, such as setting up food stamps for cleaner meals or reducing the price of healthy food and increasing the price of processed snacks. Of course there is no right or wrong way to fix this problem. We can’t know for certain if any if these ideas will work. But it’s worth a shot. We have to make changes because what we’re doing right now clearly isn’t working.

I followed @CDCObesity, @kidseatright, and @michelleobama because they are all very informed on my topic in different ways. Two of the accounts are verified, and one has quite a few followers so I can trust the accuracy of their information. Each account will hopefully provide different angles on the issue and ways to prevent it.

Check out further research on the consequences of childhood obesity here