Childhood Obesity Essay Example for Free

Childhood Obesity Essay Childhood obesity has increased over the years due to genetics, environment, and cultural. There may be a combination of these factors that contribute to the widespread epidemic that is affecting our country today. Most people never take the time to figure out the problem and come up with a solution. Obesity is caused by lack of physical activity, poor eating habits, and genetics. In order to escape the recurring disease; some changes need to be made. Obesity is when a child is well above the normal weight for his or her age and weight. The problem is that children are becoming more obese. Understanding the causes of childhood obesity would be most beneficial in addressing the problem. While playing video games and watching television children have a tendency to want to snack. There is nothing wrong with it, but they need to go outside and play afterwards. They aren’t burning off any calories. Moderate intense regular physical activity is essential for the prevention of overweight and obesity (Raj 2010). Children should engage in some type of physical activity daily. Kids are more apt to do activities if they think of it as fun. Children should be prescribed physical activity that is safe, developmentally appropriate, interesting, and practical and has a social element (Raj 2010). Genetic makeup plays a role in obesity. There is considerable evidence to suggest that, like height, weight is a heritable trait (Sadaf Farooqi 2007). Having obese family members can very well have a lot to do with obesity in children. A recent article reported an odds ratio of 4 for the development of childhood obesity when there is a family history of obesity (Signorino Winter 2008). White adipose tissue (WAT) is the principal target tissue in obesity (Mitchell 2009). The environment in which one lives in can have something to do with becoming obese. Environmental risk factors for overweight and obesity are very strong and inter-related (Raj Kumar 2010). The food choices children intake should be monitored. The amount of a food should be monitored as well. Children have tendency to want to eat foods that are high in fat. Children and adolescents of poor socio-economic status tend to consume less quantities of fruits and vegetables and to have a higher intake of total and saturated fat (Raj Kumar 2010). There are risk and complications that come along with being obese. Being obese you run the risk of have cardiovascular problems, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. Obesity significantly contributes to morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease (Raj Kumar 2010). Not only are there risks, but obesity affects a child’s self-esteem. Obese children are a target for being bullied and picked on. They tend to feel worthless about themselves. Their perception of themselves becomes damaged. It can sometimes affect their grades. Obesity can be managed and controlled with the right treatment and diet. For successful obesity management, the child should be assessed and treated by a multidisciplinary team, including a physician, dietitian, exercise expert, nurse and behavior therapist (Nowicka 2005). With that said, with the right treatment a child who is obese can get help. The ultimate goal is to bring the weight down to where it should be. Eating the right amount as well as the right foods helps with dropping weight. Eating out is a quick fix and should be cut down to a minimum. There should be a plan for healthier snacks, balanced diet, and adequate intake of more fruits and vegetables to avoid high calorie/high fat foods. Obesity in children often leads to obese teenagers who then become obese adults. Health as well as self esteem is often compromise when dealing with the lives of obese children and adults. Identifying and managing obesity in childhood is pertinent in slowing this epidemic down before it is too late to do anything about it. Reference Farooqi, S. (2007). Insights from the Genetics of Severe Childhood Obesity. Hormone Research, 68(S5), 5-7. doi:10. 1159/000110462 Mitchell, G. A. (2009). Genetics, physiology and perinatal influences in childhood obesity: view from the Chair. International Journal of Obesity, 33S41-S47. doi:10. 1038/ijo. 2009. 16 Nowicka, P. (2005). Dietitians and exercise professionals in a childhood obesity treatment team. Acta Paediatrica. Supplement, 94(s448), 23-29. doi:10. 1080/08035320510035537 Raj, M. , Kumar, R. (2010). Obesity in children adolescents. Indian Journal of Medical Research, 132(5), 598-607. Signorino, M. R. , Winter, W. E. (2008). Childhood Obesity and Diabetes. Current Medical Literature: Diabetes, 25(1), 1-16

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When in November 1945 John H. Johnson, a 27-year-old Black businessman with a vision and an abiding faith in himself, launched Ebony magazine, his timing couldn't have been more perfect. World War II had just come to an end and thousands of Black GIs who had helped "make the world safe for democracy" were returning to civilian life, ready to challenge racial discrimination at home. "Ebony," says Publisher Johnson, "was founded to project al dimension of the Black personality in a world saturated with stereotypes. We wanted to give Blacks a new sense of somebodiness, a new sense of self-respect. We wanted to tell them who they were and what they could do. We believed then--and we believe now--that Blacks needed positive images to fulfill their potentialities." Thanks to that winning formula, Ebony, whose name was the brainchild of the publisher's wife, Eunice W. Johnson, immediately captured the No. 1 spot as the most widely circulated and most popular Black magazine, a position it has been able to maintain for 50 consecutive years. In keeping with its mission, Ebony began chipping away at old stereotypes and replacing them with positive Black images by highlighting the achievements of Black men and women that had heretofore been ignored by the general press. So systematic had been the exclusion of Blacks from the White-controlled media that many people, including--sadly enough--a fair number of Blacks, had serious doubts about Blacks' ability to perform as well as their White counterparts. Ebony helped change all that. With articles and dramatic photos, the new publication showed bow undaunted Black individuals were able to triumph over poverty and racial barriers and succeed in building viable careers in education, business, sports, the military, entertainment and the arts. While monitoring the ongoing saga of Black progress, the magazine also put its resources to work to show its readers that Blacks had a history to be proud of and that even during slavery, there were Black men and women whose heroic deeds he lped in the freedom struggle and paved the way for future generations of Blacks. As the Freedom Movement gained momentum in the late `50s and early `60s, Ebony became the mirror of the struggle of rights activists, both North and South, to desegregate rail and bus transportation, lunch counters, public schools, hotels and motels, the armed forces and housing. Frequently at the risk of their own safety, Ebony writers and photographers braved the menacing presence of racist sheriffs in order to bring readers firsthand accounts of the valiant battle for racial equality waged by Blacks in a recalcitrant South.

Plan: Realism in Great Expectations and Robinson Crusoe Essay

‘Realism falls short of reality. It shrinks it, attenuates it, falsifies it.’ (Eugà ¨ne Ionesco) Discuss the relation between realist literature and the world it represents. Actual Quote â€Å"Realism falls short of reality. It shrinks it, attenuates it, falsifies it; it does not take into account our basic truths and our fundamental obsessions: love, death, astonishment. It presents man in a reduced and estranged perspective. Truth is in our dreams, in the imagination.† Start by talking about realism and realist literature. Realism began in the 19th century? My interpretation of the question. Explain that the essay will respond to the quote with reference to Robinson Crusoe and Great Expectations. I will study how the texts attempt to construct reality with issues such as gender and race but do both have problematic features that support the argument raised by Ionesco. Realism began in the 19th century? Defoe seen as the father of realism Insert and analyse quotes where possible and respond to critics/opinions. Realism in Robinson Crusoe 1. Realism ‘The editor believes the thing to be a just history of fact; neither is there any appearance of fiction in it.’ (Preface to Robinson Crusoe) ‘Given its accumulation of ‘realistic’ descriptions and detail, its capacity to name and map out time and space as if it mirrored reality, realist fiction emerged as part of a culture obsessed with the truths and realities of an increasingly scientific and secular world’ (Sean Purchase, Key Concepts in Victorian Literature (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), p. 185) ‘According to Marxist critics, for example, realist Victorian fiction†¦ embodies middle-class ideologies and values, so that the very discourse of â€Å"realism† it provides is really a middle-class adaptation of reality from the outset’ (Purchase, p. 186) In The Rise of the Novel, Ian Watt identified the following elements as  characteristic of the early novel: A concern to account for probability; a concern to tell you who, what, why, where and when. Watt describes reading a novel as like listening to evidence in a court of law. Specific, recognisable and often present-day settings. Mixed characters, characters who change over time. Celebration of private, domestic (rather than public, heroic) virtues. Plain language.  (Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel, London: Chatto & Windus, 1957) Locate evidence of each of the above in Robinson Crusoe. You might wish to focus on the opening three pages of the novel but feel free to look at any section. Defoe’s â€Å"Robinson Crusoe† began the literary genre of realistic fiction. The aspects of his writing that define â€Å"realism† would be the immense detail he uses; descriptive language; and the flow of his narrative (dialect included). Defoe concentrates on the qualities of different objects, which provide us with a picture to accompany the words. His first clay pot, the crude fashion of his garments, and the grindstone are a few of the things we can almost touch when reading. Defoe not only introduced this genre, but I believe that in many ways he is still the master. daniel defoe expresses his work in realism via : – first person narrator. – using specific dates . – using real places – using details – fallibility – diaries http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/discuss-realism-robinson-crusoe-and-why-daniel-126439 Unrealistic Rob Cru Although we do not think too highly of the literary experience of the average 18th century reader, even he would remain sceptical after taking the author at his word. Defoe’s solution to this problem is most original: Fact is his strategy, and triviality his weapon. Of course, this technique of describing as many trivial events as possible to make the story seem more realistic, has (again) become a common aspect of almost every novel to date. In almost 400 years, we have gone from one extreme to another: From a time when it was revolutionary to introduce this formula in literature, to a time where it would be almost revolutionary not to. It may seem as if I am saying I am strongly inclined to believe that Robinson Crusoe is both a terrific book and a novel which set a new standard for literature in its time. This is true. However, I am not oblivious to some of the weaker points of the book. My foremost criticism is this; Robinson Crusoe is not a real person. He is a character, faintly disguised as a person. At first we are fooled, for all that happens seems realistic enough, but as soon as Robinson is marooned on the island, the illusion is fading. His way of living, his sudden belief, his entire way of looking at the world suggests that someone indeed did make this up. Partly, this has to do with the environment. When Defoe decided to write a more realistic novel than was usual at the time, he could have done better that to opt for an uninhabitated island. It is very difficult to make a character seem more realistic when he is completely alone. It is very hard to describe in detail solitude on such a large scale of time and still remain true to realism. Solitude may be something we have all experienced at one time or other, but Robinson’s long time completely devoid of any human contact whatsoever and his logical despair is incredibly hard to describe convincingly. Realism in Great Expectations Get presentation made in seminar real and unrealistic GE: TOPIC FOUR: Genre: Realism and sensationalism In what ways might we think of this as a realistic fiction i.e. as a fiction that represents the experience of living in the world (of materiality)? What specific features make this a ‘condition of England’ novel (if any)? You should come prepared to define this term. In what ways is this an unrealistic text? You should think about the characterisation; the plot resolutions; the theatricality of some of the scenes and events; the style in which some parts of the narrative are delivered. Find at least three examples to discuss. In considering the above, you might wish to comment on the serialised form of the original publication. Is it melodramatic? Episodic? To what extent do you feel that the more melodramatic or sensationalists aspects of the text undermine its social comment (if at all)? Realism was developed by the middle of the 19th century as a response to the idealistic world of romanticism which had dominated for the past half century. It was an aesthetic movement which attempted to hold up a mirror to its society to show a true reflection of reality. Although claiming to offer a slice of life by emphasizing chiefly in the importance of the ordinary amongst the middle and lower classes, realism is a relative concept, a representation of reality which adheres to a loose collection of conventions. Many of these are offered in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, which follows the life and struggles of the protagonist and narrator, Pip. Dickens uses techniques such as a chronological linear narrative, an omniscient narrator, the celebration of the ordinary, and the resolution of the enigma to drive the moral undercurrents of Pip’s everyday existence. This constructed realism is essentially a representation of reality based on Dickens ideology, offerin g social commentary and reflecting the values and attitudes of nineteenth century England. The basic structure of Great Expectations follows a chronological development of Pip’s life; from his childhood innocence, to his disillusioned expectations, finally his rejection of the high life and a circular succession ending back at the beginning. This chronological structure of which Dickens narrates exemplifies Pip’s learning process through his moral and emotional turmoil and complies with the opportunity to generate a realistic setting. For example, Pip’s description of London, â€Å"a most dismal place; the skylight  eccentrically patched like a broken head, and the distorted adjoining houses looking as if they had twisted themselves to peep down at me through it,† creates an archaeologically realistic description of London, and hints a sense of foreboding, foreshadowing the futility of Pip’s expectations. This ideology developed through Pips learning process is created through a†¦ Great Expectations a novel by Charles Dickens takes reader on an epic adventure filled with unexpected encounters with a myriad of people with vastly different backgrounds that ultimately shape Pip into the man that he becomes. Pip moves from the social class that he was born to, to one that he is elevated to by an anonymous benefactor. The two people that typify the conventional expectations of romanticism and realism are Pip the protagonist and Joe Gargery the humble blacksmith. Joe clearly shows his love for Pip the entire way through the book, a love that is only acknowledged or valued until the closing pages of the book. We will look at Pip’s journey from extravagance and utter self indulgence to his ultimate enlightenment and self fulfillment. Great Expectations is narrated by an older mature Phillip Pirrip or Pip and is his reflections and recollections of his childhood through his emerging expectation, to adulthood, often seen to make fun of his younger self. Pip was reared by hand by his older malevolent sister and her meek and submissive husband Joe Gargery, after the death of his parents. The protagonist always refers to his sister as Mrs Joe, showing the reader how domineering and heavy handed she is towards not only Pip but her husband Joe. She affords little compassion or kindness to either male and you start to see the difference between the characters and their reactions to her in relation to the conventions of romance and realism. Joe lending himself to looking at life through the eyes of a realist satisfied knowing his place, where as Pip being more romantic, dreams of escape and leaving the marches for a better life. Pip was apprenticed to his brother-in –law Joe the village blacksmith, when his direction in life was to change by the chance meeting of an escaped convict in the graveyard of his parents.

“Letter From Birmingham Jail” Is Addressed To Several...

â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† is addressed to several clergymen who had written an open letter criticizing the actions of Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) during their protests in Birmingham. Dr. King tells the clergymen that he was upset about their criticisms, and that he wishes to address their concerns. First, he notes their claim that he is an â€Å"outsider† who has come to Birmingham to cause trouble. He defends his right to be there in a straightforward, unemotional tone, explaining that the SCLC is based in Atlanta but operates throughout the South. One of its affiliates had invited the organization to Birmingham, which is why they came. However, he then provides a moral reason for his presence, saying†¦show more content†¦In particular, the black community has waited long enough. Dr. King insists that the black man has waited â€Å"more than 340 years† for justice, and he then launches into a litany of abuses that his people have suffered both over time and in his present day. Amongst these abuses is his experience explaining to his young daughter why she cannot go to the â€Å"public amusement park† because of her skin color. Because the black man has been pushed â€Å"into the abyss of despair,† Dr. King hopes that the clergymen will excuse his and his brethren’s impatience. Dr. King then switches gears, noting that the clergymen are anxious over the black man’s â€Å"willingness to break laws.† He admits that his intention seems paradoxical, since he expects whites to follow laws that protect equality, while breaking others. However, he then distinguishes between just and unjust laws, insisting that an individual has both a right and a responsibility to break unjust laws. He defines just laws as those that uphold human dignity, and unjust laws as those that â€Å"degrade human personality.† Unjust laws, he argues, hurt not only the oppressed, but also the oppressors, since they are given a false sense of superiority. He then speaks specifically of segregation, describing it as unjust. Because it is a law that a majority forces the minority to follow while exempting itself from it, it is a law worth breaking. Further, because Alabama’s laws work to prohibitShow MoreRelatedEssay on Analysis of Martin Luther Kings 1219 Words   |  5 Pagesinfluential are the best adjectives to explain Letter from Birmingham Jail. Martin Luther King Jrs astuteness is enhanced by the astonishing capability to show the unkind and heartless attitude against black community. Throughout the whole writing to the eight clergymen Jr. never get too far from the clash for fairness in Birmingham. As head of the South Christians Leadership Conferences (SCLC), Martin L. King, Junior., in the year 1963 acknowledged Birmingham, Alabama, as possibly the most carefullyRead MoreOutline And Objective Of A Persuasive Text1284 Words   |  6 Pageshave an empty picture. Evidence and reasoning are the two basic pieces of your persuasive letter. Without these, you’ll simply have a frame—your claim—without information to complete the argument. Explaining how things connect for your reader is one of the most important ways to strengthen your argument. Today s lesson objective is: Students will be able to develop an analysis using relevant evidence from texts to support claims, opinions, ideas, and inferences. When reading a persuasive textRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King Jr1689 Words   |  7 PagesLuther King Jr. led a protest in Birmingham, Alabama that focused on the unfair treatment and the segregation of African Americans. The court ruled that he was not allowed to hold protests. Therefore, he was arrested and placed in Birmingham Jail. While inside his solitary confinement cell, he wrote a letter and had it sent out through his lawyer. This letter was addressed to the clergymen of Birmingham but he knew that everybody would be reading it. Throughout the letter, he demonstrates his knowledgeRead MoreLetter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Essay1116 Words   |  5 Pagescompositions was done in a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was heading a national political movement for the recognizable equal treatment of colored people wrote a letter to his fellow clergy men while being imprisoned. In one article, he was able t o address not only the clergy, but a wide, diverse audience, send his message across thoroughly, and affect millions of lives because of his purpose and the different personas he assumed. Dr. Kings letter was a success becauseRead MoreRacism And Social Discrimination Essay835 Words   |  4 Pagesdid not reserve the same rights as other races. 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King’s purpose bolstered in his â€Å"Letter† and â€Å"Dream† speech by key rhetorical devices are supported by audience oriented diction and appeals. King’s rhetoricalRead MoreMlk Jr.’S â€Å"Letter from a Birmingham Jail†1325 Words   |  6 PagesMLK Jr.’s â€Å"Letter from a Birmingham Jail† While unaware of the impact this would have on the American people, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s â€Å"Letter from a Birmingham Jail† turned into an iconic piece of American history. King’s tremendous work as a civil rights activist through non-violent protest changed our day-to-day life, and his words captured the entire American population. King was persuasive due to his genuine nature and passion for his work, which is easily communicated in his writing. SpecificallyRead MoreDr. King s Letter From Birmingham Jail1342 Words   |  6 PagesDr. King Lays the Clergymen’s Anxiety to Rest Dr. Martin Luther King addressed many topics in, â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail†. He answered all the issues that were aimed towards him in a very skillful and well thought out manner. These issues came from, â€Å"A Call For Unity†, which was a letter that was published by eight local clergymen expressing their feelings about what Dr. King was doing. One concern in particular that King did an outstanding job of confronting was that of the clergymen’s anxietyRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King Jr. Essay1996 Words   |  8 PagesKing Jr. wrote a letter while incarcerated in Birmingham jail to eight clergymen in response to their letter known as â€Å" A Call For Unity.†   The letter asked for the halt of direct action type protest in Birmingham, Alabama that Martin Luther King was leading.   The letter has become known as one of the greatest works of argument in American history. Part of the reason for the letter’s notoriety and effectiveness is due to its eloquent use of pathos. 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