Obesity

Report **
 * Information

N a o m i 's P a g e ...

** Linwood College 2009 **

** A Report on Obesity in New Zealand **
 * Naomi McMahon Wicht **
 * 2009 **

More and more New Zealanders are becoming obese and there are no laws to prevent this from happening/getting worse.
 * 1. The Problem **

There are many contributing factors to the issue of obesity in New Zealand. The three main ones are:
 * 2. Causes **

-Change of lifestyle -Economic -Addiction

· __ Change of lifestyle: __ In the past, children were more active, the advance in technology has contributed to this issue. Before television, computers and video games were invented, children would go outside and play, but now that it is possible to be completely entertained from the comfort of your own couch, children spend their time sitting down, staring at a screen for hours on end.

·  __Economic:__ The foods and drinks that are full of sugar, fat and other unhealthy [ingredients] are normally much cheaper that the foods which are good for you. For example, big bottles of coke are always on sale and huge stands of coke are put right by the counter, so a lot of people see it on their way to the checkout and think ‘it’s cheap so I may as well get some’ Whereas real milk is very expensive, so many people can’t afford to buy it. As a result, poor countries are the countries who struggle most with obesity.

People get a sugar fix from things like Coke, they enjoy how they feel when they drink it, so they keep buying it, [therefore, they keep putting these unhealthy foods into their bodies which are making them fat.]
 * · **  __Addiction:__

[Key idea]
 * 3. Solutions **
 * · ** Having less children’s shows on television during the day would encourage more activity in children. This will reduce the amount of over-weight children in New Zealand because children would be spending more of their time being acti ve, as apposed to sitting infront of a screen doing nothing but watching.

· Having a tax on foods containing over a certain amount of fat would make unhealthy foods less affordable, therefore, more people would start buying the healthier options to save money. Because more people will be making healthier food choices, the amount of obese New Zealanders would decrease. This solution would have the biggest effect on the obesity issue in New Zealand because one of the main causes of obesity is that the unhealthy foods are much more affordable than their healthy alternatives. This solution reverses that problem, making unhealthy foods less affordable, so people will be encouraged to make healthier food choices.