Eat Healthy Live Healthy

by Owen Bogli

Did you know that 18% of kids ages 11 to 14 are obese? This is because so many children eat unhealthy foods everyday. I think that kids ages 11 to 14 should eat healthier because of health issues, the amount of expenses due to being unhealthy, how being unhealthy will affect you in the future, and how being unhealthy will affect your performance in daily life.  


My first reason that kids 11 to 14 should eat healthier is because of the impact on their health. Some health issues that you could develop during childhood is heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, asthma, and sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a potentially serious disease in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. Asthma is a respiratory problem marked by symptoms in the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing. Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the way the body processes blood sugar. Heart diseases are all sorts of diseases that affect the heart in negative ways. All of these diseases can really hurt your body. If you have these diseases then you are at a higher risk for dying at a younger age. 35.7% of adults are obese and 17% of kids are obese in the U.S.A. if you eat unhealthy, then when you are an adult, or even right now, then your could become obese. 40,000 people die each year due to eating unhealthy. All of this means that eating unhealthy could damage your body, or even kill you.


Another reason for eating healthy is the expenses that come from it. In 2005, the U.S. spent $190 billion on obesity related health care. If you are obese, then you will have to pay $6,454 more than a person that is healthy due to medical expenses. You may say that you could do anything with your life and that it won’t affect anyone else. Well, if you say that, then you are wrong. Parents could pass obesity down generations so that their children and their grandchildren could have obesity problems just like their father or grandfather. You may say that eating healthy costs more. Yes, it does. It costs as much as $1.50 a day. But would you rather pay $1.50 more a day and live a long, healthy life, or would you like to save just $1.50 and live a shorter less healthy life where you would not be able to do as much due to being unhealthy. In sum, this means that you will have to pay to eat healthier, but in the long term, the thing that will cost you the most is eating unhealthily. And that price is your healthy life.  


Being unhealthy in childhood won’t only affect you in childhood. The problems and diseases are long term or even permanent. Some things that may occur if you don't eat healthy are: Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, asthma, deficiencies of the senses, and a number of other problems. Some permanent diseases are diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In the future, you will be hurt by this: dying of cancer, having your senses dulled, having your heart stopping, or having a stroke at a young age.


One day I was sitting on sitting on my couch, talking to my family and the subject of what is in "Coke Zero" arose. One specific Ingredient was one we started to talk about "Aspartame". It is an artificial sweetener used in many foods. Just like most sweeteners used, it is harmful to you. This ingredient is so amazingly unhealthy it is amazing. This is the definition of Aspartame:

 According to the patent, which is available for the public to read online, genetically modified E. coli are cultivated in tanks and fed so that they can defecate the proteins that contain the aspartic acid-phenylalanine amino acid segment used to make aspartame. Ok, so that is a lot of big words, so I will tell you basically what it means. This means that they have large tanks, full of the E. Coli bacteria. E. Coli. E. Coli is a deadly virus found in raw meat. They then feed that deadly bacteria so that it poops. They then harvest the poop and there you have your yummy, disgusting artificial sweetener. Some people this this sweetener even causes cancer. If you think that this is a thing that is not used much, then think again, aspartame is used in the following everyday products: Carbonated soda, powdered soda, chewing gum, jelly, dessert mixes, puddings, fillings, frozen desserts, yogurt, and tabletop sweeteners.


You may say, “Well, you keep telling us to eat healthy, but you are not telling us what to eat.” Well that is what I am going to tell you right now. You should eat a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, protein, dairy, and grains. Half of your food for the day should be fruits and vegetables. About one quarter of your daily meals should be protein and another quarter should be grains. For a child 11 to 14 that would be 500 calories from fruits. 500 calories from veggies. 500 calories should be from protein and 500 calories should be grains. That means that the average 11 to 14 year old would eat 2000 calories of food. By eating healthy you will not have to worry about most of the health problems that I have talked about.


One important thing that your should know about eating healthy is how it affects daily life. Eating unhealthy affects daily life in a few different ways. Let’s start in the morning. Eating a good breakfast will make your feel energized and full for the rest of the day until lunch. Eating a healthy lunch will give you brain power and strength for your job or school. At dinner, eating a healthy dinner will make your feel good for bedtime. Eating healthy for the entire day will make your feel good during your sleep and it will help your get a good night’s sleep.  


I think that kids ages 11 to 14 should eat healthier because of health issues, the amount of expenses due to being unhealthy, how being unhealthy will affect you in the future, and how being unhealthy will affect your performance in daily life. 18% of kids ages 11 to 14 are obese. This is because children eat in unhealthy ways.  Please make sure that you kids, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins are eating healthy. Remember, if you don’t eat healthy, then you don’t live healthy.

Cited Sites

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. <https://www.wikipedia.org/>.

"A Healthy Diet for a 12-Year-Old." LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM, 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.livestrong.com/article/314427-a-healthy-diet-for-a-12-year-old/>.


"Healthy Eating for 10-11 Year Olds." Healthy Eating. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. <http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/healthy-eating-1011-year-olds-7462.html>.


"The Risks of Poor Nutrition." :: SA Health. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. <http://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public content/sa health internet/healthy living/is your health at risk/the risks of poor nutrition>.

---