Obesidad

Australia is a great nation. I can almost be certain that no - one in this room would dispute this statement. Although small compared to places such as North America, and Europe we have a great way of life, we are a democratic nation and pose some of the most amazing natural attractions the world has ever seen such as; Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Daintree National Park. But although I love Australia and could go on talking about it for hours on end and talk about how we thought of UGG Boots and vegemite first I am here today to talk about an epidemic that is gripping our tiny nation. This at the moment is having adverse affects on the way we live our lives and how we are modelling the future for the younger generations. The problem I am talking about is Obesity.

I am sure you all have either seen or heard about Television programmes such as The Biggest Loser, Overhaul, and You Are What You Eat. If you haven’t here is a basic understanding for you. The shows brings together a group of severely overweight or obese participants and either send them through some sort of boot camp or go into their houses and take all their food out onto the table and say “this is how much stuff you consume in a week”. You may say that these shows have all come out of America and pose little relevance to Australian people, right? WRONG! No matter what you may think Australia is now ranked sixth in the world as having the highest percentage of people that are obese or severely overweight. Included in this count are the Australian children. It is estimated that 20 – 25% of children are overweight. To put this estimate into perspective the percentage I have just quoted is equal to ONE MILLION children. Also we are now more at risk of heart disease and diabetes than ever before. Not a very good endorsement for our nation which promotes so much sporting prowess.

In the last 30 years the weight of an average 8 year old child has nearly doubled to what is was previously. Why? You may ask? Well here are the facts. Let’s take a trip down memory lane, back to when your parents and grandparents were younger. A television during that time was very much a luxury item and in some cases not even invented. No – one had heard of a phone that had no cord, and well no-one had even heard about what a computer was let alone things like MSN, My Space, Bebo, and games you could play online. So come to think about it there was little or no television, no computers with games, no playstations, gameboys, or Nintendo’s. So what was there to do during the week? Some of you may say homework and I couldn’t agree more with you but my point being is that kids used to always be outside playing sport or running around inventing games, there wasn’t nearly the amount of people being told they are obese as there are today.

Do we really want a society that ridicules each other for being bigger?

So coming back out of the dark ages we can see how technology that has always helped us, has now in fact failed us in a physical sense. So what is the answer some may say? Well I believe that compulsory sport classes in schools are the answer. Sport is very much part of the Australian way of life these days. Whether it is a daily walk in the park with your MP3 player, a game of cricket on the beach at Christmas with family, playing a game of netball, or doing sport at school, sport is a vital cog in helping us maintain a happy, healthy and successful society.

Sport at school would be a contributing factor in helping eliminate the problem of obesity in schools. Not only is it a fun way of meeting friends it can also teach skills vitally important to a child’s development such as ball skills, hand-eye coordination, and personal development skills. It also offers children to gain a wider understanding of how a game works, positions on the field of play, and the value of good sportsmanship

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