Previous article: Bullied:Two stories
“I was bullied,” Isabella said.
Isabella was bullied due to her weight.
Isabella DiGiacomo, a sophomore at Harriton High School, suffered from the beginning of her kindergarten term till the end of her eighth grade year. Bullying was her enemy. “It was difficult waking up in the morning,” Isabella said. “I was fearful of going to school, and worrying about being bullied.”
Today:
“I am no longer being bullied,” Isabella said.
Being bullied is still a fear in Isabella’s mind. “I still worry sometimes when attending school that I will get bullied because of my weight,” Isabella said. “I try and not let it affect me.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe in the screening of the BMI (Body Mass Index) to determine whether or not a child is overweight. If a child falls in the 85th-95th percentile that means they are at risk for being overweight. If children fall equal to or greater than in the 95th percentile they are considered overweight.
“Do I think the test should still be administered?” Isabella asked. “Yes, a child, teenager, adult, whoever, needs to know no matter how much it hurts.
There are a multitude of factors that play a role as to how children become overweight. “Screen time and electronics,” Dr. Maria Elena Hallion said.
Hallion has a doctorate in Health Education from Temple University and is a professor of exercise science and health promotion at Cabrini College. In 2011 Hallion took a sabbatical where she worked for four months in Dupont Children’s hosptial weight management clinic.
“During that time I worked with the pediatricians and exercise physiologists,” Hallion said. “It was centered towards family weight management.”
She worked with over 100 children and their families towards complete family involvement.
“Everyday tasks are easier and take less time,” junior exercise science and health promotion major Amanda Vogel said. “How many people make an effort to get the recommended 30 minutes of exercise every day?”
“My parents have been and are currently completely involved in helping me to get healthier,” Isabella said. “But I’ve taken it upon myself to eat the right foods and exercise on a daily basis.”
“I’ve been riding horses since I was four years old,” Isabella said. “One of my passions and one of the physical activities I do every week to stay active.”
“So far I’ve lost 12 pounds.”
Getting active is one of the first steps to getting healthy. Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Campaign centers around five simple steps: Learn the facts, eat healthy, get active, take action and join the Let’s Move campaign.
Hallion created an ECG 300 course that focuses around childhood obesity while integrating social justice. “Let’s Feed Kids Well” is as also a part of the course, a play on words from the Let’s Move Campaign, which is as well a part of the course.
“We have done numerous amounts of research,” junior elementary education and special ed major Megan Decker said. “We have also heard from local speakers on the issue of childhood obesity.”
A majority of obese children continue to stay obese into adulthood. According to the recently published New York Times article “Obesity rate for young children plummets 43% in a decade” Children who continue to stay obese will have a harder time as they get older and are at higher risks for heart disease, strokes and other problems.
“I feel as though many children lack the prior knowledge of the importance of dietary selections,” Vogel said.
But recently statistics show there has been a 43 percent drop in children between the ages of two and five. With this new found evidence it’s been stated that children as young as these ages are turning the corner from the current obesity epidemic.
“Children who become obese when they are young and continue to be obese throughout adulthood probably didn’t know what it was like to live a healthy lifestyle,” Decker said. “Unfortunately these children got into bad, unhealthy habits that they could not get out of.”
According to the New York Times it’s uncertain as to why the drop in rates in young children. But evidence shows that children are consuming less calories from sugary drinks; families have been buying lower calories foods.
There has also been a small drop in obesity within low-income families. “Lower quality foods tend to be less expensive,” Hallion said. “When a family has a tight budget there is a tendency to buy more calories for the money and these are often lower quality,” documented in the literature and documentaries from “A place at the table.”
Roughly 93 million Americans are affected by obesity. It’s been estimated that, that number will climb to about 120 million Americans in the next five years according to the Obesity Action Coalition.
Action starts now! Become your own advocate. “It took time, but I’ve become my own advocate,” Isabella said.
“It’s always been a necessity for me to lose weight and get healthy,” Isabella said. “I was too lazy.”
“No one can make you do it. No one can force you to lose weight. Only you can do it, and the day you decide to do it is up to you,” Isabella said. “It may be too late, it may be the perfect time, it all depends on when it clicks in your mind that you need to do it.”
