Child Food Insecurity
It’s a simple fact: A child’s chance for a bright tomorrow starts with getting enough food to eat today. But in America, 1 in 6 children may not know where they will get their next meal. For the 11 million kids in the U.S. facing hunger, getting the energy they need to learn and grow can be a daily challenge. Due to COVID this number has increased to 1 in 7 children food insecure.
According to USDA, hunger is a personal sensation of discomfort that an individual may have; but food insecurity refers to the lack of available financial resources for food at the household level. (lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle)
Childhood Obesity
Childhood obesity is a serious problem in the United States putting children and adolescents at risk for poor health. 43 million preschool children are overweight or obese. Every 5th child in the world is overweight or obese; main reason is the type of food that is consumed. Illness resulting from child obesity is hypertension, type 2 diabetes, spine and joint diseases, heart diseases, psychological distress just to name a few. Children now spend more than 7.5 hours a day in front of a screen with little to no activity during the day.