Overweight and obesity, strongly associated with serious health problems, have increased dramatically in many Western nations. With an abundance of food and heavily scheduled lives, most Americans eat the wrong types and amounts of food, leading to widespread overweight and obesity and to the associated long-term health effects. In this discussion we will explore these concepts further.

As you create your discussion post, consider the following:

Who is responsible for a person's eating and exercise habits? Employers, school officials, governmental agencies, or perhaps a combination of them all? What impact does an unrelated obese child or adult have on you?

By the end of this discussion, you will be able to:

Describe the impact of socioeconomic status, nutrition, obesity, and exercise on health in childhood and early adulthood.

Complete the following:

First, visit the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI- http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/) website and review the information available to the Public. Select a disease or two on the "Health Information for the Public" page and write a summary of the causes, symptoms and treatment for that disease. based on the information given in the "recipe collection", select food items for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack that would provide nutritional value.

Answer the following question in your discussion:

Did you select foods that were within your personal eating plan (recommended number of calories, saturated fat, and total fat?) What suprised you about the nutritional values of the foods selected? What type of impact do socioeconomic status, nutrition, obesity, and exercise have on health in childhood and adulthood? How could a plan like this be used for early intervention to improve prenatal care or to reduce obesity in childhood and adulthood? Be sure to include in your response information from the textbook or other psychology - specific resources.

Initial Discussion Post

We ask that your initial post should be at least 250 words and must substantively integrate the assigned readings from the module with proper APA style formatting. You may use additional sources and materials as long as they are relevant to the discussion and cited properly with APA style citations.