Facing Obesity Head On.

We all know that the killer disease of the 21 century is Obesity, and unfortunately, due to several elements
this obesity plague is starting at younger and younger ages.
There are several reasons for this - Kids are less active in their play than they were even 15 years ago .
A lot more time is spent in front of the various screens we have around the house, there is T.V time, computer time, messenger time and of course habit forming gaming time - (which as we know is not about running around and getting exercises.)

There is a lot of easy access food (Junk and not) and probably most of the kids that grow up in western cultures wouldn’t recognize the feeling of hunger (not that that is a bad thing in itself…)
Sitting in front of a screen, eating high fat high carbo high sugar products without so much as moving more than the arm is one of the big contributors to this problem.
Every now and then, I read of a great initiative to solve this or at least to deal with it head on.

 I read about one of these in Maria Kang’s Blog:

in California county they are considering making communities that are biking and walking friendly which would include close access to the stores - and taking this into account in future City development - Great way of thinking.
Also

The Lake County, Calif. Board of Supervisors is considering implementing several new initiatives designed to curb childhood obesity among county residents, the Lakeport Record-Bee reports. Presented this week at a Board meeting, the ideas include creating a farm-to-school program to increase students’ access to locally grown fruit and vegetables. In addition, the director of the Health Leadership Network of Lake County suggested implementing the Coordinated Approach to Children’s Health (CATCH) program at county schools. The program, which could be adopted this fall, advocates fitness, nutrition, and participation from food service and parents as a means of improving children’s health. County representatives also discussed plans to develop a “community recreation district” in Lakewood and Clearlake, as well as proposals to create a community garden and to open school grounds after-hours to allow parents and students to use the various sports facilities and recreation space (Revelle, Lakeport Record-Bee, 6/18/08).

If everyone took this problem as seriously as it really is, and this kind of initiative was just one in many - we would be in a much better place than we are now.