An article in today’s Wall Street Journal explored the sodium consumption of children and teens and found that they are, on average, consuming 3,387 mg of sodium a day. Combine that intake with obesity and you’ve got a significant risk of high blood pressure. In a child!! Good grief, you’re thinking. And it’s not all that salty taste – sodium is used as a preservative as well as a flavor in most processed foods. Read the labels. Do you know what the recommended daily sodium intake is? It's about 2,300 mg, though it’s much less (1500) for people with high blood pressure.
Our president’s wife is supposedly fighting the national epidemic of childhood obesity but she’s losing the battle. Why? Children often regard their elders as role models. Look around. Do you see any adult males without a rubber tire bulging over their belt? Walk into a fast food restaurant and observe the hips, thighs, and bellies of the patrons. Then watch what they order. The Journal points out that 75% of the average American’s food comes from processed food or from restaurants – according to CDC.
A child reasons that being fat must be OK if mom, dad, uncle Joe and aunt Sally, the newscasters, the mayor and city council folks are all overweight or obese. Kids aren’t dumb and they often imitate adults.
The next time you’re in a restaurant, look around and you might notice that some kids and parents are either texting or checking out their apps on their phones or tablets. Silence prevails as they are glued to electronics. What? Go for a family walk after dinner? No way. I’d rather text my friends and sit on my butt. A huge percentage of a teenager’s time is devoted to the sedentary pastime of electronics. This increasing trend of little exercise and fatty foods has given us a startling statistic: 34% of US children are overweight or obese – again, according to our friends at CDC.
For the first time in a century, the youngest generations of Americans are predicted to have a shorter lifespan than the older generations. Yes, some of us may end up burying our children, not a happy thought.
Why does America have this problem? We love to eat, a fact that doesn’t escape authors (cookbooks are often best sellers) or diet proponents. How many people do you know who lost 10, 20, 30 or more pounds on a trendy diet and put the weight back on two years later? Diets don’t work. Lifestyles do.
How can you help? Become a fit LifeNut, a role model for children. Get rid of that belly fat. Get off high fat foods and switch to fruits and vegetables. Exercise daily. Yes, people may thing you're weird and call you "skinny." Get the LifeNuts program going in your community – which may be difficult if your mayor and city council people are overweight. If everyone around you is fat, it’s easy to blend in if you have a big belly. If everyone around you is thin, it’s more difficult.
Next up. Weight Watchers and its new CEO.
Our president’s wife is supposedly fighting the national epidemic of childhood obesity but she’s losing the battle. Why? Children often regard their elders as role models. Look around. Do you see any adult males without a rubber tire bulging over their belt? Walk into a fast food restaurant and observe the hips, thighs, and bellies of the patrons. Then watch what they order. The Journal points out that 75% of the average American’s food comes from processed food or from restaurants – according to CDC.
A child reasons that being fat must be OK if mom, dad, uncle Joe and aunt Sally, the newscasters, the mayor and city council folks are all overweight or obese. Kids aren’t dumb and they often imitate adults.
The next time you’re in a restaurant, look around and you might notice that some kids and parents are either texting or checking out their apps on their phones or tablets. Silence prevails as they are glued to electronics. What? Go for a family walk after dinner? No way. I’d rather text my friends and sit on my butt. A huge percentage of a teenager’s time is devoted to the sedentary pastime of electronics. This increasing trend of little exercise and fatty foods has given us a startling statistic: 34% of US children are overweight or obese – again, according to our friends at CDC.
For the first time in a century, the youngest generations of Americans are predicted to have a shorter lifespan than the older generations. Yes, some of us may end up burying our children, not a happy thought.
Why does America have this problem? We love to eat, a fact that doesn’t escape authors (cookbooks are often best sellers) or diet proponents. How many people do you know who lost 10, 20, 30 or more pounds on a trendy diet and put the weight back on two years later? Diets don’t work. Lifestyles do.
How can you help? Become a fit LifeNut, a role model for children. Get rid of that belly fat. Get off high fat foods and switch to fruits and vegetables. Exercise daily. Yes, people may thing you're weird and call you "skinny." Get the LifeNuts program going in your community – which may be difficult if your mayor and city council people are overweight. If everyone around you is fat, it’s easy to blend in if you have a big belly. If everyone around you is thin, it’s more difficult.
Next up. Weight Watchers and its new CEO.
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