Back in February, we reported that First Lady Michelle Obama launched the Let's Move! campaign to help solve the childhood obesity epidemic within one generation. As part of this effort, President Barack Obama established the Task Force on Childhood Obesity to develop and implement an interagency plan to coordinate strategy, identify key benchmarks, and outline an action plan.

The action plan defines the goal of ending childhood obesity in a generation as returning to a childhood obesity rate of just 5 percent by 2030, which was the rate before childhood obesity first began to rise in the late 1970s. In total, the report presents a series of 70 specific recommendations, many of which can be implemented right away.

While we think this isn’t aggressive enough, we applaud the sentiment.

A Super-sized Problem of Epidemic Proportions (and Portions)

In their newly released Report to the President, Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity within a Generation, the Task Force on Childhood Obesity, paints a grim picture of our children’s health and our national challenge.

“One in every three children (31.7%) ages 2-19 is overweight or obese,” stated the report. “Obesity is estimated to cause 112,000 deaths per year in the United States, and one third of all children born in the year 2000 are expected to develop diabetes during their lifetime. The current generation may even be on track to have a shorter lifespan than their parents.”

Get Outdoors Chubby

According to the CDC, kids need a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity everyday. There is no way they are going to get that indoors, even if you have a treadmill or stationary bike. After all, what fun is that?

That’s not to say there aren’t some wonderful indoor sports for kids, like gymnastics, martial arts, wrestling, and even cheer. But nothing quite replaces the spontaneous pickup game, tree climbing and bike riding that have kept previous generations healthy.

In a blog post May 17, 2010 on the Let’s Move Website, Dan Wenk, National Park Service Deputy Director, points out the correlation between GettingOutside and physical fitness as cited in the report:

Children today are spending half as much time outdoors as their parents did – and on average, more than six hours per day in front of electronic media. Research cited in the report attributes the poor health of many of today’s children in part to a “generational decline in the level of outdoor recreation in natural environments.” It states that children are “healthier, happier, and have better social skills if they have frequent opportunities for free and unstructured play outdoors.”
Take the President’s Challenge

President's Challenge is an entire series of programs designed to help improve anyone's activity level. Young or old, it's about choosing to live healthier - and finding things you really like to do. The Active Lifestyle program shows you how to make a commitment to staying active and how to stick to it. The program helps you set realistic goals to encourage fitness for a lifetime.

The President's Challenge is a great initiative, and we encourage you and your family to sign up and take part!

Obesity Will Raise Your Taxes and Cost You!

Between increased healthcare and disability costs along with lowered productivity, this will cost our society dearly. The human toll will be even higher.

“Each year, obese adults incur an estimated $1,429 more in medical expenses than their normal-weight peers. Overall, medical spending on adults that was attributed to obesity topped approximately $40 billion in 1998, and by 2008, increased to an estimated $147 billion.6 Excess weight is also costly during childhood, estimated at $3 billion per year in direct medical costs.”

The obese are more likely to suffer from diabetes, arthritis and several forms of cancer. Throw in heart disease, stroke and asthma, and you’ve got a ticking time bomb on your hands. Being obese is as bad as being a heavy smoker.

“One study found that approximately 70% of obese children had high levels (greater than 90th percentile) of at least one key risk factor for heart disease, and approximately 30% had high levels of at least two risk factors.30 There is evidence that heart disease develops in early childhood and is exacerbated by obesity,31 and people as young as 21 have been found to display early physical signs of heart disease due to obesity.”

What Can We Do About the Obesity Health Crisis?

As someone who has struggled with weight problems most of his life, I can say that there are no easy answers. Over eating and under-exercising are complex and chronic bad habits akin to drinking and drugging. Generally, there a no silver bullets and few truly cathartic moments.

While an alcoholic can stop drinking outright, an eater can’t just stop eating. It takes a commitment to managing the physical, emotional and caloric vagrancies that one face each and every day.

When our kids are involved, the dynamics can be even more challenging. Here’s what the report focuses on and recommends.

• Create a healthy start on life for our children, from pregnancy through early childhood
• Make healthy choices for our families
• Serve healthier food in schools
• Ensure access to healthy, affordable food
• Increase opportunities for physical activity.

The good news is that most of these recommendations are easily within our grasp with little extra cost needed. Get rid of the bad food in your house. Don’t give kids money they can use for bad food outside the house. (Teach them how to save and invest their money instead.) Demand that your school board provide healthier choices in school. A good start is to get rid of ALL soda and snack machines. And do what our mom’s did: kick the kids out of the house! They need to get outdoors and play!