Fight Childhood Obesity
Childhood obesity is linked to premature death and as a mother; I want my children to live a long and prospers life. All
parents want this for their children. Anderson Cooper reported that if as parents we want healthy kids, we need to learn how to cook. As a working mother this is easier said than done, it should be we need to learn how to cook quickly, healthy and on a budget learning to read labels and grow our own food!
The interactive chart on obesity by state shows that Michigan and the entire United States has an obesity problem and as a mother, educator and concerned citizen for our young children, this bothers me. The fact that 25% of children in the United States are overweight and 11% obese is enough to make any person shutter and the First Lady make fighting obesity a priority! Diet, calorie intake, fat intake and fat intake and activity level impact are factors in the increasing obesity epidemic.
An epidemic Jamie Oliver is taking on himself and as supportive as I am I wish that we could begin earlier and impact parent cooking and child care providers while our youngest children are having the greatest growth in brain development. Even Harvard Science agrees that to impact obesity we as a society need to start early. Infant weight gain is being linked to obesity, empty soda calories in our youngest children and the LA Times reports that obesity is linked to prenatal health and starts before birth.
I’m not an expert on eating healthy or physical activity but I am a parent of two young children and proud to be part of the Great Start Collaborative for Charlevoix, Emmet and northern Antrim counties of Michigan that have revised and updated their strategies and objectives focusing on early childhood to include combating obesity. We’ve included healthy recipes resources, activities and in the near future will be partnering with local initiatives. We’d love to hear from more parents on this issue of childhood obesity and your thoughts and ideas for combating the problem and making a real difference in our communities.
Photo Credit: Top News
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