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Current estimates are that nearly two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese; overweight defined by a body mass index (ratio of weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) of 25-29 and obesity by a body mass index of 30 or above. Most alarming are the statistics relative to children. The percent of school-age children who are overweight grew from 6.5% to 15.3% between the late 1970’s and 2000. It is now known that overweight / obese children will be more likely to have hypertension, diabetes, and elevated cholesterol, health problems associated with overweight / obesity. Without intervention overweight / obese children will become overweight / obese adults.
While experts agree that action must be taken to arrest current levels of overweight / obesity, experts also realize that there is no quick fix, albeit the multitude of promises attached to popular weight loss diets, exercise programs and highly advertised exercise equipment. Most realize that while Americans have achieved an enviable standard of living, we as a nation of plenty have grown accustomed to riding rather than walking, using an elevator or escalator rather than the stairs, eating foods high in calories and fat, fueling America’s weight problem. When this is combined with America’s love of sedentary activities including television, spectator sports, and the
Internet, as well as with the cost cutting measures that have all but eliminated physical education programs from elementary and high schools, it is no wonder that we are now faced with a weight problem that that has escalated to epidemic proportions.
So what are we to do? First, we think it is time for individuals, families and
communities to assume shares...
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...of the responsibility. Every person can pledge to do something every day that in the long run will help to maintain their weight and promote health, such as taking the stairs rather than waiting for the elevator, substituting a low fat food for one that is high in fat, or parking the car at the far end of the parking lot rather than as close as possible to an entrance. Families can pledge to use the car less and try to walk more and while realizing that dinner as a family is not as easy to achieve as it once was in days past, dinner as a family can provide an opportunity to explore low calorie, low fat menu options whether dining at a restaurant or having dinner at home. Finally community involvement is essential for creating environments that promote health rather than deter it.
To this end, the community can serve as an information source that stresses the importance of being physically active rather than sedentary and the importance of focusing on a balanced diet rather than promoting high calorie fast foods. The community can also increase public awareness of federal, state and local initiatives aimed at transforming neighborhoods into places where individuals and families can safely engage in being more physically active. One such initiative is the National Blueprint Consensus (NBC): Strategic Priorities for Increasing Physical Activity made possible by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (www.rwjf.org). The NBC was developed by members of 46 organizations with a commitment to the health of communities. Within the document, available online are 18 priority strategies that can help individuals, families and communities tackle the issues associated with physical inactivity and create healthy environments that will promote rather than deter weight control.
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