Obesity is an epidemic that is taking our country by storm. Unfortunately it is not only affecting the lives of adults but also our children. Today I watched a program on HBO about childhood obesity. The name of the program is The Weight of the Nation, and I believe it is a four-part series but when I turned to it the discussion was on children, so I have not seen the other parts. Any how, the show sort of saddened me. Although I am very aware of the epidemic of childhood obesity, and I am a first hand witness to the problem with some of the children I have been around in my daily life.It still brought some intriguing thoughts to mind. While the program was very adamant about the roles of media, and schools on children’s diet I believe there was not enough focus on the fault of the parents.As I said the program really brought some great insight into what the media and schools are doing to affect the children. The media is as one man put it is”powerful and predatory”. Children are watching a lot more tv these days and are constantly exposed to the images of sugary drinks, cereals, candy, that in essence are damaging to their health. I have a personal belief that sugar is culprit of obesity,and an addiction that leads to numerous health problems, but that’s another topic, so back to the story! The marketing of food products is a billion dollar a year industry!(While!!!) wonder the man said powerful, these people are banking off of our kids being unhealthy. As I said above the children are not as active. They are spending constant  time on TV, computers, games. So their access to the media food advertisements is constant, but this is where I fault the parents. Many of us parents are either oblivious to the time spent on these sedimentary activities or to busy to notice, or maybe it has become the norm of our society because a lot of us spend our time on computers and other gadgets. Whatever it may be we as parents are a major enabler of our children’s obesity, and I think it’s about time that we take the time to realize and acknowledge that. Parents play the strongest role in childhood obesity. We need to aim to keep our kids active in sports,playing outside,or exercising. I am not preaching to the choir because I definitely need to clean up my eating habits, and those of my daughter, but I will say that I have taken the time to make some minor changes that will hopefully lead to a healthier life choices not only for my daughter but for me and my family. I know first hand the struggle of losing weight and fighting our food addictions, but with a little encouragement we can all accomplish a much healthier life style.

Look out for more post on this topic and  some minor changes I have made that I believe will help our overall health!

Here is the link to the program on YouTube http://youtu.be/T24B6T-hp0E