These Kids Need Your Help

Some disturbing news was reported just a few months back by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

By now I'm used to seeing hundreds of studies a month reiterating the fact that the US population is becoming more overweight and obesity levels don't seem to be dropping anytime soon. The problem was, this report didn't have to do with adults. Instead, it focused on children and it laid out a pretty scary forecast for over a third of America's youth.

The study found that overweight and obese children are 7x more likely to have numerous heart disease risk factors by the age of 15 than their fitter friends.

This means that these kids aren't even given a fighting chance of living a long, healthy life due to their wasted youth. The worst part is that you really can't blame a child for being overweight. How do they know that they should be eating healthier and exercising more?

It's every parent's job and all of our jobs to make sure that we recommend healthy living strategies from a very young age. We know that developing strong habits early in life lead to lifelong maintenance. So why are we squandering our opportunity to change our current tagline as the world's most overweight country? The remedy is right in front us.

It's in every child that we can have a positive influence on.

So what's the best way to do that? Do the right thing yourself. Be a role model. Get active and eat healthy everyday. Also, make sure you take time to involve your children in engaging activities and let them see how fun it can be to get their bodies moving. It doesn't have to be a long, thought out exercise program. Instead, you can let it evolve and develop around what your children find most fun and entertaining.

Most importantly, you need to start these healthy lifestyle habits today and make sure the whole family is an active participant in helping each other along the way.