Health & Fitness
What Is Happening to Our Children's Health?
Our toxic food environment and lack of exercise is creating a huge epidemic of diabetes, for us and our children.
The statistics on the rate of diabetes and pre-diabetes in this county is staggering. One health report estimates that by 2030, half of all American adults will be obese with 7.9 million new cases of diabetes, 5 million cases of chronic heart disease and 400,000 cancer cases. Unfortunately, there is a huge obesity and disease problem now facing our children. By the time overweight children are in their twenties, they can expect to be diagnosed with diseases that normally affect people in their sixties and seventies.
- The percentage of overweight children, ages six to 11 has doubled in the last 25 years.
- The percentage of overweight teens has tripled
- One in three American children (30 million) are overweight today
- Pediatricians now treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, heart attacks and sleep apnea in children
What can parents do about this? I suggest first consider being a “role model” for a healthy lifestyle. Learn to eat high quality, whole foods, that come from nature and grown on farms, not made in a chemist’s lab. Make sure there is structured exercise program along with physical activity playtime. There are plenty of resources out there to help. I suggest checking out a book by Dr. David Ludwig called “Ending the Food Fight, Guide to a Healthy Weight in a Fast Food/Fake Food World”.
Till next time,