Americans need to put down the fork. Our country is becoming the most obese in the world. The overweight majority of our population is not only unsightly but expensive and unhealthy.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese. The same goes for one-sixth of adolescents and nearly three hundred thousand babies and toddlers.
It is understandable if a 70 year-old retiree has a gut, or if a 40-something mother of three does not look like she did in high school, but a society teeming with obese toddlers is sad and worrisome.
Rampant obesity undeniably stems from one source -- the home. If parents allow their children to wallow in a Playstation and fast-food-induced torpor for hours each day, it is no surprise that their middle-schoolers are shopping in the husky section. When children are young, their entire daily regimen should be controlled or supervised by adults.
Encouraging kids to climb trees, explore forests, ride bikes and compete athletically not only develops social habits and teaches the wonders of a three-dimensional world, but also develops healthy growing bodies. Older teenagers frequenting a late night drive-thru may be outside the reach of parental control, but obese toddlers and pre-teens are generally deplorable results of negligent parenting.
Before children are old enough to transport themselves, parents must actively seek to instill in them proper nutritional habits while fostering a physically active lifestyle.
Healthy habits promoted at Dartmouth are reassuring. Many students prove that fit, physically conscientious young adults still exist. Perhaps this college's vibrant, outdoorsy campus simply attracts those who enjoy fresh air and a jaunt in the mountains.
Perhaps it is a result of some students' backgrounds of privilege: healthy children raised in families that value education and awareness.
But among myriad varsity, club, intramural, and recreational athletics and many healthy food choices in dining facilities, Dartmouth shows that a life of health can be not only physically rewarding, but enjoyable and attainable.
Unfortunately, America's population of overweight youngsters is growing.
This hefty demographic has sparked a dramatic increase in the number of children with juvenile diabetes, and even -- pathetically -- created a need for more sturdy car seats as kids under three years of age frequently exceed safe travel weight limits. Because the majority of these cases come from poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles, our country needs to cut its obesity pandemic where it begins: early in life.
Instituting mandatory health classes in public schools is a reasonable step toward educating students in self-awareness. Legislation requiring physical education classes (in some states) to administer 20 minutes of daily jogging is also a logical attempt at combating childhood obesity, but such efforts have missed the mark. Unfortunately, many children of schooling age already have their nutritional course set for life. Parents must practice and preach good eating habits early to prevent their toddlers from becoming waddlers. Depriving youth of proper parental nutritional guidance is to introduce them to a life of discomfort, ostracism, disease and unnecessary expenses.
In America it is inexpensive to become fat but extremely expensive to be fat. Dollar-menus, "value" meals, and super-sizes can add hundreds of calories for fractions of a dollar, but our country paid $75 billion in 2003 on health care costs for the obese.
But the answer to this problem is not a "fat tax," where the government seeks to tax unhealthy foods (e.g. hot dogs, donuts, candy); nor should soda bottles bear warning labels about their nutritional worthlessness.
These governmental attempts to encourage health do what much regulatory "fat" legislation tends to do -- reach its intended target but simultaneously punish others, like when a three-sport varsity athlete is forced to jog for 20 minutes in P.E. because of his overweight high school classmates. Similarly, a "fat tax" would raise Butterfinger prices for the fit and fat alike.
Instead of hiking prices on certain luxury foods (which can be reasonable desserts or snack foods for healthy people), government action should make nutritious food more affordable.
Because low-income families are more frequently overweight than people of affluence, raising prices on affordable food -- even horribly unhealthy food -- would make any type of eating practically unaffordable.
Government involvement should instead encourage nutritious diets for the poor, perhaps by making Food Stamps more valuable (or solely redeemable) toward healthy foods.
Also, state governments could allocate tax dollars to help purchase nutritious food for the poor. While such a proposition might incur outrage from upper classes, reducing obesity could save significantly more money in Medicare, Medicaid, and business healthcare expenses than a small tax would cost.
Some weight and health problems can come about through reasons other than improper diet and lack of exercise; genetics or other diseases can lead to similar physical problems.
But the vast majority of America's obesity and lack of fitness comes about through poor habits, which subsequently may be prevented by increased awareness and concerted parental efforts to keep children active and healthy.
As a society, we cannot afford to neglect this issue. For as long as waistlines continue to expand, so will health problems and the expenditures that deal with them.
