One topic that I find very hard to curb my frustration and equally my enthusiasm on is childhood obesity. But two questions we must ask are:
- what are the predispositions?
- what are the solutions?
This study found the greatest predisposition to be parental dietary and exercise habits. Whilst amsterdam is the only city in the world to my knowledge, to be reducing childhood obesity at a current rate of 12% for the longevity of their program. This is a huge step in the right direction.
One argument I think we need to be done with is the “genetics” argument. Yes, some people have it harder than others but ultimately it is the environmental factors that “turn on” these “fat genes”. It would be hard to be overweight during a famine for example.
You’ll see me and Chris speak of our triumphs and frustrations in trying to tackle childhood obesity during the council funded Don’t Sit Get Fit class that we used to run.
One personal message I must get across is to the parents and children who participated. You did fantastically well and it was such a great experience to work with you to better the lives of your children.
But we are not getting richer and we are not getting fitter which means that many children will get to a dependant age of 55-60 where they’re incapacitated due to their health with no savings at the time that our national health services and state funded care is on the brink of collapse which will leave them bankrupted and sick.
Take care of your children and they will take care of you
And if you have any questions regarding your health and fitness, comment or email! We would love to help
Amsterdam Childhood Obesity: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43113760
Predispositions to childhood obesity: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3056648/