Childhood Obesity Prevention – Take Action and Prevent it Today

In this world a child is the greatest legacy to their parents and as a result it is very important that you ensure that your child has a chance to live a life of great quality. Preventing child obesity at home is the best way to do this. This should begin at an early age by ensuring that your child is getting a lot of exercise and a healthy diet.

In preventing childhood obesity, you first need to set some time for all the members in your family to sit and have a meal together. Families that make the time to sit and have a meal around the table are more likely to eat healthy food together, instead of just ordering at the drive-up window of a fast food chain. It is important for parents to offer vegetables and fruits to their children along with their meals. Giving your child some chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese may seem easy to do, but it’s not a full meal for your child. Try to give them some vegetable and fruits as well, even if it’s just canned vegetables and fruits, it’s still better than nothing. Giving your child vegetables and fruits from an early stage is making it easier for them to accept that they need to eat them.

Home is where the healthiest meals are cooked and prepared fresh. If you pick up a package that has 10 ingredients you can never be sure what you are feeding your children. So prepare great tasting meals for your family, that they love, by beginning with simple ingredients. It is also important to monitor what your children snack on. It is highly recommended that you give children healthy snacks like vegetables, cheese and fruits instead of giving them some potato chips when they are begging to have a late-day snack.

A Simple Childhood Obesity Prevention Strategy That Really Works

While it’s true that childhood obesity (and related issues) is an extremely complicated, multi-legged monster that’s costing American taxpayers over $100 billion annually, it’s also true that preventing childhood obesity is quite simple if you know how to push the right buttons.

In the words of US Senator Chuck Grassley (Republican from IA) “Kids can immunize themselves against obesity, and they can do that by learning to do pull ups.” Furthermore he adds, “As long as young people maintain the ability to do pull ups, most can naturally immunize themselves against obesity for life without ever having to resort to pills, shots, or special diets.” (Congressional Record 6/08/09)

How Kids Learn to Pull Their Own Weight

So how do we help kids learn to physically pull their own weight? “Actually it’s not all that hard either,” said family practitioner Dr. Jacob Egbert of Columbia MO who’s also a proponent of Grassley’s simple pull up strategy. “If you combine a height adjustable pull up bar with a technique called leg assisted pull ups in which kids jump and pull at the same time, lower the bar to a level where your child can easily do 8 leg assisted pull ups, and gradually raise the bar one inch every week or every other week, you’ll be amazed at the results. Eventually they run out of leg assistance and suddenly they’re doing conventional pull ups.”

The 4 Minute Per Week, Family Based, Childhood Obesity Prevention Prescription

Preventing childhood obesity should, and easily can be a matter addressed and resolved within the family setting if you implement the following simple prescription.

1. For less than $100 buy a door mounted, height adjustable pull up bar. (1) It will save you lots of money and enable you avoid headaches in the long run.

2. Adjust the height of the bar so that it’s at chin level while the participant’s feet (This should include Dad, Mom, and all the kids) are solidly on the floor.

3. Have each member of the family record the number of leg assisted pull ups* they can perform EASILY in two minutes. Don’t make this hard. Make it EASY!!

4. Each participant’s goal should then be to become MEASURABLY STRONGER this week than last, stronger this month than last, and stronger this year than last.

5. More specifically the goal of each participant should be to be able to do ONE MORE leg assisted pull up this week than they could last week…and write it down.

An Open Letter to Senator Tom Harkin Regarding Childhood Obesity Prevention

Hello Senator Tom Harkin,

From one Iowan (Burlington HS, class of ’65) to another, I write out of concern for the future of our nation, the problematic economy, and the role that preventative health care plays in it. I know you’re recently been asked to head up a subcommittee that’s exploring a broad range of health care related topics, but for a moment I’d like to draw your attention to one significant part of the problem that we can naturally eliminate within a decade if we only choose to do so.

I also know that more than any other member of Congress you’ve led the charge against childhood obesity. I know that you know the numbers. I know that you know all the dire predictions. And according to an article I read, you recently led a rally against childhood obesity at Oak Street Middle School where I taught for one year back in the late 70′s. However, I’d also like to point out that it’s one thing to lead the charge, and another to win the war. I’d like to help you win the war against childhood obesity within one decade.

Boiling Childhood Obesity Prevention Down Into One

At the Risk of Pointing Out the Obvious…

1. Show me 10 boys who can do pull ups and I’ll

show you 10 boys who are not obese.

2. Show me 10 girls who can do pull ups and I’ll

show you 10 girls who are not obese.

3. Show me 10 families full of members who can do

pull ups and I’ll show you ten families who don’t

worry about obesity and all the related problems.

4. Show me an elementary or a high school full of

students who can do pull ups and I’ll show you an

elementary and a high school who’ve won the war on

obesity.

5. Show me a school teacher, administrator, or a

school board member who can do pull ups and I’ll

show you a school teacher, an administrator, and a

school board member who are all setting great

examples for the kids in their schools to follow.

6. Show me a company (say McDonald’s) full of

employees who can do pull ups and I’ll show you a

company that’s healthy, energetic, productive, and

inexpensive to insure.

7. Show me a police department whose members can

do pull ups and I’ll show you a police department

who doesn’t worry about the relationship between

cops and donuts.