Obesity In Our Youth

I can definitely empathize with Nick’s enthusiasm for the upcoming mandate for restaurants to disclose dietary information for all meals offered; this is long overdue and is just one step in the battle against obesity. Nick also mentioned that 30% of Texas children are overweight or obese, in an article out of Windows on State Government, titled “Today’s Children, Tomorrow’s Workforce,” obesity in adolescence is broken down into 42% of 4th graders, 39% of 8th graders, and 36% of 11th graders are at high risk of becoming overweight or obese. Putting calorie counts on menus is a great start to the fight but educating our youth on how to eat and live healthy is imperative in order to see change. The Texas Children’s Healthcare Plan offers a program called “Keep Fit Club,” this club is available for overweight or obese kids 10-18 years old, already enrolled in the healthcare plan. The club meets every Saturday where lessons for the whole family are taught on healthy eating choices and some type of physical activity is done as well. Today’s children are our tomorrow’s future, I know it sounds cliché, but they are; they are going to be the ones to build our buildings, nurse our sick, run our state, etc…If we don’t tackle the immediate crisis of obesity in our youth now then our future as well as theirs could be very short lived.