motd Sat Nov 26, 2011

[Guest guest]

AMERICA'S

GROWING KIDS

Saturday, 26 November 2011

Oh sure, children

grow! I

mean, how many times have some of you parents been

amazed at how fast little Alice or seems to have

shot up a whole foot...in just a couple of years. Oh,

my...none of their clothes fit anymore! But today,

I'm not dwelling on how kids grow up...I'm more

concerned about how, these days, so many of America's

children are growing...out!

Northwestern University did

a study of 5,547 children nationwide and not

one of them met all five of the American Heart

Association's criteria for being healthy.

I've mentioned this to you so many times in the past

but a new report from Northwestern University has

confirmed what I've been saying all along. That is,

America's kids are getting fatter. And along with

that news comes this. Today's teens are getting more

and more...less fit! (Hey, no real surprise

there, right?)

Northwestern did a study of 5,547 children nationwide,

ages 12-19. And here's the scary part: Not one child

among those 5,000+ children met all five of the

American Heart Association's criteria for being

healthy. Not

one! Now tell me, how frightful is that? But

wait, the news gets even more discouraging.

More than one in three of those kids were overweight

or obese plus they had high

blood pressure which puts them at risk for developing

Type 2 diabetes. These findings are important because

cardiovascular damage, the kind of medical issues that

claim the lives of so many Americans in their 40's and

50's, start to develop during our adolescent and adult

years. I'm telling you, this report truly scared me!

Today's high-tech children

are much less active than when I was a kid.

America's kids have gotten less active here in the

21st century. Back in New Orleans, (and for those of

you in my age group), you know that when we were kids,

we looked forward to going outside to play. Some of

us, like me, may have been overweight. But back then,

even the overweight kids engaged in some kind of

outdoor activities...sometimes! Even if it

was only having some fun on the playground, that

activity was good for our

bodies!

But today's high-tech children, I'm sorry to say, are

much less active. I'll bet they probably have the

strongest fingers and thumbs on the planet though.

Hey, that's from "working out" texting on their smart

phones or playing video games. This is not good for

our kids, America!

On top of that, Congress is not helping. You know all

about my crusade to bring physical education back into

our nation's schools. But in the meantime, let me

tell you what the government has done when it comes to

nutrition. I heard the most outrageous news last

week. Congress failed to tighten the nutritional

programs at our public schools. Get this. They're

even describing pizza as a

vegetable, thanks to the ounce-or-two of tomato sauce

a single slice might contain. (I'd laugh if this

weren't so serious!)

Today's children are

tomorrow's adults and, they're our nation's future!

America, for the sake of our children and, to put it

another way, for the sake of our nations' future,

we've got to do

better. Today's children are tomorrow's adults and,

likewise, they

are our

nation's future!

We can't just leave this up to the government. Parents

have got to get involved, too! So tell me,

what kind of physical shape are your children in?

Love,