A second frightening statistic is that this is also predicted to be the first generation of Americans that will not live longer than their parents.

Why? Both of these sobering statistics are a direct result of childhood obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. What are we doing to our children? We owe them a better future. Politics aside, we are already mortgaging our children's future with our current economic issues and national debt. We are also dooming them to suffer from many chronic illnesses by the lifestyle we are teaching them by being lazy, fat Americans.

The typical American diet has substantially changed in the last generation. We no longer sit down to family dinners and tend to look for quick, often drive-through solutions. Our generation has more food choices than ever before; but tends to choose the fast, more often less healthy, alternatives. Why? Laziness! We are so busy trying to be super-productive that we don't take care of ourselves or our families. Our children are mirroring our behaviors when they make their food choices.

Exercise? Not most Americans. The minimum recommendation is to engage in moderate exercise at least five days a week or 20 minutes of vigorous exercise (aerobic activity) three days a week, plus to do strength training twice a week. A recent polling showed that only 17% of Americans managed to find the time to lift weights at least twice a week and engage in vigorous exercise three times a week or at least moderate exercise five times a week. Only 50% exercise at all three times a week! What kind of example is this for our children?

Many parents feel our children get their exercise from physical education classes in school, but less that 50% of school children have some kind of physical activity every day in elementary school. This number worsens as they progress in the school systems. Our children's activity level has plummeted dramatically in the last generation due to lack of physical education, lack of unsupervised play, computers, Internet, video games, etc. We can not depend on the school systems to teach our children to exercise and eat right. This must come from the example set by their parents. Right now, most Americans are setting a poor example!

Americans are not suffering from a lack of information. Most know what to do, yet choose not to. Since the early 1980's, the benefits of exercise has been preached on every street corner, yet we don't listen. Nevertheless, the cultural changes in the past decade have been so staggering in terms of decreasing physical activity in every sector of life and increasing the intake of garbage calories and fast food, that nothing short of a major paradigm shift is necessary!

Bottom line: a combination of obesity and lack of exercise contributes to more than 300,000 deaths each year in the United States as a result of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other conditions. The statistics for the next generation are even more onerous. Only through changing our behavior patterns can we influence our children's future behaviors and reverse this trend.

Copyright (c) 2009 Dr Marybeth Crane