Childhood Obesity Summit

I attended a Childhood Obesity Summit in my community yesterday. The focus of the event was to help educate practitioners about what we can do about this problem. It was really informative and furthered my interest in this topic. I didn't take any photos of the event, mainly because I didn't want to draw attention to myself. :)

I did come away with some good factoids about childhood obesity. It's such a complex issue with so many causes, but here's what I learned:

• 44% of adolescents in California are overweight or obese.
• From 2006-2009, the rate of children from ages 3-5 who are overweight increased by 30%.
• In California, 56% of adults are overweight or obese.
• In my county, 67% of adolescents and 42% of children drink one or more sodas a day.
• Soda is the number one source of added sugar in the American diet.

The research on soda was presented as part of a new campaign in my area called "Re-Think Your Drink." It's about educating people about the amount of sugar in sodas, fruit drinks and sports drinks.

Obviously, limiting sugar-sweetened beverages is just one tactic to try and address childhood obesity. There are so many other issues including: physical activity, socioeconomic status, culture, genetics, environment, etc. It's easy to get overwhelmed.

One of the registered dietitians who spoke at the event noted how important it is for adults to model healthy behavior for kids. That includes things like: eating fruits and vegetable, not watching too much tv, exercising, not drinking sodas, etc.

I don't have kids so I'm not around them that much. What are your thoughts on how we can help save our children from this epidemic?