More on childhood obesity...

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Once again, a story about childhood obesity in greater Cleveland made the front page of the Plain Dealer. As reported earlier in the year, forty percent of 5th graders are overweight or obese. ‘So what’ you might say, ‘they’ll grow out of it’…but they won’t. Habits are developed in these formative years and they include choices about how to spend your leisure time and the way you eat. When you’re making the wrong decisions early, you’re more likely to keep making them throughout your life…which translates into staying obese. Schools need to move front and center on this, but as I’ve said before…the real difference is made at home and by the parents. Leading by example, doing outdoor activities together and determining the food choices your kids make at home and what they pack for a lunch is all about parenting. School just doesn’t have them enough and too many budgets are being squeezed for us to expect them to handle this.

Still, schools are working at it and some are getting quite creative…which I admire although thinking back to being a kid, I’m not too sure about two ideas Glendale Primary School in Bedford has implemented. One is a outdoor walking track for kids. I never walked anywhere when I was a kid if I was moving “ah was runnin” to quote my friend Forrest…Forrest Gump. We had recess for 10 minutes every morning and then about 45 minutes after we ate our lunches. We played…and fewer of us were obese.

The school has also implemented a ‘Jammin’ Minute’ program whereby kids are encouraged to perform six choreographed moves when they have a free minute…as when they’re standing in line to go to the bathroom. Now again…I could be the unusual child…but when I was young, I played and played until I reached the point where I had to burst. Standing in line to pee was bad enough, but if you asked me to start jumping around while waiting…well…let’s just say that I probably wouldn’t need to wait in line to go to the bathroom any more.

I did get in front of the TV with the trainer. The Browns were playing Buffalo through some nasty, lake-effect weather and the action was boring, at best. Still, I managed to log an hour of riding. I sense there will be a lot more riding this winter and I’m not looking forward to it…though I am looking forward to getting healthy enough to run and it appears that time off is the only way.

Bike duration:  60 minutes
Heart rate:  130 bpm
Calories burned during workout:  900