For millions of school-age American children, a typical weekday goes something like this.
For breakfast kids serve themselves chocolaty frosted cereal fro ma box that features a cartoon character. Often there's no time to eat breakfast at home, so they grab prepackaged snacks to eat in the car. One parent might get out sweetened juice drinks and "Lunchable" processed meals for them to eat at school or say, "Here's money for lunch—and snacks."
At school they shun the cafeteria's tasteless fare. Students flock to hallway vending machines, or to nearby fast-food outlets, and load up on "big grab" chips, "big gulp" sodas, "super-size" fries, and "grande" nachos. Their schedule blocks out time for computer lab, but not for recess or gym class. When school lets out they get rides home, since walking is considered unsafe, and they spend the remainder of the afternoon in from of the computer or television. Commercials whet their appetites for more sweet and salty snacks.
As night falls, one parent works late and the other turns to household chores. Neither has the time or energy to prepare a meal from scratch, and besides, a premade "value meal" is cheaper to buy. An extralarge "family-size" entrée—high in fat, salt, and calories—comes out of a box, goes into the microwave, and gets snatched up with fingers rather than forks. Between bites, family members alternately watch TV, talk on the phone, and wander off to do homework. No need to ask for second helpings. After supper the family regroups for "quality time"—to eat ice cream and watch a video.
What is missing almost entirely from this day? Fresh, wholesome food in reasonable portions; physical activity; and time to talk: "I wasn't chosen for the team; kids called me 'Fats' today."
What is the common characteristic of these children and their parents? They are fat—and getting fatter.
For myriad reasons, many involving the lifestyle and social environment sketched here, American faces a fast-growing epidemic of childhood obesity that threatens the long-term physical and psychological health of the nation's children. It is arguably the most pervasive and serious threat to children's health today and in the future. the rise in the number of cases of childhood obesity is entirely unprecedented and shows no sign of abating.
The fact is that one out of three children in the United States is either overweight or at serious risk of becoming so. The number of overweight children ages six to nineteen has tripled within three decades; the rate of overweight preschool children is nearly as great. The accelerating rate indicates that the current generation of children will grow into the most obese generation of adults in history. Moreover, there is every expectation that the next generation of children will be even fatter and less fit. In 1995 researchers predicted that nearly all Americans would be overweight by the year 2030 if current trends continued. That astonishing prediction—less than a decade old—is now in fast forward as greater numbers of very young overweight children give us an incredible head start.
-- From the Introduction to Our Overweight Children
