So-da Radio is Educational?

This post is going to be a long one, but it is about several things that particularly interest me: the Diane Rehm Show, childhood obesity, and public policy among other things. So grab a (non-soda) drink and make yourself comfortable if you plan on reading it.

The first hour of the Diane Rehm show (best radio program ever) yesterday was about how soda drinks contribute to childhood obesity. Now first a note on childhood obesity: this is a subject that particularly interests me. In fact I am considering a career in public policy and am certainly better qualified to work in other areas but childhood nutrition particularly interests me.

Being in England for the summer, I realized how bad our food is. Now please stop eye rolling, I don't mean to get into a diatribe about the downfall of America because I think we are generally pretty awesome. However we are not up to snuff with other first-world countries in areas like nutrition and physical activity. This opinion is roughly based on an unscientific survey of other countries during my vacation travels but just stick with me.

In England in particular, the grocery stores are filled with fresh, simple foods. And furthermore, the food stores are small and nearby. People visit the grocery stores more often and walk there, come away with a few bags, and carry them home. So not only do people eat fresher food, but they do it more frequently with a built in workout.

I do volunteer work whenever I can, often with children. About six months ago, I volunteered at my old high school for a school-activities fair for the attached feeder school. Here is the sad thing: about 80% of the kids were overweight. Four out of five kids. I don't remember seeing one non-white child over about 8 who was not overweight. And the white kids were not much better off.

Briefly, here are a few reasons I think this situation is worthy of "epidemic" status. First, an eight year old may not be able to dress himself, he surely cannot make informed and mature decisions about what to eat. Second, there were no skinny parents with overweight kids, this problem was indicative of the entire family's health. Third, lower-income families are more susceptible to targeted advertising and pricing of crappy food.

I guess that is the end of my rant, but maybe stop feeding your kids soda.

Soda

Small kids at risk for
Obesity before they can read.
Diet coke
And Sunny Delight are not things that children need.