Children are our (fat) future

Wednesday afternoon.This makes me so sad. I know it costs money and I know we don't have enough already to do the things that we need to do as a country, but omigosh, we are so going to pay the price as a nation when these kids hit middle age.

We all know (and many have experienced it personally) that being fat as a kid and teenager makes it really tough to maintain a healthy weight as an adult. If you don't learn those good habits when you're young, you get to have the joy of trying to reprogram your brain to enjoy activity and eating healthy as you age. I can say with fervent nodding of head that this process is not fun. It is many things but, for me, fun is not one of them.

The Junior League of San Diego has chosen Children's Health and Nutrition Education as our new focus area, so I've been giving this a lot of thought to find projects that we can found as a League to help the community. Now more than ever, I'm convinced that local, direct action is the answer to this epidemic, and I encourage any of you that has the opportunity to influence kids and teens to help them create healthy habits for a lifetime. No one should set themselves up for diabetes and heart disease before middle age and that's just what these kids are heading for.