I am a doctor, practicing holistic medicine for over 18 years and the problem you are mentioning is just getting worse, not better. I have lectured at many schools, in front of hundreds of teacher’s and parents. I feel I am doing well if I can get through, touch, and influence just one or two. I live in southern California where the pace of life is so fast that parents are lucky if they can even have one meal with their children. It’s a sad and true fact.

The schools do have a part in this but the school and government bureaucracy is such that teachers have their hands tied. With these programs, the decisions come down from the top but never get implemented or fully implemented or are totally watered down. We just got vending machines out of the schools here. Why were they ever there in the first place?

Parents are the real answer to this problem. Get the kids outside for one; stop the TV, MySpace, computer games, X-Box, Play Station….. Parents should be parents and not become the effect of their children and give into their uneducated food choices and demands. Parents should also be held accountable for their children exceeding an appropriate BMI by more than, let’s say 50%. Allowing your child to become morbidly obese is a type of child abuse, because they are almost certain to develop premature degenerative diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke.

I recommend limiting simple carbohydrates, following a low glycemic diet, exercise a little or a lot everyday, no sodas, stay away from boxed or canned foods unless they have just water, salt and peas (corn, beans….), lastly get educated. There are tons of great books out there. Read them and share what you’ve learned with your kids. It will be money and time well spent.

Marcus Ettinger DC, BS