If you’re like me and you’ve traveled outside the United States you know that weight varies internationally. In 2007 I went to Germany, Dusseldorf to be exact and I remember seeing beer on a McDonalds menu. I was shocked, yet intrigued by how little the people were. I could look out in the main train station hub and count on one hand how many people exceeded their weight to body ratio.
Whether we’d like to address it or not, an absolute necessity to a healthy future are healthy kids. The question of where to channel energies in the battle against obesity also surfaced. Ron Dellums, a former congressman and mayor of Oakland, Calif., said that a lot of these discussions focus on budgets and policies but don’t even mention the people who are involved. “We cannot forget the humanity needed in solving this issue,” he said. “It has to be a holistic discussion.”
Crystal Beverly, a holistic health care practitioner who lives in Oakland, stated that people with weight problems have to be proactive in making lifestyle changes. “The mindset has to go from asking those in authority to do something to being empowered and making decisions for yourself and your community,” she said. Lauren Darensbourg, director of strategic partnerships for minority and underserved populations at the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, recalled how she had to recalibrate her approach to food and body image. She explained that obesity can be cultural because if everyone around you is big, you don’t necessarily understand that something is wrong with it.
The First Lady has a serious weight loss initiative in place; it’s probably the reason why I am working on my own weight loss campaign.
We have to acknowledge the problem as being real for one. Two we have to stop perpetuating un-healthy eating, and I am the first to raise my hand in guilt. I was getting my hair cut recently and I told my barber to go down to Louisiana to check out the festivities and to eat as much as he could.
“I believe that if you get this fitness-and-nutrition piece together, then those other things will fall into place,” Jones said. “A child should get enough rest, enough of the right foods and see school as a refuge. It’s about the whole person. There is not enough being done to service [the] entire child.
Stay tuned as I’ll be giving tips on eating healthy and ideas on how to exercise without expensive gym memberships.
