Childhood obesity is an issue that was first raised as a possible concern in the eighties, a definite concern in the nineties, and now in 2010, an epidemic. Approximately 40% of American children between the ages of 2 and 19 are obese. In the seventies, this percentage was approximately around 5%.

If these statistics seem unbelievable, take a look at any school photograph or year book from the 1970’s. How many obese children do you see, and how did this happen? In just two generations, how did we go from being a nation of physically healthy, average sized people to where we are now?

If we look at the lifestyle of our seventies ancestors, several things happened:

  • the non-traditional family unit began to overtake the traditional model where one parent stayed at home.
  • two parent families had both partners working, and single parents did the best they could.

  • we watched television for much longer each day

  • as the pace of life increased, we stopped taking time to exercise.
  • meals were bought on the way home from work,
  • food became more processed so we consumed more fat, sugar and salt.

With the increase in family income came the ability to have on hand things that were once considered weekly treats – candy, cookies, snacks, potato chips, soda drinks, chocolate bars – all packaged in convenient, single-serve packets, and sold in bags of 10, 15 or 20.

This was clever marketing by the manufacturers. How many of us are going to open a small packet of anything and just have one or two? Our children took to this new opportunity with relish, and we did little to stop them.

Now, instead of going the movies on Saturday and having one packet of potato chips, a soda and a chocolate bar just on that one day, children were eating this every afternoon after school. With no substantial increase in physical activity to burn off this excess energy intake, weight gain was inevitable.

As parents, we bought into this scenario by also grabbing for these convenience snacks. We modelled to our children that it was ok to make poor food choices, not just on special occasions or celebrations, but on a daily basis. We also seemed unable to fit regular exercise into our schedule, so we modelled this to our children as well.

Preventable “lifestyle” diseases like type 2 diabetes, cholesterol-induced heart conditions, hypertension and some types of cancer have all been associated with poor diet choices and lack of exercise.

So here we are, in 2010, with a health issue that could see this generation be the first to die before their parents of totally preventable diseases. To change this we need to eat sensibly, exercise regularly and keeop the treats for Saturday afternoons.