Gratiot Area Chamber of Commerce

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Contact GACofC:
	Patricia F. Nelson, Executive Director 110 W. Superior Street P.O. Box 516 Alma, MI 48801 PH: +1 (989) 463-5525 FX: +1 (989) 463-6588 Email: chamber@gratiot.org

Lets do it for our children

By Gregg J. Stefanek, DO

I recently attended a conference at the Cleveland Clinic on obesity. Obesity is overtaking smoking as the most preventable cause of disease in this country. Unfortunately, all of the experts on the subject have not yet found a cure, and agree our treatment options are inadequate. Interestingly, they are not even sure of the cause. The best the medical profession can say is that obesity is a chronic and relapsing disease of excess adiposity reflective of a toxic environment's effect on a susceptible host. In English, obesity is when a person has too much fat because they are genetically predisposed or because they eat too much and live in a society that makes eating the wrong things too easy. I did learn a few new things and I was happy to have many things I believed through my experience reaffirmed. I learned that for the obese person it is not just a matter of calories-in versus calories-out. The biochemistry of an obese person changes, making losing weight by traditional methods more difficult. There is one thing that everyone agreed on. Since we don't know what causes obesity and do not have adequate treatments or a cure, we must find ways to prevent it. If we are to prevent it, we have to begin with our children. Not only is 65% of our adult population either overweight or obese, 31% of our children, ages 6-19 are as well.

How do we do this? First, we have to choose to do something because the direction we are headed is literally a dead end. Parents have to take responsibility for educating their children and have to be empowered to do this. They need information on proper food choices and require that their kids turn off the TV and move their bodies. Schools can help with this education process by providing healthy food, drink and snacks during school hours. Somehow we need to make it cool to eat right and exercise. Can we use the media the kids are exposed to accomplish this? Let’s teach them with video games or by using pop icons through which they can relate. We also need to make sure the Physical Education curriculum in schools is adequate. These are changes that we can make ourselves. We must also model healthy habits. Helping our children to be healthier won't be as successful if we don't try to improve ourselves. If we were to choose to eat as little as 100 calories less a day we could stop our weight gain. Committing to walking one mile a day would also be invaluable and exercise has been proven to be the best way to keep lost weight off. Our kids can teach us too. Thanks to the enthusiasm of my son John, I can name all 43 presidents in order. We can learn from each other.

My children have reached the age where I wonder what kind of adults they will be. Have I taught them all they need to know? It has been said that we may be the first generation to live longer than our children. Are we teaching our children what they need to know to be healthy? Shouldn't we do everything we can to be sure? In the near future you may be contacted asking for your help and input in this matter. We can work together to make a healthier Gratiot County. Let's do it for our children.

Remember, wellness does matter.

Gregg J. Stefanek, DO