Time Magazine recently reported in their 6/23/08 issue, p.67, "In the 1950's kids had three cups of milk for every cup of soda. Today that ratio is reversed, (three cups of soda for every cup of milk) meaning they get all the calories and none of the nutrients." When I was growing up back in the 50's, kids were expected to drink a glass of milk with their breakfast and again at dinner. In the school cafeteria we were handed a carton of whole milk with our nutritionally balanced lunch and we drank it dutifully. Every kid did it because we were instilled from a very young age with a personal responsibility to eat right and exercise in order to be healthy. Just as we implicitly accepted our polio vaccine on sugar cubes, as kids we were obligated to ourselves, our family, our community, and our country to drink our milk. It was a national duty. And during the Kennedy administration, we believed milk was some sort of perfect super food and our best defense in keeping us out of the doctor's office; a prophylaxis against illness. And healthy kids meant a healthy future for America.
But soda? I was 12 years old when I tasted my first Coke. In those days, Coke was a treat, and treats were taken seriously, forboden save for special occasions which were few and far between, like cake on a birthday or turkey on Thanksgiving. They were anticipated with excitement, savored, and appreciated; not indulged in at whim as they are today. A fat kid was an oxymoron.
Today one third of American children are obese. Not only is this group endemic with Type II Diabetes, but the American Academy of Pediatrics now endorses the use of statins such as Lipitor for these kids to control their dangerously high cholesterol levels and avert the heart disease which can lead to heart attacks.
Many of the senior patients we see at the clinic also struggle with these same diseases. Some have spent their adult lives indulging in poor life style choices and now they're suffering the consequences. How ironic that these patients will find their own pre-adolescent grandchildren struggling along side them with the same life-threatening, preventable maladies.
Remember the 900-pound man seen on the Discovery Channel or Dr. Phil who is bedridden from obesity? Every day his mother still serves him the liters of soda and high-calorie foods that she fed him as a child. Now as an adult, he is so profoundly addicted that despite his agony, he still demands more of the same. And the mother, despite her son's morbidity, accommodates him.
Obese kids who regularly drink soda, eat high-fat fast-foods, and are sedentary lack basic health education and a supportive environment to reinforce it. Blame is rampant, but irregardless, our youth are our future and they must once again become a national priority in this country. We should vote for a President who will genuinely advance the mental and physical health of our children...from birth through early adulthood. Surely this will require extraordinary changes in our society and an extraordinary leader to bring them about.
Obama or McCain?
The way americans treat nutrition and health is very sad, in that, we really only think and talk about it when adults, and by then it is often too late. I would hope that when Obama becomes president, and health care becomes more accessible for all, people will listen to when Obama encourages us to take responsibility. Yes wait times can be longer with his plan, or social medicine, but I bet you this... those other countries (as we should) place GREAT emphasis on preventative health, ie balanced diet, exercise, etc.
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