The truth is, aside from a specific physical complication or affliction, the vast majority of obese or at-risk of becoming obese children can attribute their situation to lifestyle.  Lifestyle is however, a very broad term that is commonly thrown around when discussing fitness related subjects but is rarely adequately defined.  However when lifestyle is defined, it is usually broken down into two main categories with regards to weight management; diet and level of activity. Unfortunately as a result of these vague and often politically correct definitions, there is a terrible misconception among most people that visiting the gym for three hours a week, spending a large amount of time with family and friends, or having your child play some form of organized baseball during the summer constitutes an active lifestyle.  This might be true from a social standpoint, but from the standpoint of a child’s weight management and metabolism, these activities are hardly adequate and can in fact, when combined with misinformation serve as a contributor to the problem instead of cure.  Take for example, the child who sits on his couch watching cartoons an hour before getting into Mom’s car to drive 35 minutes to the baseball diamond where he will sit on a wooden bench approximately one half of the time he spends “playing” before he gets back in Mom’s car to drive 35 minutes home to the awaiting video games or internet.  Maybe if the child is really lucky, Mom will even make a quick stop at the local drive thru to get a processed saturated-fat sodium burger with cheese and an order of fries that are nicely packaged in colorful little boxes to satisfy the rumbles of hunger echoing throughout the body cavities of her child .  At face value this might sound like a very busy morning and early afternoon and from a social standpoint it is, but what of the physical aspect?  Lifestyle is not only defined by the big events in your day and how those events transpire but the countless, and often taken for granted little things you do between those big events as well.  How do you get to your family or friends house and what do you do when you get there?  How do you get to the park and what did you do on the way?  .

If we are to adequately address our current childhood obesity problem we must ask the proper questions, avoid sugar-coating the answers, and understand lifestyle as the culmination of the countless activities, or lack of activities, that comprise ones day and not just the few major events that are few and far between.  Furthermore, we must come to grips with the fact that our lifestyle here in America has spawned our current problem of childhood obesity, and is uniquely American.   This is not to say that the only obese children in the world reside within the United States as nothing could be further from the truth.  A recent study published in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity (1) predicts that obesity rates of all children within nations belonging to the European Union will rise from the current rate of 25 percent to a staggering 38 percent by the year 2010. The rate of childhood obesity is also expected to rise in the Middle East, South America, and nations within Southeast Asia as well.  Certainly the peoples of these Nations lead very different lifestyles than those of us within the United States as it would be hard to argue that a child of Islamic faith growing up in Saudi Arabia lives the same way a catholic child growing up on the north-side of Chicago lives.  However despite the vast differences in the settings and societies these children are raised within, both of these children share a select few and rather critical lifestyle components; bonds, which are common to a large majority of  all children in developed or developing nations who may be experiencing a weight management problem without the existence of a specific physical affliction.   Unfortunately these lifestyle components are somewhat inevitable in that they are direct products of human nature and of the societies we have created. This is not to suggest that we must abandon our current way of life and revert to the nomadic ways of the stone-age if we are to properly address the childhood obesity problem we are currently experiencing.   Then again we might be wise in opening our eyes to a trend or taking a lesson or two from history and maybe even from our stone-age ancestors as we in every way have our domestication to blame for our situation.  It might even be a plausible argument to say that we have reached a point of over-domestication in that our technological know-how has, for several generations now, been able to meet our ever increasing demand for convenience to the point where it has literally become detrimental to our health.  

Essentially, the contributing causes as well as the subsequent cures to our childhood obesity problem reside within the confines of just a few general, but rather influential components of human nature and the American lifestyle.  Convenience for example, the first component of the American lifestyle responsible for contributing to our childhood obesity problem is not only present in everything we do, but is a desired outcome of everything we create.  We continually strive to make life easier and more convenient for the user and we as humans most often prefer to take the path of least resistance whenever possible.  Let’s face it, we like the fact that we can get in our car, drop off a doctor’s prescription, dine, get a car wash, and pick up the filled prescription on the way back home without even getting out of the car.  This is where modern American life and life within developed nations experiencing a childhood obesity problem differs from that of less developed nations.  Not that the peoples of less developed nations have any less of a desire to make life easier than it currently is.   However we in the more developed nations have what the majority of lesser developed nations do not have and that is a means to make the desire for an easier way of life a reality through the infusion of technology into daily living.  Rather ironic isn’t it?  The same technological growth that has us given magnetic resonance imaging, artificial hearts, cloning, and the radical medical advances we have all come to rely on and often expect to improve and prolong our lives would unknowingly become a contributor to our childhood obesity epidemic and the many health problems associated with this epidemic.  Even more ironic is the fact that we have allowed this to happen through our somewhat naïve and completely blinding need for convenience.   Our children no longer have to walk to school with heavy books the way their historically much lighter grandparents did because we have automobiles and buses to move them back and forth and disks to replace the books and lighten the load.  Our children no longer need to walk to the library because anything they need can be brought to their rooms over a phone line and the internet.  Our children no longer need to sweat, run around, or wear themselves out playing games in the backyard because all the entertainment and activity they need is on the monitor or palm sized video screen.  Children in less developed nations generally do not have these luxuries.  Children in less developed nations generally don’t have a weight management problem either. 

This is not to suggest that video games are the reason we have an abundance of overweight kids in America, as we all make choices with everything we do, and if a child spends most of his day lounging in front of the television, game console or computer monitor it is merely due to the facts that for whatever reason nothing better is available, and that we are creatures of habit and the child is merely doing what is known to work. Interestingly enough however, the rate of growth of childhood obesity within the United States chronologically corresponds with the rate of growth and development of what I will refer to as “entertainment technology” for lack of a better term.  Video game technology, computer and internet technologies, video entertainment technologies such as the expansion and availability of cable and satellite television or even the growth of chain video entertainment rental stores, all fall under the umbrella of entertainment technology.

Once again, convenience is the real culprit here, not technology, as technology is nothing more than the means for delivering the desired convenience.  Therefore, if the video game or chat room satisfies the boredom and provides entertainment with no physical effort, the video game or chat room will be frequently and increasingly utilized and thus, will become habitual.  Blaming the video game for our problem though would be equivalent to blaming the beer for the drunk driver and although that is a popular line of thought in America, it is the line of thought that has blindly led us down the path that has brought us to our current situation and continues to doom our efforts to fix the problem as I will discuss a bit later.  Furthermore, limiting our understanding of technology to the video game would be incredibly naïve as the many influences of technology go far beyond that of the chat room, television, or video game and encompass everything from mechanized transportation to the microwave oven to the ability to mass produce processed saturated fat sodium burgers with cheese that can be conveniently purchased from the driver’s seat of our car.  Speaking of car, how often do we get on our bikes to go to work or school, or walk to the grocery store for the gallon of milk and loaf of bread?  Chances are, if you own an automobile, not very often, and if you don’t have an automobile, public transportation is much more convenient and requires far less work than does pedaling a bike to and from the grocery store.  Imagine the benefits we would all have if we just once chose to walk or to get on the bike instead of getting in the car.   Of course, such a determination wouldn’t be prudent in our society because we all have to be somewhere at some time and walking would just take too long and carrying those shopping bags on the handlebars just wouldn’t work.  It really makes you wonder why we are all here, I mean after all, how did people get around 50, 60, or even 100 years ago?  What did they do for entertainment with no cell phones, internet, or video games?  Once again, history has much to say but we just ignore it as we usually do and continue to pile into the automobile and spew those lovely carcinogens into the air, increase the proliferation of the drive-thru, and pay the gas prices and the bus fares because it is easier and it is all about convenience regardless of the cost to the environment or ourselves.   Unfortunately this way of life is a requirement for the vast majority of kids living within American communities across the country and is in many ways a virtually unavoidable lifestyle.  After all, lets face it, life today is not like life in the seventies as a large number of two parent households are required to have two working parents and there are far too many single parent families which heightens the need for convenience.  Those living in the rural areas are often strained by these requirements and suffer a slightly higher rate of childhood obesity than those within the large urban areas as schools, work, and play are generally a greater distance from the home when compared to the proximity of such places within the urban centers.  Our society demands the need for technology and convenience in virtually every facet of day to day operations.  Not only do we practice convenience, we teach it in our most common and often taken for granted daily occurrences (the little events between the big ones) because it is easier, and it is the only way we can meet our daily requirements. This by no means suggests that I am not appreciative of technology as I drive to work every morning, work and play on my computer, keep my food in a refrigerator just like the people next door and I don’t know what I would do without these things.   However our need for convenience combined with our ability to provide that convenience is not only what separates us from a less developed nations, but it is what drives our childhood obesity problem. 

Lastly, we have the third complicated and highly influential factor responsible for our childhood obesity epidemic and that factor is what I will refer to as our social evolution.   Social evolution completes the cyclical chain of obesity in many capacities as it is both the cause as well as the product of our technological know-how and our need for convenience and is quite a complicated and multifaceted subject of which I am going to be incredibly careful with, as I am by no means a sociologist nor have I ever claimed to be a sociologist.  However social evolution is an incredibly significant subject with regards to childhood obesity in that it determines everything from our educational policies and our legal system to what we do with our time.   Our leisure habits, our work schedule, how many times a week your child has physical education in school and what food is given to your child in the school cafeteria have all been determined by our current state of social evolution and are what we deem to be appropriate for, or in some cases, required of every member within our society.  Quite simply, our social evolution can be considered to be our level of domestication and is what separates us from the tribal peoples of the South American rain forest or the nomads living in the Afghanistan mountain ranges; it is what makes us American.  Can it be possible however, that we have at some point domesticated ourselves too much?  Is it possible that we have finally reached an evolutionary point where we as a society now neglect the physical on behalf of the psychological to the point that our lifestyles no longer meet the physical needs required by our animalistic biological halves?  I contend it is not only possible, but it has become a reality in every “advanced” civilization that is suffering from a childhood obesity problem.   We have in a sense separated ourselves so far from the animal kingdom that we have forgotten our bodies require more than the walk from the bus door to the front door.  We have escalators that move us from floor to floor, moving sidewalks that transport us hundreds of feet without moving our legs, elevators, automobiles, chairs that we spend the majority of our day sitting in and remote controls to change the channel so we don’t have to get up.  If we are hungry, we simply reach to the side and dial a phone and the food is delivered to our front door.  Once again, it is the little, often taken for granted things that comprise ones lifestyle not just the few big events in our day that are few and far between.  This is the lifestyle our generations of overweight kids have inherited.  Knowing that technological progress is not going to cease, and that we as a society will never stop trying to make everything more convenient, we do have a real problem on our hands that needs to be seriously addressed."  

Some Very Interesting Numbers

This is all fine and dandy information, but if you are just someone trying to help a loved one or a friend that might happen to be in the above category, you could probably care less about the rest of the world’s problems at this point and just want a cure for one of your own.  Aside from bringing to light the fact that this is truly a serious problem and that your child, loved one, or friend is definitely not alone, I do apologize for putting you through numbers and statistics, however it was essential if we are to clarify the sources of our problem.  So just for kicks, let’s review a little bit and put all of these dates into a comparative timeline.  In 1963 there are 2.21 Americans for every automobile in the United States and the childhood obesity rate is a low and stable 4% and will remain so through the year 1974. 1975 arrives and the birth of the electronic age as Sears, Roebuck and Co. releases Pong, Atari and Nintendo come into the scene with home versions of their classic arcade games, and the video arcades we once walked to as children are slowly being replaced by the age of home gaming.  Total video game sales for 1975 set a record of $250 million and there are there now only 1.16 Americans for every automobile within the United States.  By 1980 the childhood obesity rate has nearly doubled in as little as 6 years after quite possibly decades of a stable childhood obesity rate of 4%, while the video game industry hits a new record high of $400 million in sales.  Early forms of the home pc, the birth and boom of the chain video rental store, and cable television are all now coming into their own.  The electronic and fast food ages continue to grow and flourish as do our children throughout the 1980’s and early 90’s.

Jumping ahead to 1994 after a decade of technological growth and infusion, the childhood obesity rate has nearly tripled from its original rate of 4% and video game sales have reached all time highs.  The personal computer is now fully integrated into the vast majority of American homes and the internet is happily up and running.  For those few of us without a computer, the internet café is developed and everyone from chain book retailers to the public library offer online availability.  The chain video-store boom begins to decline as technological growth fueled by the need for convenience progresses and cable and satellite television are no longer for the privileged few and is now common to a large majority American homes.  Instead of all of the hassle associated with having to walk to the car to drive all of that two blocks to the video store and then drive back home, progress now allows us to just point and click, just like ordering dinner. We never have to move from our chair, just point and click.   The new Millennium, and the fast food industry has grown exponentially over the course of the last 3 decades boasting an estimated $110 billion in sales for the year; a little over 18 times greater than the meager $6 billion spent on fast food in 1970. (6)  The childhood obesity rate has also experienced continued growth upping the percentage of overweight kids in America to just under 16%; an increase of about 4% over the previous numbers of 1994 and four times that of the stable 4% childhood obesity rate the United States experienced until the mid 70’s.   Fueled by astonishing technological growth and advancement as well as an ever expanding portable gaming market, 2002 sales of video game software and hardware set a new standard as Americans spend $10.2 billion dollars on the latest and greatest systems and games.  2004, our kids continue to get fatter and we cross, for the first time in history, the 20% childhood obesity rate threshold.  2005 fast food sales are again at a new high as Americans spend $135 billion dollars on the tasty processed saturated fat sodium burger with cheese and a record $10 billion on video game systems and software.  (5)

Well, there we have it- the brief evolution of our problem in a nutshell.  We could of course continue, but there would really be no point, as the trend only gets worse with time.  From 2004 to now our children have continued to get fatter and at alarming rates, the likes of which have never before been seen.  This recent exponential growth is interesting and is somewhat like a new strain of an old virus in that all the old key lifestyle ingredients- convenience, technological ability, and the lifestyle habits established by our social evolution still play a significant role in the creation of the obesity problem.  However, there have been some incredible failures on the behalf of the powers that be within our society which have not only hastened the obesity process, but have in fact created barriers to solutions.  Again, it is all about lifestyle, and for this latest generation of obese kids, the lifestyle they have inherited has presented new weight management challenges that previous generations did not have to contend with."

A problem can't be fixed if you don't address the factors responsible for the creation of the problem.   Our childhood obesity dam has been leaking for 35 years, and instead of plugging the hole, we as a society have spent those 35 years continually bailing flood water that is flowing faster than we can bail.   Those of us at slimthekids.com would like to offer you a cork instead of a bucket.