Overweight and obesity are destroying our children's lives!

It robs kids of joy. It steals their future. Healthier kids and teenagers grow to be happier, more successful adults. Overweight kids often grow up to become overweight parents.

An ever-increasing portion of the world's children are dangerously overweight, with all of the incident problems including:

• reduced quality of life
• depression
• reduced life expectancy
• increased incidence of cardiopulmonary disease
• heart failure
• impaired circulation
• hypertension
• diabetes
• sleep apnea
• digestive problems
• respiratory problems
• increased incidence of asthma
• muscular and skeletal deficiencies and deformities
• emotional effects of impaired movement and poor body image
• restricted recreational and social activities
• isolation, teasing, and other social consequences of being "different".

More children are being medicated for clinical depression and anxiety than ever in the history of civilization. An alarmingly increasing number of children are being prescribed statin drugs to reduce dangerously-high serum cholesterol and skyrocketing triglycerides. And multiplying the problem exponentially, these children will most probably remain obese until adulthood (if they live that long), and will tend to have families that, due to a combination of genetic, environmental, and other factors, will also face a lifelong struggle with potentially morbid obesity.

Overweight and obese children tend to be absent more frequently from school; they tend more than the "norm" to be suicidal, often formulating serious plans and acting on them; they tend to resign themselves to a regimen of little or no exercise (and become even less healthy) because they are socially blacklisted from participating in sports activities and are seldom chosen for teams; they tend to either isolate themselves or to fraternize with others who are similarly overweight and are treated as outcasts; they are accident-prone and engage in many self-destructive behaviors; they are discriminated against in applying to colleges, clubs, social groups and in interviewing for employment. Overweight children are routinely stereotyped as lazy and unintelligent - they are judged by superficialities. And these judgments are like court sentences - not only are these children punished for being who they are, but they are kept further and further away from social and business situations, from wholesome, fulfilling human interactions that could help them to feel better about themselves, help them to lose weight and become healthier, and to improve their experience of life, both physically and psychologically.

In a sad irony, many children literally starve themselves to death for fear of becoming "fat" and "unattractive." Anorexia, bulimia and a variety of other eating disorders spawned from a distorted self-image and unrealistic physical standards (i.e., the "heroin chic" look of some popular models and actresses) are a response to a fear of being cast out. Nobody wants to suffer the emotional and physical consequences of being overweight or obese. Cosmetic surgery is, predictably, on the rise. Bariatric and other major and costly surgical interventions are also becoming increasingly commonplace. These treatments are not always effective, and should never be the only method used to treat obesity. To successfully treat obesity, the emotional, psychological and physical impacts must all be addressed.