In a world where not only adult obesity, but also childhood obesity, is a common and serious health concern, strategies are urgently needed to help to combat this epidemic.

Jamie Oliver, chef and advocate against childhood obesity, has provided a riveting TED talk about childhood obesity that is well worth watching.   A few points that really caught my attention:

1.  He interviewed a classroom of kids and asked them if they could recognize certain vegetables.  Cauliflower was mistaken for broccoli, a beet for an onion, and a little boy didn’t recognize a potato.  Jamie’s comment:  If a kid can’t even recognize a food product, how likely is it that they are going to want to eat it?

2.  Kids spend roughly 180 days at school in a year.  So, doesn’t it seem important that the food they get fed at school is healthy?

3.  Jamie speaks of the lengths we go to to stay safe from violence in our society.  He then shows a graph of the deaths from homicide vs deaths from obesity related complications – of course, deaths from this serious health concern are top of the chart by a long shot.

It’s an interesting and powerful perspective in this 21 minute TED talk – check it out, share it, and let’s all give it some serious thought.

Many thanks to my dear friend, colleague, and fellow ‘obesity warrior’ Dr Shahebina Walji for the heads’ up on this TED talk.

 

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