Make no mistake about it, overweight and obesity are costing our country billions of dollars every year. Depending on the organization doing the research, the number is bewteen 58 and 70+ billion dollars a year. That’s a lot of dough, literally! All those simple carbohydrates are killing us…

I hear our new president talking a lot about healthcare and what we need to do to make it more affordable. We work on policy, argue over costs and how to implement such a plan, yet it seems to me like the first thing we need to do is simply get people moving and eating better.

President Obama is leading this charge. He talks about exercise and physical fitness regularly, and does so himself almost every day. The White House also just broke ground on an 18-acre garden as a means of promoting and providing the importance of eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. That’s a good start, but we have a long way to go.

When I read statistics like that one above, I just get scared and begin to wonder where health care costs will really be if we let this problem continue. The whole thing makes me think of a giant snowball rolling down hill, getting bigger and bigger until at the bottom of the mountain it just rolls right over all of us.

It could also be compared to that scene from the old Ghost Busters film where the Pillsbury doughboy turns into a giant menace and begins stomping over the entire city. I fear we are living this out for real. But instead of the doughboy, we have turned him into a giant pink elephant that no one really wants to talk about.

We can make all the policy changes we want, but until we get down to the roots of the garden, we are going to have real trouble!

Here is a link to an article on the study that was performed recently and that prompted me to write this article:

http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/apr/07/15-of-preschoolers-obese/

I encourage you to read it. Let it really sink in, kind of like you do when you sit down on the couch. Consider where we are heading as a nation and what you might be able to do about it. First, for yourself and your family. Once you get that part under control, maybe you can help me with the rest.

In the mean time, your pursuit of peak health and fitness will make you and the ones you love that much healthier, and will begin the process of saving this nation one vegetable garden at a time.

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