03 March 2012

Why Choose Failure When Success is an Option



We are living in a psychological thriller where food is the killer. To survive, you must be on a diet. Not just any diet though, one that will have you running to the killer itself(the fridge or McD's) when you should be running out the door.

I watched yet another psycho thriller trailer that focuses on the murder weapon, the diet industry and "food-like products." I will admit, the message moved me and not just because I am intrigued by the psychology behind diet gimmicks, but the fact that even the most intelligent people get sucked in (myself included).



When I was a senior in high school, I played Lacrosse, running a lot, eating well, but felt that I needed something more. This was the intro to my psycho thriller. I went to my local GNC where I was confronted with many weapons of mass destruction and decided to go for a form of diet pill like Hydroxycut. I am not even sure if this was before or after they deemed Ephedra lethal. It basically acted like speed or something because I felt unstoppable and like any drug, once the bottle was empty, empty is what I was too. Quickly realizing that this was not a thriller I wanted to star in, I turned my thriller into a adventure film.

This thriller is far from over and educating our youth is a fundamental step towards putting this killer away. As one expert in the trailer says, "you might as well be rolling up the kids' sleeves and putting heroin in because it's the same." When it comes to education we must stop "sugar coating" reality (literally) to children by showing films like this one and get creative with ways to teach while promoting movement.

Michelle Obama's Let's Move program is a great attempt, but funding for physical education and health programs are dwindling to nothing each year, therefor leaving schools to seek out grants for organization like National Assocation for Sport and Phyical Education who then implement the funding into programs  like combating childhood obesity.

  Combating? That is a heavy word (pun intended), especially when we are talking about our youth. As we are just learning to TREAT this problem with our youth, we need to start PREVENTING this problem for the next in line.  It is up to parents and mentors to lead by example. Choose success because if our youth fail, who is going to take care us future baby boomers?

To read more on childhood obesity topics:

LET'S MOVE

National Association for Sports & Physical Education

Government Roles

FACTS/HOW TO GET INVOLVED




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