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seeming to reward good grades with bad food choices. It made the mother, who refused to give in to the daughter's whining, the bad guy.

Now don't get me wrong. I like Burger King, and I like McDonald's. Occasionally. In moderation. But many families, and kids especially, eat at these kinds of places way too often.

Of special concern are children of low-income families. Studies have shown that even though they may not be getting proper nutrition or enough to eat due to their families' financial straits, the majority of these kids in the US are overweight. This is due to diets that consist largely of pasta, other starchy foods, and processed meats such as hot dogs. They often don't get good, real food like fruits and vegetables, or fresh chicken, or eggs. They get what their family can afford.

This is something that really bothers me about the food industry as a whole, by the way. Few of us grow our own food anymore. Most people don't live on farms; we live in cities and towns. We may live in apartments or condos. Or maybe we own our home in the suburbs. But because we don't grow our own, we are at the mercy of the food industry. They feed us. While some food companies are beginning to remove the bad stuff from their products, far more can be done to improve things. Most companies simply make whatever brings them the most money, and the heck with anyone's health.

But getting back to the issue of childhood obesity, it is good to know that schools are beginning to do something about it by removing snack and pop machines, and having healthier school lunches. When I was in school, President Reagan had proposed that ketchup be considered a vegetable in school lunches! How far we have come...

Which makes me wonder why, while taking a step forward in this area, some schools are taking two steps back by eliminating recess. Are you kidding me? For many kids, recess is the only exercise they get in a day. They sit at their desks all day at school, then at home they sit around playing games or surfing the Web. It's not always that they're just lazy, either. They may live in an area where it is unsafe for kids to play outside. It's a sad fact in our world today.

Kids need exercise, even if it is just at recess. Their bodies and minds need time off from studies. They need to stretch, run, jump, play. They need to be allowed to be kids. We adults get breaks at work; kids need breaks too. I just cannot fathom doing away with something so important.

Slowly, our society is beginning to realize the peril that we are placing kids in through such things as eating habits and lack of exercise. Some corporations are beginning to show a conscience about it, although I must wonder if it has more to do with worry over future lawsuits than kids' waistlines.

At any rate, I think we're on the right track. We just need to run on it and get some of those pounds off!

Learn more about this author, Laureen Manera.
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