I was chatting up a woman in the Feldenkrais program who happens to be a UCSD professor of public health with a specialty in childhood obesity.  As I usually do when talking to people who are smarter than I am, I took some mental notes for my blog-ience (Just coined that term!  Spread it around!  Hope it catches on!).  Two big things struck me, one hilarious/sad, the other closer to the maddening/sad axis:

1)  The obesity epidemic has trickled down to our birds of prey.  Yup, it's true.  The bodyfat percentage of hawks and falcons has, as it were, soared in the last few years.  Why?  Well, no one's quite sure exactly, but the theory is that they pick through garbage that's more calorie-laden than a few years ago, and / or they eat pests and rodents that are fatter for the same reason.  Either way, it seems to be our fault.  Now, that's a little bit funny, and a little bit sad.  

2)  Lisa--the UCSD prof--mentioned that she teaches a class for obese kids and their parents.  And she finds that often when she tells the parents of a 500-pound 13-year-old boy (an actual member of the class!) that their son needs to control his food intake, put away the XBox controller and exercise way, way more because, wellsir, he weighs 500 pounds--they complain.  Reports are filed that she's 'insensitive' and the like. 

Parents don't even want to be told that their kids are overweight, much less informed that their own poor food choices, lack of physical activity, and, let's face it, weight problem could be contributing to their kids' troubles.

Now of course, there are reasons for weight gain that are 'societal', where the individual is a victim either of terrible genetics, any one of a number of nasty illnesses, or, in some ways, of the rapacious fast-food industry which, as I alluded to in this blog post, is always on the hunt for insidious ways to hook us on their ever-more fattening products.

But we've got to make ourselves accountable.  And we've got to face the facts about just how out of hand this problem has become. 

Lisa mentioned that one of the most effective tools in her arsenal--the one that has the slap-in-the-face effect of making kids see the true extent of their problem--is called a Dexa body scan.  The machine measures bodyfat percentage--as well as bone density and number of other health markers--very accurately, and produces a picture--akin to an X-Ray--showing the person's skeleton and an outline of their silhouette.

Most of the kids are stunned when they see the picture of their skeletal structure along with the "fat suit" they've been wearing all these years, and many find that seeing the picture is a big motivator in getting them started on the path to better health.