While it’s true that childhood obesity (and related issues) is an extremely complicated, multi-legged monster that’s costing American taxpayers over $100 billion annually, it’s also true that preventing childhood obesity is quite simple if you know how to push the right buttons.
In the words of US Senator Chuck Grassley (Republican from IA) «Kids can immunize themselves against obesity, and they can do that by learning to do pull ups.» Furthermore he adds, «As long as young people maintain the ability to do pull ups, most can naturally immunize themselves against obesity for life without ever having to resort to pills, shots, or special diets.» (Congressional Record 6/08/09)
How Kids Learn to Pull Their Own Weight
So how do we help kids learn to physically pull their own weight? «Actually it’s not all that hard either,» said family practitioner Dr. Jacob Egbert of Columbia MO who’s also a proponent of Grassley’s simple pull up strategy. «If you combine a height adjustable pull up bar with a technique called leg assisted pull ups in which kids jump and pull at the same time, lower the bar to a level where your child can easily do 8 leg assisted pull ups, and gradually raise the bar one inch every week or every other week, you’ll be amazed at the results. Eventually they run out of leg assistance and suddenly they’re doing conventional pull ups.»
An Ounce of Prevention VS a Ton of Cure
The key to success according to those who are most familiar with this strategy is to start young, i.e. pre-school or kindergarten, before supersizing starts to take root, and allow them to make regular progress over a period of several months. In other words the key is to be pro-active and work in the preventative mode instead of the rehabilitation mode. «Once the problem takes root, it becomes significantly more difficult to root out,» Egbert said.
The Decision is Simple
In the view of educational administrator Dr. Larry Woods of Newburgh, New York, «The real question is, do taxpayers want to pay hundreds of billions of dollars trying to salvage young lives that have been sucked into this poisonous sewer? Or do we just want to prevent the problem in the first place? If kids in schools across America were learning to physically pull their own weight, the childhood obesity epidemic would be eliminated in one decade or less. It would become like polio or the black plague, something to read about in history books. And since the cost of doing nothing is about $124 billion annually, I’d say the choice is pretty easy.»