Well, child obesity is at such a level in US that government of every state is trying new and never-heard-before ways to combat this problem. Here is one of the very different among these ways–the government of West Virginia–the state which has the worst childhood obesity problem in the United States–is all set to use Konami’s “Dance Dance Revolution” to battle the obesity within the school premises. It is important here to note that this would be achieved through a video game, which involves dancing of the player. It has been reported by the state itself that the research conducted along these lines has suggested that it helped to put a halt on weight gain.

The results that are preliminary in the sense that there had been a study conducted on students who aged between 7-12 years for around 24-week. There were around 50 obese children included in the study–it has been reported that a student, who played the game at home for at least 30 minutes five days per week, showed better weight management and had been noticed to shorten the risks for heart disease and diabetes.

The study was sponsored by the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency, and the children that were involved in the study were the children of its policy holders. 

Well, we need to understand here that video and computer games had been termed as the worst enemies of children who are gaining uncontrolled weight. However, this video game involves quite a lot of physical activity, and this is the reason why the state officials are endorsing it for good reasons–we will need to agree that this video game does not have that effects on children that we usually notice with other conventional and free-of-physical-activity video games.

Overweight and obesity require a rigorous amount of exercise, though some diet programs also stress on the fact that diet control is a better option to lose extra pounds. There are different and equally proven theories that both types of methods work for achieving the motive of getting thin. However, in a recent research, it has been found that eating less and exercising more are equally good at helping to lose weight. The research is clearly a good response to the questions that prevail in the multi-billion dollar diet and fitness industry.

“It’s all about the calories,” said Dr Eric Ravussin of the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre, which is a part of Louisiana State University. “So long as the energy deficit is the same, body weight, fat weight, and abdominal fat will all decrease in the same way.”

The results of the research were published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. The basic idea of the study is geared to provide a better solution, which lies in between both diet and exercise. It has been suggested that a combination of controlled diet and good exercise can given the results in an efficient way.

Most people are concerned about the decision that they need to take while joining some fitness or weight-loss program–some of such programs emphasize on rigorous exercise, while some of them focus on the controlled diet and the benefits it imparts. However, as clear from the above study, it is one and the same thing–no one is better than the other: you can achieve the results either way, and you can choose the way according to your present conditions and preferences.

However, generally talking, we can easily note that exercise yields best results when it is accompanied with some good eating-habits. So, the final words would be like this study suggests–it is a combination of dieting and exercise that will work for you.

Britain is clearly smarting under the problem of obesity, which has rocked whole of the Europe, Australia, and America. A long-awaited report from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) is out and there are very far-reaching lifestyle changes that are demanded to tackle Britain’s mounting obesity crisis–employers are encouraged to install bike sheds and discourage staff from using lifts, which can help keep their weight under check. 

It is significant to note here that the report has stressed the role of employers in curbing the problem of obesity rather than putting it solely on doctors, hospitals, and individuals. It is obvious that employers can play a significant and important role in controlling the problem.

The proposal of the report may also include healthier office canteens, more workplace showers, and encouragement for workers to go for cycle rides during lunch breaks, which are of course great changes in their conventional corporate environment and style. There is no doubt that employers will not be all happy over these recommendations, and we may have some criticism also; but, it is clear that this can help to tackle the problem, though the employers will be made a reason to intervene in the life-style of the employees, which can cause some strained relationships between them according to some theories of management. 

However, the government authorities claim that many people do not have any separate time to manage the weight due to heavy work-load and life-style, which can obviously be created if the employers work in a manner that is recommended in the report. It can easily help in tackling the obesity in a subtle manner, but will have a large impact on the people as whole. We will need to wait and see how the whole report comes out and what employers do to implement the recommendations or criticize it in their inability or unwillingness to do anything about it.

What you can expect more or else than this–deep fried foods, pastries, and soft drinks will be banned from West Australian public schools, which makes a part of the State Government’s fight against the much talked-about and much-feared obesity epidemic that has snared over the children of almost the whole world. 

Premier Alan Carpenter, while launching the new nutritional guidelines for school canteens, has also stated that the students from year 1-10 will also need to take part in at least two hours of physical activity per week during school time–though at this point, we don’t know how these two hours will be drafted from the school timings or whether they will be given extra.

What has propelled such a prompt and strict action on the part of the government, as we can expect that children will not be very happy from this decision? –the reason is an ongoing study, which involves the University of Western Australia, and it shows that 1 in 5 primary school children in Western Australia are overweight or obese. It has also been noticed that the children aging 6 years are having problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, and liver problems–problems directly related to obesity.

It is clear that the government is really concerned about the health of the kids that are of course the future of the country–the plans that they have chalked to tackle the problem is a very good one, and is perhaps the most basic one: children grow what they eat. It is one of the famous adage sort of line that health specialists say. Children will surely not like to get this news–but, we as elders, would need to make them understand that this is for their own good–control on diet and life-style can really solve the problem of obesity, which is very difficult to solve at the later stage of life.

Eating disorders, which lead to many physical problems like obesity and overweight, have impacted the minds of varied people from different dimensions. In a recently released documentary on HBO Documentary Shows, “This” debuted on Tuesday lauched by Lauren Greenfield. The documentary shows that there is little hope of treatment for people who suffer from eating disorders, and there is almost no way with which they can gain their thinness.

However, it is significant to mention here that the documentary does not give a comprehensive picture of the disease, and therefore, falls short of its message–anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa have different degrees of severity among people of different age. They can’t be broadly classified as having the same degree of problem–treatment of these diseases is possible in some cases, and we can’t deny that existence.
It will be good to mention here that eating disorders were found to be affecting both aged people and children–the children were admitted to hospital and many of them were responding to the treatment well.  So we can’t claim in an outright way that eating disorder has no treatment. The problem with eating disorder is that though the people are willing to regain their body shape, but they are not aware about the things that they need to do. Children are not advised to keep a healthy life-style, which would suit them for their future; and this often lead to critical situations.

Aged people are also concerned about their body shape, and they are very eager to regain it–however, they need to consult their health specialist before they venture on to start any medication program. It is true that medication can work on some degree of eating disorders; however, it can’t solve all the cases. Change in life-style and awareness are the keys to avoid eating disorders, and then will be able to avoid this debate also!

The fitness level among the youths of California is a cause of real concern for us. According to the released results of state’s annual fitness test on Friday, it has been found that the majority of California students are too big, too slow, and too weak to be called real fit. It is astonishing to know that like the figures of last year, around 3 out of 4 students could not perform all six of the physical tasks required to pass the exam. It clearly puts a question mark on the work that government and other authorities are doing to make the students achieve that fitness level.

The activities that students were asked to do for this test included: sit-ups, push-ups, and stretches. The body fat of the students was also calculated. It was noticed that the aerobic workout was the hardest thing that the students were asked to do. The test was conducted on around 1.3 million students of grade 5, 7, and 9. About 43% of these students could not perform the tasks that included running or walking a mile within a certain period of time. The time was different for different grades; however, the outcome was almost similar.

The school teachers and gym instructors should be concerned about these statistics, as it does not reveal a good picture. More efforts and orientations programs might be needed to make students aware about the importance of fitness level that they need to achieve so that they can lead a healthy life. Different types of ailments are scaring us almost every day, and we need to make sure that we have appropriate body strength to fight against such diseases and ailments. We as parents and care-takers should also be concerned to make our wards aware about what they have to achieve and what efforts they need to put in to realize those goals.