Obesity?! Fat Kids?! Sugary Drinks?! Who to Blame?!

   It's back.  Obesity has returned to the spotlight.  Honestly, it's so big, it's hard for it to get out of the spotlight; in the USA, obesity is at near epidemic levels.  It's epidemic not only among adults, but it's causing our children to swell like little ticks, too.  In the news, now:  Sugary Drinks Linked to Obesity.

   I think we've all always known that too much sugar leads to getting fat.  Too much sugar, too many sweets, just too much food, along with too little exercise, and the end result is getting fat.  It's strange, though, how so many of the current articles online are blasting "sugary sodas" as the reason for getting fat, when diet sodas are also to blame, as well as the ubiquitous juice box.

   That's right, I went there:  The juice box.  Parents try to keep their children away from drinking sodas by giving them something healthier - juice boxes.  Unfortunately, they're still giving their children a bunch of sugar.  Sugar habits begin early in life, and by midlife, are very difficult to give up.  Why give a juice box?  Tap water, or if you're scared of city water, bottled water, is perfectly safe, does an excellent job of hydrating playing children, and won't make them get fat.  Actually, drinking a lot of water is one of the ways to help flush fat out of the system, too.

  It astounds me, on a regular basis, the way people tend to grab onto one of society's problems and then point their fingers of blame at a specific food, drink, or business, as the cause of that problem.  Obesity?  Let's blame soda, now.  Last time, we blamed fast food.  Before that?  Fried foods.  Honestly, people have pointed the finger of blame all over the place, and even gone to court to sue corporations for "making them fat."  Thinks like this astound me!  Who chose to eat fast food?  Who chose to drink sodas?  Who chose to buy foods that were deep fried in fat?  The person pointing the finger, that's who!

   Food alone isn't the culprit, nor are sugary drinks.  The activity level of the person matters a lot, too.  When you go to the grocery store, there are easily twice as many handicapped spaces as there were 20 or 30 years ago.  Are there twice as many people who are so badly injured they cannot walk even 20 extra feet to the building?  Or is it all of those people who got so fat they have to send someone into the building to get an electric scooter "mart cart" before they can start shopping? 

   Children eat what their parents give them to eat.  Adults eat what they choose to eat.  Children who play outside, drink water, and eat reasonably are healthy.  Adults who spend a lot of time on outside activities, drink water, and eat reasonably are healthy, too!  There's no reason for obesity to be such a problem, but it is.  Medical sources say that by 2030, 13 of the states will have obesity rates over 60%.  Let's do something about that.  Let's go outside and play.