Empowering Students is Key to Ending Obesity Epidemic

Ted Monk
Senior Vice President, Schools, Sodexo

There is a tremendous amount of discussion around the childhood obesity epidemic and its impact on immediate and long term health and wellbeing. According to the Centers for Disease Control, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. In fact, as of 2012 more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.

Schools are concerned because of the impact on student achievement, companies are concerned because this is the future workforce and even the military is concerned because of the lack of recruits who are fit enough to enlist. The simple truth is healthy lifestyle habits, including healthy eating and physical activity, can lower the risk of becoming obese and developing related diseases. In 2009 First Lady Michelle Obama started the Let’s Move campaign to get America’s students doing physical exercise and eating more healthily. In 2010 the USDA introduced The Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act which was the most sweeping change to the federally funded breakfast and lunch programs in 60 years.

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