Obesity seems to be the plague of the advanced world. Countries that enjoy high standards of living also suffer from massive medical costs, sicknesses and diseases caused by over-consumption of food. It is the tragic comedy of the first world to fall ill to so preventable a problem.
Over consuming is one part, another is the degraded nutritional value of food available of good prices. From fast food to the frozen food isle, candy sections and endless shelves of tasty snacks, the most affordable food is often the least beneficial to the human body, containing fats and sugars that the body doesn't digest well.
Individuals bear the responsibility for the problem, but so too does the education system. Sitting in school all day is perhaps where children learn the dormant traits.
The big physical and monetary costs of the problem could be ended in as little as a generation if the political will to solve the problem got off its overweight butt and acted.
Instead of learning endless amounts of fact based knowledge, much of which is not retained beyond the grade level much less beyond Grade 12, schools should be places for advancing people's physical fitness.
An hour in the morning and another in the afternoon of physical activity would set the youth straight as to how to live a healthy lifestyle.
Youths should be given a variety of activities to correspond to level of maturity to promote physical fitness.
Two hours per day five days a week, surely an amount the system could permit while not losing out on essential education, would instill in youths a sense of responsibility for their bodies and their health and the societal benefit would be enormous.
If a generation grew up and graduated with a fit lifestyle learned and firmly in place, they would be more likely to leave school maintaining healthy life choices like sport and regular exercise.
But the biggest cost savings would be to the taxpayer, who would save billions of dollars in medical costs related to obesity and associated medical problems.
Perhaps the only people to lose out on the deal would be the multi-billion dollar weight loss industry, who no doubt would fight the proposal pound for pound.
But maybe this is a question students and recent grads should answer. Would you rather spend those hours in class studying algebra, Shakespeare and chemistry, or outside batting, putting or playing hockey?
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