| North
Carolina Tips The Scale
By Alex Villareal
We are getting fatter.
A report released last week labels North Carolina
the nation's 14th fattest state.
According to “F as in Fat” by
the health advocacy group Trust for
America's Health, about 63 percent of North
Carolina
adults are obese or overweight.
At least we're not alone.
Ours is one of 31 states experiencing
this upward trend.
State officials responded to the
news with Eat Smart, Move More, a
five-year
plan to fight obesity and related diseases, especially in kids.
Dr. Alice Ammerman, Director of the Center
for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention,
says rising obesity could cause children
in this generation
to be the first to
have a shorter life span than their parents.
"We've been increasing the average life span over years,” says Ammerman. “And
if we start turning that around because of the obesity epidemic, it
kind of wakes you up a little bit to what the problems are."
Eat Smart Move More aims to get kids excited
about eating healthy. One goal is to cut
the number of kids who eat fast food three or
more times a week by 25 percent.
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