government officials cut san diego obesity rates by a whopping 3.7%

I’m not here to rain on anyone’s parade, but this story is not that impressive.   It’s no secret that American children are not only the fattest kids on the planet, they are the fattest children in the history of the world.   Several years ago, a couple of social workers in San Diego, California recognized this and decided to do something about it.  It’s a noble effort, but to tell the truth, I’m not quite sure that this is the sort of information I would be shouting from the rooftops as an example of a successful government program. 

It was reported recently by UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research that over a period of five years (2005 – 2010), the obesity rate in San Diego’s 5th, 7th, and 9th graders dropped from 35.8% to 34.5%.  Put a calculator to this and it means that after spending a boatload of dollars (much of it, as you might imagine, straight out of the pockets of the taxpaying public) over a period of 1,825 days, the childhood obesity rate dropped by roughly 3.7%.  I am no statistician, but I wonder if this is even statistically relevant?  And even it it is, I personally would not be calling attention to it if it were my program.  But that’s how governmental spending works.  Look for any success — no matter how small — and run with it.  Just make sure that you put out enough propaganda to convince the public of just how wonderful a job you are really doing.

If you want to see an example of children making real dietary changes, watch the movie Super-Size Me.  In the movie, a Wisconsin public school bid out it’s food service to a local organic farmer / cook, and the results were truly amazing.   We don’t need more governmental programs telling us what to eat and what not to eat.  I mean, who could ever forget the FOOD PYRAMID debacle of the past quarter century?  We need action, and action starts with knowledge.  Learn everything you can about WHOLE FOODS and move forward from there.