It is a universal fact that people everywhere desire to look and feel their best, regardless of chronological age. However, most of them don’t realize that the start to achieving this goal may be no further away than their next meal.

Unfortunately, in today’s world, if you teach a person that eating correctly and following a healthy lifestyle will prolong the quality and length of life, help prevent degenerative diseases from Alzheimer’s to cancer, heart disease to diabetes, and obesity to arthritis, the message often falls on deaf ears.
However, when people hear that they can radically affect the way they look, decrease and help prevent deep wrinkles and sagging skin, lose body fat, maintain muscle mass, eliminate depression and increase energy, interest is peaked. While often perceived as a shallow trait, vanity is actually one of the greatest of human motivators – and no amount of healthy preaching and teaching can quite compare.
In fact, I have used the universal desire to look and feel our best as a platform for my books and shows that have aired on public television—the good news is that the byproduct of looking good means that we are healthy internally as well.
Unfortunately, this message doesn’t work on children. Today we are seeing even young children with pasty, unhealthy complexions, dark circles under their eyes, sporting an extra ten pounds or more.
Infancy and childhood is the time to learn how to prevent the degenerative diseases plaguing today’s society. Obesity, metabolic syndrome (Syndrome X) and diabetes, are now being seen in very young children—a phenomenon previously unheard of.

However, we can’t blame the children. It is our failure as parents, as food marketers and food producers, and our society in general that has failed. Children are brainwashed continuously to want a steady diet of high fat, high glycemic processed and junk food. These meals are anything but ‘happy,’ instead they are leaving our children overweight, lethargic and depressed.

The secret to an anti-aging program—a program that will enable one to live a healthy, long life, begins in childhood and a key element is learning how to control blood sugar.

The swings in blood sugar that are caused by the refined sugars and starches, ubiquitous in today’s food and beverages are the basis for the obesity and degenerative health conditions prevalent in both adults and children.

We need to actively take responsibility if we are to be a happy, productive and healthy society—who look and feel their best. At the same time, it is up to us to prevent a present and avoid a future consisting of a dependent, deteriorating society.

No health care system in the world can handle an en masse onslaught of millions of sick and aging people—but it can and will happen if we don’t take action now.

With a few simple life style modifications we really can reverse the childhood obesity epidemic and at the same time, revitalize ourselves. The road back may be no further away than your next meal.

Finally, I’d like to applaud our First Lady, Michelle Obama for launching a major campaign for healthy eating and fighting childhood obesity.

Raising awareness is the first step to combat this national epidemic. What are you doing to ensure your family is eating healthfully?