From Your Health Journal…..An excellent article in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal entitled Youth Obesity Issue Of National Security. This article was very interesting, so I had to promote it here. I remember as a kid in high school, we had physical education class where ‘marching’ was part of our class. We had an older PE teacher, who had strong thoughts on what the purpose of PE was to be! At the time, classes were segregated, and boys only had PE with boys, girls only with girls. As soon as we turned a specific age, we had to enlist in the draft if needed. Later on when I went to college, I majored in PE for my undergraduate work. I learned to main purpose of PE when brought into the schools was to prepare young men for the army. We were told a ‘fit’ army was a ‘strong’ army…..and overweight men were not good to defend our country. Over time, this thought process slowly disappeared with newer generations of PE teachers, and newer thought processes. Interestingly enough, the article today in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal brought attention to this sensitive topic. Now, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Thursday that it’s vitally important for America’s youth to have healthy eating habits, calling it an issue of national security as well as educational accomplishment and health care. He also stated, only 25 percent of people, ages 17 to 24, are eligible to serve in the armed forces, partly because many are overweight or obese. Please visit the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal web site to read the complete article.”
From the article…..
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Thursday that it’s vitally important for America’s youth to have healthy eating habits, calling it an issue of national security as well as educational accomplishment and health care.
Obesity and hunger affect school achievement and health care in fairly obvious ways, Vilsack said, while speaking to a group at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center. What’s less obvious is the impact on the nation’s military readiness, he said.
Only 25 percent of people, ages 17 to 24, are eligible to serve in the armed forces, partly because many are overweight or obese, he said.
“If we don’t address this issue, we’re going to have a shrinking number of young people who are qualified for military service, and when you have an all-volunteer military, you have to have a large pool to draw from,” he said in an interview following his speech. “It’s a national security issue, as well as an economic and health care issue.”
Vilsack visited Maine to talk up the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s efforts to better promote the importance of childhood nutrition and physical activity. After speaking at Maine Medical Center, he visited the U.S. Coast Guard base in South Portland to talk about the link between nutrition and the nation’s military preparedness.
The USDA has programs aimed at getting unhealthy foods out of the schools, replaced by more nutritional selections. It also has initiatives promoting farmers’ markets, having schools buy their foods locally, feeding low-income children nutritional foods during the summer, and encouraging grocery stores to operate in so-called “food deserts” that have little or no access to supermarkets that sell fresh and affordable foods, Vilsack said.
To read the full article…..Click here