In Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV), we are advised by Paul to take control over our lives:

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

That word, temperance, means self control and that’s where I’d like to park for this article.  One of the areas in which most of us have little control is the flesh and “food” falls under the flesh category.  Not enough of us are taking control over the fork, over the plate, over our health.

We live in a society now where we are too concerned about being politically correct, as opposed to dealing with truth.  The truth still sets us free.

Here is a truth regarding American children:

Not only are kids obese, they’re even heavier than previously thought, says the research from healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente.

The study examined the weights and heights of 710,000 children aged 2 to 19 in southern California, and found 7% of boys and 5% of girls were “extremely” obese, defined as 120% of the 95th percentile for weight for the child’s age and sex.

What are the implications of this obesity?  Well, sugar diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and so on and so forth.

Recently there was a young actress in the news.  Her name is Gabourey Sidibe. When I commented on her morbid obesity and the fact that she honestly needs to get a great deal of that weight off, I was met with resistance from some people who thought that it was mean to mention the obvious.  The truth of the matter is, however, that weight is dangerous. Weight can kill.  Sure, we can remain silent and ignore it. But the person who is carrying all that weight is going to suffer the consequences of our silence.

Children need to be outside playing.  They need to be running and jumping.  Parents need to tell them “no” to the junk food.  It’s time to re-introduce vegetables and fruit.  An apple a day still keeps the doctor away.  Apples are loaded with fiber and they are delicious.  Less pizza and more home-made meals.  Skip the fast food restaurants. That stuff tastes good but it’s destroying youth.  It’s also taking its toll on adults:

Statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control in January reported that obesity rates for adult men and women have remained constant for at least five years. However, the same data found that nearly 34% of adults are considered obese, and the number of obese children tripled over the past 30 years to 17%.

SOURCE

Obesity is not a good thing in adults. It’s not a good thing in children.  We cannot control every aspect of our lives. However, one thing we can control is what we eat.  And we can control what we drink. And we can control how much we exercise.

Let us all watch out for the children in our lives. If they can take control over their health now, they will reap benefits later.

Photo credit HERE