Posted by: Curt | Under: Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Prime/fit, Sports, Youth/fit | (0) Comments
The US military has a big problem- most young adults and teenagers are not qualified for military service and obesity is one of the biggest factors. CNN has the whole story-
More than a quarter of young adults are unable to meet physical requirements to join the military, creating a potential threat to national security, a group of retired armed forces leaders said Tuesday.
“It’s not drug abuse, it’s not asthma, it’s not flat feet — by far the leading medical reason is being overweight or obese,” said retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Norman Seip at a news conference.
About 27 percent of young adults are medically ineligible for the military, according to Mission: Readiness, a group of retired admirals, generals, and other senior military leaders.
Mission: Readiness’ report, “Too Fat to Fight,” said that 75 percent of young Americans between the ages of 17 to 24 do not qualify for the military because of failure to graduate [from high school], criminal records or physical problems. The study cited Department of Defense and health data.
While school lunches and nutrition are important, the big problem is lifestyle. Most kids can eat pretty much anything they want if they are active and exercise enough. But with the rise of the video game and TV generation, most kids don’t get anywhere near enough physical activity. When you add to that a diet rich in high calorie, high sugar junk food you can see where the problem comes from. Eating fresh, nutritional food is just not a part of the average American’s lifestyle and that is what we need to get back to if we are going to have any chance of saving our kids from an adulthood of diabetes, heart disease and all of the associated problems.
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