Childhood obesity is a national epidemic that plagues both civilian and military families.
DoD launched a program called 5210 to encourage military children to eat healthy and be active.
According to the report, Too Fat to Fight, 75 percent of all young Americans 17 to 24 years of age are unable to join the military because they failed to graduate from high school, have criminal records or are physically unfit.
This 2011 report also notes that the Army’s Accessions Command, which carries the responsibility for recruiting and the initial training of new Army recruits, estimates “that more than 27 percent of all Americans 17 to 24 years of age—over 9 million young men and women—are too heavy to join the military if they want to do so.”
That’s right, 27 percent of the next generation is unable to qualify for military service because of their physical conditions.
Besides being unable to follow in their parent’s footsteps of volunteering to serve in the military, obese military children are more likely to experience certain health risks such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer. An overweight child or teen today is likely to become an obese adult in the future.
Knowing this, DoD recently launched a program called 5210 to encourage military children to eat healthy and be active. The 5210 campaign recommends 4 strategies for military families to engage in a healthy lifestyle. The 5210 campaign breaks down like this:
5: Eat 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables
2: Limit screen time to 2 or less hours
1: Engage in physical activity for at least 1 hour
0: Avoid sweetened drinks including soda, sports drinks and fruit drinks
When I read these guidelines, I think it’s pretty obvious that 5210 makes sense. If we all engaged in these behaviors, we will all be healthier and more active.
How do you encourage your children to be active and eat healthy?
But with school out for the summer and my husband on deployment, when I look closely at my children’s behavior, I have to admit that I struggle to achieve these daily goals. For example, I have one child who prefers fruit and vegetables and won’t eat meat. In contrary, my other child won’t eat any vegetables…unless you count French fries as a vegetable. But she will eat fruit. Does that mean I feed her a lot of fruit and cross my fingers that she gets 5 servings?
Now let’s talk about that screen time recommendation. My daughters love their Disney movies and when I’m working from home, I tend to use the television as a tool for me and a distraction for my children so that I can get my work done. My children definitely watch more than 2 hours of screen time when they are home with me. But if I have them run around the playground for 2 hours every day, does that offset their time watching PBS Kids?
The 5210 campaign is a helpful reminder of things that I already know as a parent. My children need to eat more produce and spend more time outside this summer. I’m trying to see 5210 as a welcomed excuse to hit the pool and go for afternoon bike rides together. As long as I can be strong enough to shut off the television.
Military has always been psychotic about weight.
Guess it is about time they get realistic about peoples weight and not the fantasy weight chart.
I am not eating salads all day to get to the weight they want on the chart. neither are my kids.
My issue with this is the delivery. I check my emails each morning and usually find a few of them that are concerning obesity. I open this one to find this message and DIRECTLY beneath it I see an add for 3 sugary, Flavored, and colored drinks.. Proudly displaying sale prices. It is like saying yes, this is a problem.. And we need to bring awareness and help these children… But this is the perfect platform to showcase our sales on the very “food” that got us here. It may in fact accomplish the very opposite of what it’s meant to. This processed garbage IS addictive, and even though some may open the email to read the article, they’ll likely be drawn to the brightly colored sale items at the bottom. If they do indeed read the article, they’ll likely then just carry on with their normal day with some added guilt from knowing they shouldn’t be buying these things, but not knowing where else to turn. There is information overload out there, people need recipes, advice, and steps taken to lower the prices of REAL food. You will never find a case lot sale at the commissary with real food because real food is not meant to last for 3 years. We do not need to encourage military families to go out and buy these things in bulk periodically. People need to realize that it will take going to the store more than once or twice a month, if you are to eat nutritiously. If this was truly an issue that “military shoppers” genuinely cares about and wants to tackle then they would not set up this woman for failure by undermining her efforts to educate. This absolutely was not an honest effort by “military shoppers”, this was a ploy. If change is desired, let’s advertise nutrition/cooking classes. Let’s organize tasting events, and start featuring foods that will actually nourish our bodies. If “military shoppers” legitimately cares and wants to make a change, send an email out asking for volunteers to help with these things. I would be there in a heart beat to help, my husband would as well if he is home.