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Martial artists help fight childhood obesity |
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Written by Staff Reports
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Friday, 30 October 2009 |
Over the past two decades, childhood and adolescent obesity has risen at an alarming rate. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over the past three decades, the childhood obesity rate has more than doubled for pre-school children age 2-5 years of age and adolescents aged 12 to 19 years of age, and it has more than tripled for children ages 6-11. Additionally, more than 75 percent of children ages 6-11 do not eat the minimum requirement of three vegetable servings or two fruits daily. Nearly one-third of U.S. children ages 4-19 eat fast food every day. Fast food consumption has increased five fold among children since 1970. And finally, for children in grades 9-10, over one-third do not participate in daily activity.
"At Team Chip TaeKwonDo Centers we are waging war on this problem that threatens the youth of our community and country," said Sweetwater instructor Lonnie Mendez.
Team Chip TaeKwonDo Center in Sweetwater will have a candy exchange, dubbed Candy for Kicks, from 5-7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, at the Knights of Columbus Hall, located at 1500 Cypress Street. "We know that children will be receiving a large amount of candy for Halloween and want to offer the children a healthier alternative to eating all the candy. Team Chip will offer one free week of TaeKwonDo classes for each pound of candy donated, up to six pounds," said Mendez.
"In 2007, Team Chip TaeKwonDo Centers ended up receiving 285.5 pounds of candy. This equates to almost six years worth of TaeKwonDo classes that were given away for free. Our goal for 2009 is 1,000 pounds of candy," said Mendez.
Arrangements have been made through Dyess Air Force Base for all the candy to be shipped in small boxes to the U.S. troops in Iraq as care packages to show support to the troops. During the candy exchange, those donating candy can write a special note for the troops to be sent along with the candy. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 07 November 2009 )
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