Walking in the right direction

The news in the past months has featured some disturbing health

trends.

Among them, an ABC News/Time Magazine poll of 1,200 U.S. adults

found, is that 42% of parents of children ages 6 to 17 said their

children do not get enough exercise.

The Journal of the American Medical Assn. reported that poor diet

and exercise habits are edging near tobacco as the leading

preventable cause of death in America. And the National Institutes of

Health say that about two-thirds of Americans are overweight.

If the news wasn’t so worrisome, it could be called weighty,

indeed.

So it was with a full sense of relief to see that Eastbluff

Elementary is bucking the unhealthy trend. Students there plan to

walk 15 minutes every day next year as part of an “Eastbluff Walk to

Washington” program. That represents a quarter of the government’s

recommended hour of daily exercise.

As everyone knows, good habits start early. The students at

Eastbluff who will be lucky enough to be involved will have a step up

on other children, who may get into the junk food/watching TV/playing

video games routine. More immediately, they will find they have added

energy, better health and more stamina. (Whether their parents find

all this extra bounce a boon might be debatable.)

Also, as everyone knows, “everything in moderation.” Fifteen

minutes, or an hour even, of exercise a day is a smart addition to

anyone’s routine. But trying to live a healthy lifestyle is far

different from dieting to get thinner than everyone else -- including

models on TV and magazines covers.

It was nearly five years ago, for instance, that the Daily Pilot

published a special report, “Starving for perfection,” that

highlighted how some girls at Corona del Mar High were taking the

drug Ritalin as a way to stay thin. Amid all the focus on the dangers

of being overweight, we should not forget that the opposite can be

every bit as harmful.

Judging from the Eastbluff program’s initial focus on good eating

and good exercise, neither extreme should be a worry.

We look forward to seeing how far the kids walk.