Up Front: Raising Generation “F”: Failing to bid farewell to fructose, fast food and fanny-sitting 

“You are what you eat.”

“Mommy, are you talking to me?” Marco asked on a recent Sunday over breakfast and the morning paper.

“Oh no, sweetheart. I’m actually reading this editorial about the alarming rate of children with obesity and they just used a phrase that I remember hearing when I was growing up — You are what you eat.”

“I eat everything at the bottom of the food chain,” Marco offered with pride.

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at his proud but rather odd announcement to me over his bowl of Cheerios and milk.

“Now who told you that?”

“The brothers.” He was referring to his three older brothers — Matteo, Massimo and Marcello. “They tell me that all the time because I don’t like meat and I mostly eat rice and pasta.”

“That’s not very nice of your brothers but it’s actually quite funny,” I said as I went back to reading the editorial.

“Mommy, what is children with obesity? Do we have obesity?” Marco asked.

“No. Um… well, hmmm… let’s see. Children with obesity means children who are overweight.”

“Is that bad?”

“It’s not that it’s bad; it’s not healthy.”

“Why?”

“When kids are overweight, it can lead to other health problems or it may mean they’re not getting enough exercise or maybe they’re not eating right or it can be in their genes. Whatever it is, their well-being is not being addressed and that’s not good. But no sweetheart, we’re not obese.”

“Are the brothers?” he asked — just to be certain.

“No, your brothers are not obese,” I assured him. “And by the way, eating rice and pasta isn’t actually at the bottom of the food chain.”

“Are Cheerios and milk?” he asked sweetly, lowering his cereal bowl from his face to reveal a picture perfect milk moustache.

“No silly, it’s not.” I smiled.

“So am I what I eat?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact you are. You’re mommy’s little toasted whole grain of goodness, low in fat and best of all, you’re full of vitamins and minerals.”

"You’re funny mommy,” he said laughing — before planting a milk-stained kiss on me and running off to tell his brothers that he doesn’t actually eat from the bottom of the food chain.

A few months ago, then Cabinet Secretaries Tommy Thompson (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) and Ann Veneman (U.S. Department of the Agriculture) released “Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005” to the public. These guidelines are used to update the “food pyramid” to encourage healthy eating and good nutrition.

This new version comes at a time when more and more of our young people are faced with childhood obesity and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. In fact, study after study shows that 65 percent of Americans are overweight or obese. Sixty-five percent!

When Secretaries Thompson and Veneman released the new guidelines before a packed room of reporters in January — the time of year when many of us have made New Year’s resolutions that include eating healthier and making better choices — Thompson and Veneman not only set the stage for Americans across the country to meet their resolutions, they may have unknowingly rewritten the script for the food industry, public schools and scores of others.

Overnight, news stories and press releases began announcing massive industry changes to meet the new nutrition standards and even greater changes to promote good nutrition and healthier choices. But it’s really only just the beginning.

When I read the statistics that tell me childhood obesity rates have tripled in the last 20 years it makes me very sad. But now that our boys are more grown up, and Leonardo and I have done our part to protect them from the evils of fructose and fast food, I’m heartened because they’re not part of that growing statistic. And although they may not always eat their vegetables — they do eat healthy and they get plenty of exercise.

We know it’s not that simple though. We’ve been deliberate in helping them to make good choices because when it comes right down to it, their health depends on it.

We all make choices. We can either choose to honor things like our New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier and exercise more or we can choose to do nothing and contribute to the growing and alarming statistics that our country and now, our children face.

“Mommy? Can I tell you something?” Marcello wanted to know.

“Of course honey, what is it?”

“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea for you to talk about childhood obesity in your column,” Marcello warned.

“Really? Why do you say that?”

“Because I think you’re going to offend a lot of people.”

“You do? Like who, darling?” I stopped writing to give him my full attention.

“I don’t know exactly but maybe the people who read your column and have kids who are obese or any of your readers who know parents who have kids who are obese. I think they might get offended.”

“Honey, please know that I’m not writing my column to offend anyone.”

“Yeah, but if readers know you they know you’re not obese and they’ll think you don’t know what you’re really talking about. And you’re talking about obese kids when you don’t even have obese kids and your columns are usually about us. I’m worried that you might make them mad or worse, you might hurt their feelings.”

“I’m not sure who’s wiser between you and your brothers but that’s not my intention. Please try to understand that I’m writing about childhood obesity with the hope that I might in some small way help educate others about this very sad and growing epidemic. And maybe, just maybe, I might actually motivate someone to help a child. Even one child. Wouldn’t that be worth it?”

“Yes. I guess you’re right but be nice and give them good guidance.”

“I’ll be nice. I promise. And I’ll try my very best to give good guidance.”

So for Marcello, here goes.

We really are what we eat, so if we fill ourselves up with foods high in calories, sodium, fat and (bad) cholesterol — what we’re really setting ourselves and our kids up for are conditions like cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and osteoporosis.

We’ve all heard it before so what’s different this time?

Well, for starters, we’re talking about the well-being of children. We spend our lives as school advocates working tirelessly on behalf of children. Caring about children and doing what’s right for them.

So isn’t it only right then that we would want to do all that we can to help all children be healthy and happy?

Or better yet, wouldn’t we hope for them to be whole grains of goodness, low in fat and best of all, full of vitamins, minerals and energy so they can live long, healthy, happy and productive lives?

As idealistic as that may sound, isn’t that really why so many of us dedicate ourselves to improving our schools and providing a solid foundation for the future generation — our students? Isn’t health an important part of that? Of course it is.

So why is it then that when it comes to the health of our children, poor choices are still being made? Why is it that the obesity rate in children and adults is soaring and not enough is being done about it?

It’s a new year! We all have an opportunity to set a great example for all of the young people that touch our lives. But it can’t just be a fad or a trend or some anti-obesity campaign bandwagon we hop on for the moment — I’m talking about a major commitment here.

A life-changing commitment about how we live and the choices we make. With sound medical research on our side, our chances are greatly increased for a longer, healthier and happier life.

Our kids are growing up to be consumers — we can either take this time to empower them with valuable information that will help them to be more knowledgeable about choices regarding nutrition and healthy eating and daily exercise so that we can beat back these statistics.

Or we can simply choose to stand by silently on the sidelines — as so many have for the past 20 years when childhood obesity rates tripled — and do nothing at all.

A very wise man once said:

“It is not in despair that I paint you that picture. I paint it for you in hope — because the Nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out.”

That was Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his second inaugural address to the nation. He was talking about the necessities of a better life for tens of millions of Americans in 1937. And I’m talking about the necessities of a better life for all of us in 2005 and beyond.

Mina Fasulo is editor in chief of California Schools.