Join fight against childhood obesity

The Centers for Disease Control estimates 17 percent of those ages 2 to 19 years are obese and that 1 in 3 children are overweight or obese. During the last 30 years, childhood obesity has tripled, leaving us with a major public health crisis.

Obese children and adolescents are more likely to have risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes than are other children and adolescents. Some public health professionals predict that this generation of children will live shorter lives than previous generations.

Physical education also has changed or become nonexistent in many schools, particularly for older children. My parents grew up with a P.E. class that included the dreaded rope climb. My generation played dodge ball, which was as much a popularity contest as it was a chance for the big kids to beat up the smaller ones. Unfortunately, this type of P.E. wasn't inclusive and turned many now-adults away from exercise.

This is changing today. In Fort Collins, we have some great programs that help children become active and teach them a lifelong appreciation of fitness.

I mentioned one organization last week. The Ciclismo Youth Foundation summer program is a community-based junior cycling program for youth to develop bike maintenance, riding and racing skills. This program introduces youngsters to mountain biking and road riding and teaches them everything they need to take this sport with them for life.

Another great program is the Northern Colorado High School Triathlon Team. This team launched last year and has kids from Rocky Mountain, Poudre, Fossil Ridge and Fort Collins high schools training for the Fort Collins Club Triathlon on May 15.

What makes triathlon appealing to most children is the variety of the three sports, plus the additional cross training. No two days of training are alike. Rather than hour-long single-sport workouts, these practices include constant transitioning from swim to run, bike to run, swim to bike and interval-type training. Sometimes, they perform 5 to 10 minutes of one sport then another or mix in pushups and sit-ups to create an intense workout with a lot of variety.

You also can find triathlons for youngsters as young as 4. The distances are scaled based on age. One local race, the Fort Collins Kids Tri is in August. All of the proceeds of this event go to support The Cardiac Kids Chapter of the Children's Hospital in Denver.

Another great event is Take a Child Mountain Biking Day. This event is Oct. 1. Keep an eye on Overland Mountain Biking Club website (http:// overlandmtb.org/) as they will be heading up the effort for this event.

As you find your own fitness, help your children find theirs as well. Let's not condemn this generation of children to shorter, less productive lives burdened with chronic disease.