This letter was inspired by the ABC show:  Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
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6/11/11
Dr. John Deasy, Superintendent
LAUSD

Dear Dr. Deasy:

Congratulations on your appointment to the second largest school district
in the US.  Your appointment gives hope to the fight against obesity and chronic
disease at the front lines where our children are at stake.  If the LAUSD can
improve the health of our children, any district in the US can.  

Medical experts agree that American children, and even their parents,
have become habitual users of food that is raising morbidity/mortality,
and harming our productivity as a society, at alarming rates.  Just the statistics
showing the early incidence of obesity and diabetes is frightening to us all.  

I urge you to join in a new curriculum of health lead my Jamie Oliver.  What
is fascinating here is that beyond health, healthy food has lessons to be learned
in sociology, psychology, physics, chemistry, biology, math, physical education,
art, music, and business.  

Every class in our schools can find a rare form of unity in this new movement.  Not
only does it taste good, but it's good for you too.  

The LAUSD can change what was once an embarrassing invasion of its property
into an inspiring lesson for the whole county.  In this case, change is not a matter
of a slowly responding bureaucracy, but the actions of just one man--you.   

I am envious of the chance you now have to positively impact the lives of so many
with a healthy food revolution!

Sincerely,
Jonathan

Jonathan Bailin, Ph.D.
Exercise Physiology~Biomechanics~Ergonomics
Sports Medicine & Ergonomics Associates

======  TableTennisMenace.com =================

This site is a place you can go to choose the best equipment to help start a new active lifestyle. 

Ping Pong or Table Tennis is a great sport to help promote less "screen time" at any age. 

Here is an article published by Ezine which describes the battle with diet and screen time our children are fighting.

Ping Pong/Table Tennis vs. Youth Obesity/Mortality

by Jonathan Bailin, Ph.D.

 

It may sound like an overmatched TV wrestling bout, but it's a serious fight we must win. 

The author has some important credentials and personal experience to offer on how to gain

victory. Our opponents are fierce, ugly, and well entrenched in our country. Can a tiny

ping pong ball compete against these monsters? Can a ping pong table compete with a 

dinner table? Let's look closely at our competition first. 


Now called the "childhood obesity epidemic" (1), the prevalence of overweight children and

adolescents has increased dramatically over the past several decades bringing

unprecedented incidence of chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease to our

children. As children become heavier worldwide, greater numbers become at risk of

having Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) as adults (2). The culprits in this assault on our

health are not hard to imagine.


Screen time, including watching television, surfing the internet and video gaming, has been

associated with promoting inactivity which is linked to this rapid increase in obesity. How

much screen time? Children ages 8-18 spend about 1.5 hours on a computer, over an hour

playing video games, 4.5 hours watching TV, and 7.5 hours on entertainment media--PER

DAY! (3). That's just one of our grotesque opponents!


The good news is that "screen time" has made our lives easier. The bad is that "screen

time" has robbed us of most of the exercise we previously used to balance our food intake. 

That food intake has taken a turn for the ugly too hasn't it?


For over three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society.

It began with a handful of modest hot dog and hamburger stands in Southern California but 

has now spread to every corner of the nation. Fast food is now served at restaurants and

drive-thrus, stadiums, airports, zoos, high schools, elementary schools, universities, cruise

ships, trains, and airplanes, at K-Marts, Wal-Marts, gas stations, and even at hospital

cafeterias.


In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food; in 2000, they spent more than

$110 billion. Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education,

personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food

than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music ? combined

(4).


Most of this food has high amounts of fat and sugar with little fiber, vitamins, or minerals. 

Our food market space is now dominated by processes food, which hides threatening levels

of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Don't forget soft drinks and "rehydration" liquids. The

HFCS industry also has enormous political power with our lawmakers (5). 


On the other hand, SOME screen time is good for us. If you consume food, you should

watch "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" on YouTube. Now for the mighty ping pong ball!


Before the author became a sports medicine consultant, before he operated a tennis

coaching business, even before he was a tennis player, he was a table tennis player. He

was one of millions taking active shelter in the basement from Midwest snow. Before that,

he was a less than fit target for the school bully. For that child, a little ping pong ball helped

steer him away from a sedentary life style, and it was FUN.    


It is key that the first time you pick up a paddle or table tennis racket; you can more easily

have fun and feel skilled without coaching. Against a friend or family member of similar

ability, you can quickly rise to the self appointed title of "Menace".


Compared to screen time, ping pong/table tennis is enormously beneficial exercise no

matter how docile the game. Many tables even have a playback mode (remember Forrest

Gump?), for a one-player work out. Here's one last word about our opponents in this fight

for our health.


Some researchers, like Dr. Alweena Zairi (5) who study the causes of under performance in

children, believe sedentary practices effect pre-school neurological development and the

academic potential of children by the time they start school. Teachers are finding they have

to deal with a growing number of children suffering from numerous conditions born out of

a childhood of conditioned inactivity. 


Both table tennis and tennis are vastly popular international sports with professional tours. 

Tennis is almost always played outside. Table tennis almost always indoor requires much

less space and is much less expensive to learn and enjoy. Even better for the family, every

parent can look like a "pro" and have a great time too. 


Ping Pong or Table Tennis--Be a Menace!  At TableTennisMenace.com


Sources:

1) Ebbeling, C., Pawlak, D., Ludwig, D. "Childhood Obesity: public-health crisis, common

sense cure" The Lancet 360: I9331, pages 473-482, 2002. 

2) Baker, J. et al. "Childhood Body-Mass Index and the Risk of Coronary Hearth Disease in

Adulthood" NEJM, 357:23, p2329-2347, December, 2007.

3) Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, "Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8-18 Year Olds",

January 2010.

4) Schlosser, E. "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal", Houghton

Mifflin, 2001.

4) Lustig, R. "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" YouTube (89 Minutes) University of California San

Francisco, Departments of Pediatrics, Health, and Epidemiology.

5) Zairi, A. "Raising children?s learning and performance: A study in a large UK school" LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, ISBN-13 978-3838386577, July 22, 2010.