Ok, who saw Shaq's new reality show? I got sucked in and he deserves a big high five for taking on this challenge. I also saw that Dan touched on it this week but I was so impressed with Shaq's passion to help these kids I thought it deserved a little more coverage.

The show is worth watching because it again illustrates the complete disconnect bewteen weight gain and reality. I found it fascinating that the kids actually knew how much they weighed...mostly over 200 lbs as pre-teens, yet they didn't consider themselves obese....huh? They were just going about life while this weight was essentially killing them slowly.

Now here's the thing that gets me. It's the parents fault! In many of the scenes, the parents were the enablers feeding their kid's faces with high fat, high calorie foods that of course are going to result in weight gain. The contradiction was shocking when the parents would say, 'I just want them to be happy and be able to do what other kids do'. Yet in the very next segment they are taking them to antoher fast food meal. WAKE UP PARENTS! The one parent even said, 'I guess I'm partially to blame for my daughters weight'...partially? You are completetly to blame and if we don't start being more honest with ourselves as a country the trend is only going to continue. I really hope Shaq and his team use some tough love on these parents as well as the kids.

Sorry, I'm passionate about this topic. Check out the show and you'll see my point. Shaq brings an inspiring level of positive energy to these kids and never even thinks about the concept of quiting....Go get em' Shaq!

Healthy Jumping...

My wife and I were talking about how both of our shoulders and back muscles really felt stronger. We quickly attributed it to our 2 little girls with all the lugging in and out of the house to the car seat to the stroller and out of the stroller and the occassional, 'up please'. Since they are your kids, you probably don't think about how much you pick them up and carry them throughout the day.

My oldest daughter is now 25 lbs and loves to walk. We live about 1 mile from town where we walk almost daily for coffee or sandwiches or simply to feed the ducks at the City Dock. What I've been doing lately is embracing the fact that she'll want to walk with the understanding she won't have enough gas in the tank to make it both ways....enter Dad.

This past weekend, we took a family stroll for sandwiches and Susan and I consciously looked at one another and decided against bringing Cate's stroller. We knew we would have to carry her at some point but figured it would be a good workout and we could trade off to share the workout. The theory works the same way with Emily who is still in the detachable car seat. She weighs 14 lbs and the car seat probably adds another 5 or 6 lbs.

Like any workout involving free weights you'll want to focus on form, bending at the knees and proper rest between lifts. This might sound a little crazy but it's just another example of looking around your everyday world to seek out alternative ways to exercise....why not?

Healthy Jumping...