When I was a kid, the greatest health problem in the United States was smoking.  Today it is obesity.  Did you know that the medical costs attributed to obesity and excessive weight amounted to $117 billion in the year 2000?  Worse than that, approximately 300,000 people die each year due to obesity-related diseases that are preventable. 

Heart disease, diabetes and cancer are all rising as Americans put on more and more weight.  In January of this year, I founded the Congressional Fitness Caucus (CFC) along with Congressman Mark Udall (D-CO), because Members of Congress need to address this epidemic as well as benefit from exercise and good nutrition themselves.

 Creating a legislative fix or taxing certain foods are not the solution to this problem.  The goal of the CFC is to promote a grassroots approach encouraging people to make small lifestyle changes that will make a big difference in their lives.  Our goal is to educate other Members of Congress so they can lead by example and share the information with the people in their congressional districts back home.

According to the U.S. Surgeon General, inactivity and obesity are also taking a toll on our children.  More and more kids are playing video sports rather than playing "real" sports.  In 1999, an estimated 61 percent of U.S. adults were overweight, along with 13 percent of children and adolescents. Obesity among adults has doubled since 1980, and obesity among adolescents has tripled. Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults and as a result the trend would continue.

The first event hosted for Members of Congress by the Congressional Fitness Caucus was a lecture from Dr. Jim Hill, Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Director of "Colorado on the Move."  Dr. Hill stressed that even the smallest changes can make a big difference - such as parking your car 500 steps from the office door (19 calories), taking the stairs to your third floor desk (10 calories), or walking around the office to say good morning to your co-workers (11 calories).  According to Dr. Hill, if we would reduce our daily intake of food by 100 calories and burn (through physical activity) 100 more calories each day, we can reduce the adult obesity level to 15 percent and reduce the childhood obesity level to 5 percent by the year 2010. 

The facts indicate that obesity is also linked to a number of life threatening diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, breathing problems, arthritis, reproductive complications, gall bladder disease, incontinence, increased surgical risk, and depression.  Being overweight is not just a social stigma; it is a serious health problem with life and death consequences.