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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Parents Key to Solving Childhood Obesity Problem

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Thursday, September 30, 2010   

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Nearly 70 percent of Tennessee adults and almost 40 percent of children are either obese or overweight, according to the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Dr. Janet Colson, associate professor in the Nutrition and Food Science Program at Middle Tennessee State University, says this combination can actually be an opportunity for family team-building. Deeper attachments can be forged between parents and children as they strive for physical fitness, she explains.

"Even if we're watching a family TV show, during the commercial you can get up and move, or a parent can sit there and be watching with the child and say, 'Oh, let's get up and jump around to the beat!'"

Colson says children learn best when they're moving, and that a mind/body connection can help even very young kids be more physically active.

"If you're teaching kindergartners or first graders how to count to ten, say, 'Okay, let's stand up and count to ten. Let's do jumping jacks while we're counting to ten.'"

The federal statistics indicate Tennessee is the second most obese state in the nation, a condition that involves almost three million people, including thousands of children. Government estimates are that obesity and its accompanying health-related problems – including heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes – cost the state nearly $2 billion each year.


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