Fit or Fat?

We have a growing problem (pardon the pun) with obesity in this country.  So much that its reaching near-epidemic levels.
We have children going to their pediatrician already riddled with heart disease, diabetes, and other disorders that could land them in their graves by the time they're 20.
Sad, isn't it?
And much of the blame lies with the parents.
Good eating habits begin at home. 
With us being a two-income household, the only chance we get to eat as a family during the week is at dinner.  Breakfast is usually on the run, and lunch at our workstations.  Breakfast and lunch for our daughter is at school (daycare).
My wife very painstakingly finds healthy dinner ideas that taste very good.  Lots of poultry-based dishes.  Pork every now and then, and red meat is very rare (pardon the pun) in our house.
We have a refrigerator in the basement full of soda, but reserve it primarily for guests when we entertain. 
We have chocolate in the house.  But only eat it when the craving hits, and as we eat healthier, we don't have those cravings as much.
We don't serve our daughter anything we wouldn't eat ourselves, and most of you who know me know I hate vegetables.
Yet I drink V8 juice like it's going out of style.  I know, it doesn't make sense to me either.
And when we go out for dinner, one of us usually brings back half the meal.  Usually it's my wife.  That's my lunch the following day.
And we do our best to stay fit.
I walk with the older folks up at the local shopping mall here four days a week, Monday through Thursday.  It's after I take my daughter to school and before I go to work...guaranteed 'alone time' I can use productively.
Add to the fact that my doctor, who's the same age as me, said at my last check-up "I want to see ten pounds less of you the next time I see you."
So I chug along at the mall...with my noise-cancelling headphones and my iPhone with the Nike pedometer app on it.  I do anywhere from three to four miles each day.
Once the weather gets better, I can take my daughter with me and we can walk together on Fridays when she's out of school. 
And I'm sure she'll complain about it every now and again.  I'll be the first to remind her why we do it.
So we can be healthy enough to live life to the fullest.
Especially me...I have a lot to live for. 
My family.
I mean, isn't that enough?


NEXT WEEK:  Managing 'treats'