Hello!  I am Cristin Kiburz, founder of the GET FIT Campaign™. The campaign was established to help fight adult and adolescent obesity through educating people about healthy eating & exercise.

To date, over 200 million American’s are considered overweight or obese, according to the 2005-2006 National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).  Over 300,000 deaths occur each year as a result of unhealthy weight gain and poor diet, and the estimated cost to help manage people who are obese is over $100 billion a year.

Being overweight is something we can control—it is a result of eating more calories than our body needs to function on a daily basis.  Although many Americans would like to attribute their weight gain to other factors such as hyperthyroidism or other medical conditions, the fact is only 1% of all obesity cases are attributed to physical conditions such as these.  The uncomfortable truth is that Americans consume entirely too much food and exercise very little.

What’s even more alarming is the amount of children who are considered overweight or obese.  According to an article written in the 2008 American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry titled Obesity in Children & Teens, between 16 and 33 percent of American children and adolescents are obese.

If you think as a parent, your eating habits do not matter, think again. Also, mentioned in the same article are the statistics of a child being overweight if one or both parents are.  If one parent is obese, the child will have a 50% chance of being overweight and if both parents are overweight, the child will have an 80% chance of becoming obese as well. Your eating habits matter more than you think.

The fact is, children do not go to the grocery store or purchase food on their own, the parents do.  Therefore, what the parent eats or purchases is as important if not more so, in the prevention of the child becoming overweight.

Through education and awareness, I truly believe we can help reduce the obesity epidemic and teach our children that eating healthy can be enjoyable.  Not only will our children feel better about themselves emotionally, they will have the energy and stamina to do daily activities such as playing sports or participating in other physical activities.

Please help stop the obesity crisis.  Join our cause. For more information please contact: getfit@ckiron.com or join our email newsletter.