Children and Obesity

* Re “Health-Conscious California? Take Another Look,” by Shawn Hubler, June 15: I am a substitute teacher in the Long Beach Unified School District. My major in college was math, but I often teach physical education. I see heavy elementary school children become heavy middle school children, who become even heavier high school students. When schools lose money, the arts and physical education are the first to go. When will the administrators wake up? Physical education is rarely treated like a “real” subject.

I grew up in New York City. We were required to take gym all four years in high school. My high school did not have the lovely campus my daughters enjoyed here in sunny California. Gym was in the gym. Recently the law was changed, so that only two years of PE are required for graduation. The fit, athletic ones join a team and are active all the time. The ones who need exercise the most can’t wait to get out. About the same time, all these students get a driver’s license. They never walk again.

All the experts know the answers. We should eat less and move more. So let’s help our children accomplish this.

PHYLLIS METZGER

Long Beach

*

* Has anyone ever noticed how much bigger our food has gotten? The 16-ounce soda can now only be had in a 20-ounce bottle. Whatever happened to the small bag of chips? Certain burger joints now market quadruple-decker heart attack burgers. “Wanna go big with that?”

And if you thought driving a car with a cell phone was a hazard, have you seen these people slurping down a “super big gulp” over in the lane next to you? Steer well clear of that one. No wonder we’re all so darn fat. Our snacks are as big as our meals once were.

JIM MALLON

San Luis Obispo

*

* As someone who immigrated from Europe a few months ago, I am amazed by the discussion about nutrition problems among American youth. That cola is unhealthy is a fact that I learned in school more than 20 years ago (“Sodas Linked to Girls’ Bone Fractures,” June 15). That it reduces the absorption of calcium has been known among health-conscious people for a few years.

Studies in Europe have shown that lifelong eating habits are acquired through training during childhood and adolescence. Some schools and parents feed their children with large portions of fast food and give them sodas to drink. The kids won’t eat in a much different way when they grow up! Why can’t the kids get natural food, with potatoes, rice and vegetables, and mineral or spring water and fruit juices, food that the kids of the rest of the wealthy world get and enjoy? Only a very big change in basic eating habits can solve the problem.

ANGELIKA OTTE

Newbury Park