Question of the Week: Do children need to eat better and exercise more?

By DUANE NOLLEN
The Oskaloosa Herald

OSKALOOSA Tue, May 13 2008

— Almost three-quarters of the people who answered this past week’s Question of the Week: Should the drinking age be lowered? answered NO.
Eleven — 18.03 percent — said YES while 45 — 73.77 percent answered NO and five — 8.20 percent — responded DON’T CARE.
The Question of the Week poll is not scientific and only reflects the opinions of those Internet users who have chosen to participate. The Question of the Week is just another way the Herald’s readers can voice their opinions about issues that affect them.
This week’s question deals with childhood obesity and how we can improve our children’s health.
Lt. Gov. Patty Judge stopped at The Herald Friday afternoon to promote a couple of initiatives that she and Gov. Chet Culver support to fight childhood obesity. Judge said that during the past 30 years the number of obese children has doubled. Also, there are illnesses developing in children such as Type 2 diabetes that used to occur later in life.
One of the remedies the Culver administration is pushing is a nutritional assessment of vending machines in the state’s schools. Rather than removing vending machines from schools, they want to replace sugary pop with fruit juice or water, replace candy bars and chips with trail mix. Another remedy is to ensure that every student gets 30 minutes of physical activity a day.
Are our children living an unhealthy lifestyle? Do we need to change the way they eat and spend their time?
What do you think?
This week’s Question of the Week: Do children need to eat better and exercise more? YES, NO, DON’T CARE.
People can vote on The Herald’s Web site, oskaloosa.com, from Monday through noon on Friday. Then, votes will be tallied and published the following Monday.