Do Cars Make Us Fat?

According to a study published in the Journal of Physical Activity & Health, there is a lower rate of overweight and obesity in countries where most people walk, cycle or use public transportation to get around on a daily basis instead of driving their own cars. This makes sense, but it certainly doesn't mean that cars, themselves, make us fat.

Physical activity is the other side of the weight management balance scale. Weight - for most of us - is a matter of the simple calories in = calories out energy equation. We do use a certain number of calories every day just to maintain our metabolism, our breathing, our body's movement and  processes, and to fuel our brains. But if we take in more calories than we burn off, they get stored as fat.

It's sadly - alarmingly - true that just as we have increased the amount and kinds of fattening foods we eat on a regular basis since 1980, we have also decreased the amount and kinds of regular physical activity we used to get - both as children and adults.

We DO tend to drive places that we once would have walked to. Our children are no longer scheduled into daily physical education classes for the entire school year, every year. Many more jobs are non-active and sedentary than ever before. Modern conveniences like remote controls and cell phones even diminish the time we walk around our own homes.

And then there is screen time.

The average American child spends nearly five hours per day in front of  a tv screen, says the Kaiser Family Foundation, and that doesn't count time in front of a computer monitor. The average home has 4 television sets, and it's not just the kids who are watching them. On average, adults watch four hours of television and then spend another four hours a day with computers, video games, iPods and cell phones. We are "wired" to watch  - and our waistlines are suffering for it.

Alternatives to passive screen use like DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) and the Wi Fit game systems make time in front of a tv screen active, fun and calorie-burning, but of course, have an expense.  Good old-fashioned outside play, walking, running and biking, on the other hand, are virtually free.
Click on the Kidnetics link to read about more ways to limit screen time and promote physical activity in your family

So a simple prescription for weight loss is one of the first sentences I wrote in one of the very first blog posts: Eat less ~ Move more!