We've got a trend going on. Genetics make it hard for some kids to stay lean, but Piscatella said our modern, high-stress lifestyle is a bigger culprit. With crime a realistic worry, kids have lost the freedom to bicycle to the park and must depend on play dates or organized sports. I think parents feel a little overwhelmed. They also feel guilty.
Parents can turn that guilt to good advantage by changing their own habits.
Yet almost half of American adults are sedentary. One possibility is that Americans are suffering from fitness burnout. Piscatella sees waning enthusiasm for the mantra of no pain, no gain. He lays some of the blame on spartan health approaches such as Dr. Dean Ornish's program to reverse heart disease by limiting dietary fat to 10 percent of total calories. We're actually eating a higher-fat diet than in 1984.