Obesity rates in the United States have soared among all age groups, particularly among our youth. In fact, more than 23 million children and teenagers (ages 2-19) are obese or overweight, a statistic that health and medical experts consider an epidemic.

As alarming as this is, there are numerous opportunities to start changing this trend. The Childhood Obesity Awareness Month (COAM) website offers a toolkit with statistics, sample news releases, social media messages, and sample letters to editors. Led by the American College of Sports Medicine, the COAM movement is diverse, inclusive, and anchored by grassroots efforts.

Click image below to watch our video on Childhood Obesity Awareness Month.

What can you do?

• Eat more balanced meals and snacks
• Engage in physical activity more regularly
• Share your personal plan and commitment with family and friends of all ages
• Request a proclamation from your mayor and governor

What can schools do?

• Incorporate physical activity and nutrition into curricula
• Encourage staff and student wellness
• Support physical health and education programs
• Provide physical activity and extracurricular activities focused on healthy living
• Provide healthy food choices
• Encourage active transport to school

What can communities do?

• Provide and maintain safe sidewalks
• Consider green space and locations conducive to physical activity
• Endeavor to reduce pollution and improve air quality
• Emphasize public safety for increased outdoor walk and play

Now that you have the tools, how are you going to help fight childhood obesity in your community?

Childhood obesity has become a public health concern in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 12.5 million children and adolescents are obese. This number accounts for approximately 17% of children and adolescents between the ages of 2 and 19 in the United States. Worse, it estimates that the obesity rate among children and adolescents has tripled since 1980.

Many factors likely play a role in the trend for increasing childhood obesity in the United States. These factors include the consumption of fast food and soft drinks, lack of physical activity, and increased time spent watching television or playing video games.

While preaching better nutrition and physical activity to kids is essential, that message will likely prove far more effective if parents serve as better examples of good health.

What can parents do to lead healthy lifestyles and demonstrate those lifestyle behaviors to their children?

Teach better nutrition

Not only should kids eat healthier foods and drink healthier beverages, they should also learn to make better nutritional choices themselves. Getting rid of junk food and soft drinks can be good start for a healthier family, but children should learn how to choose healthier foods and beverages.

One idea that parents can consider for instilling proper nutrition involves taking the kids to the grocery store. Walk up and down the aisles and teach them why certain foods are more nutritious than others. Then allow them to select some of the foods and drinks themselves, perhaps for a family meal. If they can bring their own lunches to school, allow them to choose foods for their daily lunches.

By teaching nutrition at an early age, it's more likely these youth will make healthier food choices as they get older and more independent.

Limit screen time

The amount of time that kids spend staring at a screen is staggering. When parents consider how much time their children perform these activities, they need to consider how often their kids spend time watching TV, using computers, playing video games, watching movies, or looking at cell phones.

Studies show that kids between the ages of 8 and 18 watch television for an average of 4.5 hours per day. When other forms of screen time are included, this average jumps to 7.5 hours per day.

This screen time can increase the chances that a child becomes obese. Kids are likely to snack, especially on junk food, while watching TV. Also, these young kids will likely see hundreds of advertisements for unhealthy foods and beverages during the television programs. More importantly, some of that 7.5 hours could be spent engaging in regular physical activity.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents limit their children's total media consumption to no more than one to two hours per day. While this guideline is critical for children and adolescents to follow, parents should use it as well. It is hard to preach limits on screen time if the parents come home and watch TV too.

Engage the family in physical activity

The 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that children and adolescents perform at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day. Parents can play a large role in helping their kids achieve these daily recommendations by engaging them in fun activities involving physical exertion. Jogging, walking, taking bike rides, hiking, and many other activities can be both fun and physically beneficial. To keep the kids enthusiastic about exercise, allowing them to bring their friends or encourage them to pick the activities.

If children see their parents exercising regularly, they are also more likely to accept it as a normal part of their own lives. They might look forward to exercising rather than perceiving it as some sort of punishment.

If parents commit to becoming healthier themselves - making better nutrition choices and performing regular physical activity - their children are much more liekly to emulate these behaviors.

What are you doing to engage your family in fitness?

The 2nd anniversary of the Let's Move! campaign provides a moment to raise awareness of the obesity epidemic and reflect on two years of real progress.

Thanks, in large part, to Let's Move!, concern over obesity now extends beyond public health circles and may be found in local schools, faith-based organizations, and town meetings. And, perhaps most importantly, the Let's Move! campaign seems to have ignited a golden age of innovation for anti-obesity programs designed to create sustainable healthy habits.

But what fascinates me most about Let's Move! is the role of its champion, First Lady Michelle Obama. Of course, her standing as First Lady provides her with a podium and an audience, but it has been the combination of her passion and energy that has fueled the development of countless initiatives around the nation. Quite simply, she has accomplished what very few studies or policy statements can ever hope to do - she has inspired people to take action.

She is widely viewed as a talented, charismatic communicator, but her skill set is by no means unique in America. American communities are full of passionate and energetic folks who can rally others to their causes. Community leaders are part of our national heritage.

One of this year's major goals for the International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) will be to encourage and support the efforts of IHRSA health clubs - i.e. passionate fitness advocates - to transform their facilities to vital community hubs for healthy living and disease prevention. We believe, wholeheartedly, that the success of the Let's Move! team may be replicated on a local scale by fitness centers. In fact, it's already happening.

IHRSA's commitment to health promotion will be on full display this month at IHRSA's 31st Annual Convention & Trade Show in Los Angeles, CA.

The convention schedule includes sessions such as, "Leveraging Healthcare & Wellness Programming to Better Serve the Community," "If Exercise is Medicine, How do Health Clubs Cure Illness?" and "Lessons from Corporate Wellness to Get People Active."

The capstone session, however, will be a keynote presentation and panel with members of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition ("the Council") to discuss the IHRSA Joining Forces Network and other opportunities for health clubs to impact the wellness of their communities. IHRSA's Get Active America program, for example, will empower clubs to become champions for the Council's PALA+ program, which encourages folks to be active and improve their diet 5 days/week for at least 6 out of 8 weeks. Another offering, IHRSA's I Lost it at the Club, provides clubs with an 8-week turnkey program for responsible weight loss.

For more information on IHRSA's effort to support the operation of health clubs as vital community resources, please check out our Vision for a Healthier, More Prosperous America, and let us know what you think.

What are other organizations doing to create community champions?