Fighting Obesity in High School
Lawmakers examine health programs based at school.
July 23, 2008— -- As a teenager, Jonathan Miller's quest to lose more than 100 pounds started off as a massive challenge. When Miller first stepped on the scale, the then-385-pound student in Ann Arbor, Mich., was disappointed to learn that he couldn't weigh in: The scale only went up to 350 pounds.
"I played it off, but it did kind of worry me," Miller recalled Tuesday to ABCNews.com. "I thought I was somewhere near 350 or under."
"I decided right then and there that I had to do something to change that," Miller said.
Luckily, the 17-year-old junior didn't have to go far to take action. Rather than head off to a doctor's office or a weight-loss center to pursue his path to health, Miller signed up for a new program he'd heard about in class being offered at his very own high school.
With a small group of his peers, Miller started exercising twice a week. He started taking yoga classes and participating in group health sessions that were built into his school day. He began drinking water instead of soda and bringing his lunch. Soon, Miller said, he was "on a roll."
A little more than a year later, Miller had dropped 95 to 100 pounds.
"I didn't think much about it until I was weighed," Miller recalled. "I didn't even really pay much attention to it. I just remember being really energetic."
Now a 21-year-old college student who has lost a total of 137 pounds, Miller is one of several people testifying today at a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill. The hearing is the second in recent weeks held by a subcommittee of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions panel examining ways to curb childhood obesity. A House panel similarly holds a hearing Thursday morning about physical and health education for children.
A study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that kids' physical activity levels sink as they mature into teenagers.
At last week's hearing on the topic, Jeff Levi, executive director of Trust for America's Health, testified that childhood obesity can be attributed to tendencies that reinforce a less-active lifestyle both in school and out and to give children large quantities of food that is not nutritious. He said that as the price of food continues to rise, the obesity problem is compounded, especially for families who cannot afford healthier alternatives.
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