For a while it was just us no-names knocking on doors, angering PTAs and tossing out junk food at the YMCA...but now A-List celebrities are joining in the fight to stem the surge of child obesity.

 

Shaquille O’Neal in his tv series “Shaq’s Big Challenge” found out just how many good people are contributing to a bad child health crisis. Every episode revealed another unlikely villain: parents allowing children to eat both butter-dipped pizza and submarine sandwiches because their child simply can’t choose just one, parents allowing their child to play video games 5 hours a day, school lunch Food Service Directors serving up fast food day-after-day, and school Principals reciting lists of why-nots rather than “Let’s do it!” Shaq’s frustration was palpable...and many of us know it all too well. The no-brainer of doing what’s best for children all too often gets lost in limited imagination, fundraising and bureaucracy.

 

But hats off to Shaq for staying with his group of troubled, unhealthy children and offering a better path--a path they’ll have to make the hard commitment of clearing themselves. As is the case with so many of America’s children, Shaq’s kids will have to defy unhealthy parental modeling and the odds already stacked against them as obese children.

 

Similar to Shaq, Jennifer Lopez and hubby Marc Anthony have joined forces and hit the road on a tour to fight child obesity, especially among Latinos, who suffer a higher risk of obesity-related health complications (including diabetes and hypertension) than Caucasians.

 

Celebrities rule in today’s tabloid culture. If J.Lo or Shaq can open a door and get junk food out of school cafeterias, home pantries and shopping carts while educating the masses about the risks of abusing children with food and inactivity, then National Action Against Obesity hardily applauds them. And they’re off to a great start. Shaq and his “Challenge” kids had a seat at the table with Florida Governor Charlie Crist, and the governor delivered with mandatory PE and a promise of marked improvements in the school cafeterias. Let’s hope J.Lo and Marc Anthony have great success with their ING Run for Something Better campaign and tour.