Two out of three Americans are either obese or overweight. More than 100,000 people die each year due to obesity related diseases like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Obesity induced conditions cost the U.S. some $150 billion in health care expenses annually and these costs are bound to increase. An obese adult represents $1,400 more in annual additional health care expenses compared with healthier peers.

It’s not just adults who are suffering. Alarmingly, one-third of all American children between the ages of two and 19 are now either obese or overweight. This puts them at a higher risk of serious diseases that can impair their way of life or worse, cut their lives short.

Dr. Joseph Mercola believes that the very future of the developing world is at stake as a result of the exploding problem of obesity. He’s so concerned about this development that he co-wrote a book with Dr. Ben Lerner called Generation XL: Raising Healthy, Intelligent Kids in a High-Tech, Junk-Food World.

If the obesity epidemic is not reversed, we may see children living shorter lives than their parents, Dr. Mercola warns. He is determined to help turn this deadly trend around and shares seven steps you can take to help your child beat obesity:

1. Drink pure water instead of sugary juices and soft drinks.
   Kids can easily reduce the amount of sugar they consume if you don’t give them soda and juice due to the high amount of high fructose corn syrup in these drinks.. This step alone can have a dramatic effect on your child’s health and weight, since each can or bottle of soda or sugar-sweetened beverage consumed increases  obesity risk by 60 percent.
2. Learn your child’s Nutritional Type to plan meals accordingly.
   Encourage children to eat healthy, nutritious foods. Focus on fresh whole foods, preferably organic whenever possible, and avoid processed foods.
   Any meal or snack high in carbohydrates or sugars results in a rapid spike in your child’s blood glucose level. To compensate for this spike, the pancreas secretes insulin into their bloodstream, which lowers your child’s sugar level.
   Insulin is responsible for an overweight child’s bulging tummy and fat rolls. High insulin levels also suppress glucagons and growth hormones, which burn fat and sugar and promote muscle development.
3. Limit or eliminate TV time.
   A surprising 90 percent of American children under age 2 and almost 40 percent of babies under 3 months old watch TV regularly. This is because more than half of children have a television in their bedroom. Each week, a typical child watches about 38 hours of commercial media.
   Too much TV not only encourages inactivity, it also exposes children to commercials promoting junk food and fast food. A study published in the The Journal of Law and Economics suggests that banning fast food advertisements in the U.S. could reduce the number of overweight children. Eliminating the tax deductibility of TV advertising would also reduce the incidence of childhood obesity.
4. Lead by example.
   Seek to maintain a healthy body weight for yourself and your spouse. Avoid eating fast food. Cook healthy meals and set regular family mealtimes. Your efforts to keep your child away from fast food and junk food advertisements will amount to nothing if you don’t prepare healthy meals for the family.
   Studies show that families who eat together have better overall nutrition. Ask your children to help in meal preparation. Doing so will increase the likelihood for them   to eat the healthy foods you’re serving.
5. Increase exercise time.
   Exercise is extremely important for all children, Dr. Mercola stresses. An obese or overweight child needs at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. Major studies suggest that it is best for kids to get an hour of exercise daily.
   Start exercising as a family. Take daily walks, gradually increasing the intensity to include jogging. You can also implement a rule that allows your child one minute of video (TV or game) time for every minute of exercise.
6. Address emotional eating.
   Emotions play a huge part in childhood obesity. Emotional eating often thwarts weight loss efforts. If your child has a hard time giving up junk food, this is where Meridian Tapping Technique/Emotional Freedom Technique (MTT/EFT) can help. MTT/EFT can be very useful in addressing not only food cravings, but also the underlying emotional challenges – such as low self-esteem – that can lead your child to eat unhealthy foods or overeat.
7. Make sure your child is getting enough sleep.
   A recent study revealed that the risk of obesity increases when one sleeps less than six-and-a-half hours a night. So be sure your child is going to bed in plenty of time to get enough rest.

Mission: Readiness, an organization composed of retired admirals and generals, recently reported that an alarming 75 percent of all young adults aged 17 to 24 are not qualified to join the military.

Many young adults are not eligible to become men in uniform because they either fail to graduate from high school or have criminal records. But the MAIN reason is obesity.

Child obesity rates have more than tripled in the past three decades. Now, one in three children, 10 to 17, is overweight or obese; and 27 percent of young adults, 17 to 24, are too heavy to join the services.

As a result, roughly 15,000 prospective recruits flunk the physical entrance exam because they are too overweight.

Dr. Joseph Mercola believes that fructose, a cheap sugar commonly used in processed food products and soft drinks, is one of the culprits in the obesity epidemic, both in children and adults.

Today, more than 50 percent of manufactured foods and beverages are sweetened using fructose in the form of high fructose corn syrup. This sweetener is found in soda, the number one source of calories in America.

How Fructose is Making Americans Fat

Every cell in your body uses glucose or blood sugar, Dr. Mercola explains. Glucose is immediately burned up immediately after you consume it. When you eat 120 calories of sugar in the form of glucose, less than one calorie is stored as fat.

But fructose is a completely different story. Consuming fructose is essentially consuming fat, Mercola warns. Your body converts fructose into free fatty acids, LDL (the damaging form of cholesterol), and triglycerides, which get stored as fat. Consuming 120 calories of sugar in the form of fructose means you store 40 calories as fat!

Studies show that soda and sugar-sweetened drinks increase the risk of obesity in children. And because high fructose corn syrup is also found in many processed foods, that further increases the chances of your children regularly consuming this dangerous sugar.

Why Kids Should Not Consume High Fructose Corn Syrup

Studies and estimates show that:

• Obese children are more than twice as likely to die before the age of 55 than children with a healthy weight
• Obese teenage girls are more likely to die between ages 36-56 than their normal weight peers
• Moderately obese teen girls increase their risk of death in adulthood by 50 percent
• Obese teens more than double their mortality risks compared to their slimmest peers

Yes, having more obese children and young adults may affect the military’s recruitment in the long run but more importantly, as they mature, obesity is exposing them to diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease, robbing them of a chance to live healthy and happy lives.

As a Parent, What Can You Do About It?

Changing your lifestyle will help you and your family achieve your ideal weights. You should keep your fructose consumption to under 25 grams per day by avoiding fructose-rich fruits, fruit juices and soda.

Check what your kids are eating at the school cafeteria. Better yet, prepare their meals at home so you can be sure that they’ll be eating healthy even when they’re at school.

Exercising as a family is also a step to the right direction. You can go for walks, bike rides, teach them how to swim or skate, the activities are only limited by your imagination. Limit their time in front of the television and playing videogames because a sedentary lifestyle compounds obesity woes.

Most kidney stones are easily eliminated from the body. A small stone may be excreted without causing too much pain. However, a large kidney stone can get stuck in a ureter, the bladder or the urethra, blocking the flow of urine and causing:

• Pain in the side, lower back or groin area lasting between 20 minutes to an hour
• Bloody, cloudy or foul-smelling urine • Nausea and vomiting
• Pain in urination
• Persistent urge to urinate
• Fever and chills

Almost one million Americans develop kidney stones annually. Men are four times more likely to suffer from kidney stones than women. People living in the southern part of the U.S., where the climate is hot, have an increased risk of forming kidney stones since they can get dehydrated, causing their urine to become more concentrated.

Heredity can also increase your risk. The younger you are when you form kidney stones, the greater your risk of recurrence. Once a person has experienced a kidney stone attack, the chances of a recurrence are between 70 to 80 percent.

Dr. Mercola explains that the rising cases of kidney stones among adults and children alike are the side effect of our modern eating habits. Different types of kidney stones are formed depending on the highest concentrations of substances in your urine, like calcium oxalate, which comes from eating too much dark green vegetables, nuts and chocolate.

A diet high in sugar and high fructose corn syrup interferes with the calcium and mineral absorption in your body. A study showed that drinking soda worsens conditions in the urine that contributes to the formation of calcium oxalate kidney stones.

Eating too much processed salt from processed foods and sports drinks are also blamed for increasing the risk of kidney stones in children.

A sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure, the consumption of soy and caffeine, and taking certain drugs such as Lasix (furosemide), Topomax (topiramate), and Xenical, have also been associated with the formation of kidney stones.

Kidney stones should not be taken for granted because they can be a lifelong problem and can lead to serious kidney damage. Thankfully, making simple lifestyle changes will greatly help you avoid suffering from a painful kidney stone episode:

• Drink a lot of water – The safest and simplest way to treat a kidney stone is to let it pass on its own. Drinking plenty of water will help dissolve kidney stones by decreasing the concentration of solids in the urine. Teach your children the benefits of drinking water. Avoid tea because it’s high in oxalates
• Eat according to your Nutritional Type.
• Eat foods rich in magnesium and vitamin B6, which help prevent the formation of kidney stones.
• Limit your intake of sugar, caffeine, excess salt and processed foods.
• Exercise to keep your body’s fluids circulating.
• Avoid taking prescription drugs.

If you’re suffering intolerable pain from a kidney stone attack, herbs like nettle leaf, bearberry, cleavers, corn silk, crampbark, gravel root, kava kava, khella, hydrangea, stone root may help relieve the symptoms. But remember: consult a natural health physician or an expert herbalist before trying any herbal products

1. A healthy mother means a healthy child – Take care of yourself to give your child a healthy head start in life. Krill oil is one of the best supplements you can take before and during pregnancy, and while breastfeeding. It contains DHA and choline, which are critical to your child’s brain development and IQ, and also supports your overall health and positive mental outlook during and after pregnancy. Your child is wholly dependent upon you to provide those nutrients at least during the first three months of his/her life.
2. Breastfeed your baby, if possible, and as long as possible – Babies receive DHA through breast milk. Breastfeeding through the first year will give your child an even greater head start for success in life.
3. Provide structure to your child’s life – It’s not too early for kids to start being organized. Children like a dependable schedule – regular mealtimes, bedtime, waking up time, and more. It helps them understand the concept of time, routines, and gives them a sense of security.
4. Start your child on a healthy diet – Make sure your child eats a healthy and balanced diet composed of high-quality (organic if possible) meats and vegetables. Healthy kids find it easier to resist junk food because their taste buds have been accustomed early on to the taste of healthy foods like veggies. Limit their consumption of processed food as much as possible, including sweets, food with artificial colorings, preservatives, and high fructose corn syrup.
5. Teach your child the value of daily exercise at a young age – Aside from the physical benefits, regular exercise can form part of your quality time with your children. You can go for walks, bike rides, play sports, take your dog for a run, jump rope – there are so many different activities that can make exercise fun and exciting.
6. Provide clean indoor air – Don’t smoke inside your house and your car (better yet, don’t smoke at all) and use only non-toxic cleaning products.  Have your house tested for lead paints if it was built before 1978.
7. Give your child probiotics – This will help strengthen your child’s immune system. You’ll feel secure knowing that your child’s immune system is holding up while everyone else in school is struggling with the latest bug.
8. Use non-toxic personal care products – Do not use soaps and shampoos containing risky ingredients like parabens, mineral oil, paraffin, petrolatum, Sodium laurel or lauryl sulfate (SLS), sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), acrylamide, propylene glycol.
9. Be aware of the dangers of immunizations – Vaccines provide more health risks than benefits. Dr. Mercola has been working for years to educate the public about vaccine dangers. You can get more information about this by visiting Mercola.com.
10. Optimize your child’s vitamin D levels – Get your child outdoors for at least 15 minutes per day, preferably in mid-day, to get enough sun exposure to optimize his or her vitamin D levels, thereby boosting his/her immune system and overall health.

Sugar alcohols provide fewer calories than sugar because they are not fully absorbed into the body. Because of this, consuming large amounts of foods containing sugar alcohol can lead to abdominal gas and diarrhea.

The warning labels on foods containing the sugar alcohols sorbitol and mannitol stating “excess consumption may have a laxative effect” is proof of this.

But unlike most sugar alcohols, around 60 to 90 percent of erythritol is absorbed into the bloodstream and is then excreted in the urine. This means that erythritol tends to cause lesser intestinal distress than other sugar alcohols.

Sugar alcohols are useful in baking and are frequently used in combination with other low-calorie or artificial sweeteners like aspartame, acesulfame-K, neotame and saccharin. In erythritol’s case, it is used with crystalline fructose, Coca-Cola’s sweetener of choice for its controversial beverage – Vitaminwater.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and other concerned parties have filed a class-action suit against Coca-Cola for “illegally marketing” Vitaminwater as a healthy product.

CSPI nutritionists claim that the 33 grams of sugar – including crystalline fructose – contained in each bottle of Vitaminwater “do more to promote obesity, diabetes and other health problems than the vitamins in the drinks do to perform the advertised benefits listed on the bottles.”

Since crystalline fructose is 99 percent fructose, it may be potentially more harmful to your health than high fructose corn syrup, natural health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola warns. High fructose corn syrup is a major, if not the main, contributor to the obesity epidemic in the U.S., and has also been associated with increasing the risk of tissue damage, diabetes, heart disease and other serious conditions.

On the other hand, the erythritol is likely to blame for the reported side effects of drinking Vitaminwater, such as diarrhea, headache and stomachache. Also, while erythritol contains lower calories than sugar, it’s still not calorie-free, and if you regularly drink Vitaminwater, the calories you consume can be close to what you’re consuming if you drink a beverage sweetened by sugar.

But for all its faults, erythritol does offer some health benefits. Eythritol does not contribute to tooth decay and has limited antimicrobial properties.

The only safe sweetener in Vitaminwater is stevia, an all-natural sweetener that’s 100 percent safe, contains NO calories, does not increase blood sugar levels and is almost 300 times sweeter than sugar.

But what’s the use of putting stevia when Vitaminwater’s main sweetener is potentially worse than high fructose corn syrup?

Drinking a bottle of Vitaminwater is equivalent to consuming 125 calories and 33 grams of sugar – that’s 15 more calories and 3 more grams of sugar than a 12 ounce Coke!

Vitaminwater does contain some vitamins (which, by the way, are chemically synthesized) but it might be more appropriate to call it “Sugarwater” instead.

CSPI litigation director Steve Gardner summed it up in a previous statement:

“Coke fears, probably correctly, that they’ll sell less soda as Americans become increasingly concerned with obesity, diabetes, and other conditions linked to diets too high in sugar. Vitaminwater is Coke’s attempt to dress up soda in a physician’s white coat. Underneath, it’s still sugar water, albeit sugar water that costs about ten bucks a gallon.”

The bottom line: stick to real, pure water and get your vitamins from a healthy diet.