You note that "losing weight is hard work," but I think you seriously underestimate the behavioral reconditioning necessary to end Americans' addiction to cheap, ubiquitously accessible, hyperpalatable food.

Read former FDA head David Kessler's book, The End of Overeating. Understanding the psychology and physiology of why we overeat is absolutely necessary before proposing a solution.

While I am certainly in favor of prevention, more than encouragement and marketing is going to be required to get people in shape. The combination of feeling good from eating food and feeling bad from being overweight/obese, out of shape, and generally discriminated against has many in the population in a vicious cycle that really requires medical intervention.

Simply knowing that you are out of shape, at risk of disease and death has hardly been a motivator so far. Likewise, showing some sports figures, actors or models with amazing abilities and bodies is hardly going to motivate most of us to get active when we don't contain that internal motivation already.

Programs widely exist for nicotine addiction, narcotic addiction and alcohol addiction, but the prevalence of food addiction programs isn't as widespread even though it has some very similar characteristics. Its time to treat obesity as a medical condition for which doctors recommend and manage treatment.

Not a word about all the corporations that sell the food that is the cause of this obesity? How come?

You have written a great and meaningful piece.  Thank you for spreading this approach.

At St. Joseph Health System, we have partnered with American Academy of Pediatrics to fight childhood obesity with the creation of the Healthy For Life (H4L) campaign, which focuses on getting kids and their families to develop healthy lifestyle choices by incorporating both physical activity and a responsible diet.  Healthy For Life is a comprehensive social and healthcare outreach initiative. This campaign focuses on the following:

Addressing environment issues - Community, Schools, Grocery Stores, and Home

Communicating with key audiences - Parents, Students, Teachers, and School Administrators

As part of Healthy For Life, 1,500 students in more than 47 Orange County schools participate in a free, curriculum-based physical education program that instills the importance of fitness and nutrition to obtain optimum and long-lasting healthy results.  A physician and dietician from one of the SJHS local hospitals go to each participating school to help educate the students.