Hi, everybody. Steven here to tell you the main reason for the Sweety Bicycle Blowout and this website. There’s a growing problem in America that’s hurting kids and teenagers—obesity, or being overweight. For people between the ages of 6 and 19, the obesity rate in America has tripled over the last twenty years. If things keep going like they are, everyone in America will be overweight by the year 2059—everyone! The reason this is so bad is because of all the health problems being overweight can lead to. Some of them include high blood pressure, lung infections, high cholesterol and trouble breathing while you sleep.

One of the biggest problems doctors have noticed with overweight kids is more cases of type 2 diabetes than ever before. In your body, the pancreas makes insulin, which moves sugar from your blood into your cells to make energy. With type 2 diabetes, the cells don’t act like they should and sugar builds up in your blood, making it hard for your body to fight infections and, eventually, leads to nerve and blood vessel damage. That can lead to problems with your heart, brain, eyes, kidneys, feet and other parts of the body.

Why are so many kids overweight? Lots of reasons. Most overweight kids sit and watch more than four hours of television a day. Sitting means not giving your body any exercise. It also means viewing around 10,000 food commercials every year, many of them for stuff that’s not very healthy. Over the past 20 years, people drink 40% less milk and 300% more soda. Forty percent of the calories kids take in come from fats and sugars! And let’s not forget fast food. The Journal of Pediatrics said that kids eat fast food five times more than they did 20 years ago. One out of three kids eats fast food every day. That can add an extra six pounds in a year.

That’s the big problem. Now let’s work on fixing it.