The MILLER "LIGHT" Plan (It Ain't Rocket Science, but it works if you do!)

"What does THAT mean?"  It's a health problem stemming from multiple sources. 

"Bio" is for "biological".  It's been shown in studies of identical twins separated at birth and raised by different adoptive families, that the body type of one twin will be SIMILAR to his brother (or sister) regardless of the weight situation of the family they were raised in.  If ONE twin is heavy, the OTHER one is very likely to also be overweight, even if the adopting parents were very thin.  Fraternal twins separated at birth DO NOT resemble each other nearly as much.

The "Social" means this problem goes WAY beyond the family's good or bad habits.

In 1960, when I was a kid, only 5% of American children were overweight.  Now about 30% of kids are overweight. That can't come from BIOLOGICAL changes, because it would take about 200,000 years to see that much change in our genetic inheritance.  What's new in the last 50 years? 

 --WORKING MOMS, which leads to MANY more meals eaten out of the home (or "ordered in" from a restaurant). 

 --SUPERMARKETS, with aisles dedicated to DESSERTS, COOKIES, SODAS, CANDY Breakfast cereals, and TAKE HOME PREPARED MEALS.    

 --Overcrowded cities and suburbs with too much auto traffic to allow kids to play outside safely unsupervised (or at least that PERCEPTION).

 --VIDEO GAMES and COMPUTERS tempting kids to stay inside the house instead of RUNNING around outside PLAYING EVERY DAY after school. (But kids CAN PLAY ACTION VIDEO games to help them stay fit if parents are encouraging!).

 --School cafeterias that offer fried foods galore and Soda and Sugary Juices in vending machines (I actually heard an interviewed school nutritionist JUSTIFY serving all the fried stuff by explaining that "the kids demanded it and would stay away and REFUSE to purchase food that was healthful"!).

 Changing the BIO really is impossible for now, until research scientists find a REAL treatment to reduce the REAL metabolic predisposition of SOME people to be overweight. Changing the "SOCIAL" is NEXT to impossible, because it means going up against trends/pressures of your whole community.  (Ninety per cent of Moms aren't likely to start STAYING AT HOME the way they did in the 1950's; schools have come to depend on the income they receive from beverage sales.)

So that leaves us with changing the Psycho part of the equation to reduce our weight in a healthy manner..  Literally, that means "changing your mind".  This is NOT a trivial task, but it IS doable!  The INDIVIDUAL has more CONTROL over his/her OWN experience, attitude, and behavior than over society or biology.  The person making a change in eating behaviors will need to PLAN AHEAD,  ANALYZE what he can do to IMPROVE his nutrition, and initially expect to be UNCOMFORTABLE as he makes changes.  But ALL change is uncomfortable. The first day of school, putting on a new pair of shoes, being the newest member of a sports team, are ALL uncomfortable AT FIRST.  But all experience gets EASIER if you persist.  The chance of success is far greater if the CHILD DETERMINES, makes the CHOICE of what she will give up and what she'll eat more of TO IMPROVE HEALTH!  So it's NOT about LOSING weight, being skinny.  It's about DOING the RIGHT THING.

  And that links us to physical activity.  Kids should move their bodies every day because that's what we've done for A MILLION YEARS.  That's how "we got here", through centuries of evolution. It's good for us, and when we "get into it", it FEELS REALLY GOOD!  Doing cardio work outs, with our hearts beating fast and our needing to breath deep and fast, has been shown to truly make us HAPPIER, CALMER and SMARTER at problem solving/thinking.   So we parents need to see that our children engage in it!

The Nutritional plan itself is as follows: