After nearly three weeks in Paris and Israel my family has returned home safe and sound. Among the many observations from a wonderful vacation are that Americans, as we all know, are fat. Not just a little fat. Real fat, and the public policy implications are not funny.

I’ve written about childhood obesity before here and here.

The Legislature’s compelling report on childhood obesity sits on the shelf gathering dust. Now, the White House has released a compelling report on childhood obesity that we can only assume might actually move forward in some fashion.

Our food is processed, our children watch too much TV, our meals are not created from fresh produce and ingredients, and we rarely make time to consume a meal without running out the door.

Taxpayers subsidize unhealthy food in our schools, we allow processed foods to dominate our culture and our dinner tables.

We can publish a million government reports at the state and federal level, what we need is a transformational change in how families treat their own health.

This is one of those situations where government reports are infuriating because nothing changes in terms of public policy.

On a deeper level, this is one of those situations where our lack of community and family ownership of our own health is literally killing our kids and our future. Our ‘magic pill’ society is losing its ability to pretend that weight can be automatically fixed by a magic potion. It takes healthy living and there’s no way around it!

We think our health care crisis is an insurance problem and to a modest extent it is that. But it’s so much more. We need to build a stronger ethic of health that builds a deeper sense of appreciation that genuine and meaningful long term health comes from fitness, prevention, exercise and less processed food.

After our trip abroad, where we and the kids literally did not touch processed food for weeks, Wendy and I have a new found sense of appreciation of the importance of a healthy, daily sit down family meal (although we’ve been really good about it overall).

The White House report (and our state report from two years ago) is really, really impressive public policy work. The most important answer, however, can be found by parents stepping up to their moral and ethical obligation to our children.

We talk about government accountability all the time. There is a role for government in school lunch policies, labeling and so much more. Yet this is one of those profoundly serious issues where the only meaningful long term, systemic and structural answer is a change in our individual behavior and our nation’s social fabric.

Read the report. Then take your kids for a bike ride.

Your partner in service,

Reuven.