Executive Summary

GENERATION XL
One of the greatest threats facing children today is being the first generation to have a shorter lifespan than previous modern-day generations. You might find yourself asking, “In this day of advanced medical care, how can this be true?” Unfortunately, our current cultural model is set up to make us fat. At our present societal pace, children born today will grow up having higher rates of obesity which will lead them down a path of poor health and to a pre-mature death.

1 OZ OF PREVENTION = LBS OF CURE
In an effort to put a stop to this problem before it continues to spiral out of control, I will create a system to help parents instill the value of living healthy early in a child’s development. We are not without information, there are plenty of messages out there telling us about the problem and how to change our lifestyle to reverse the track of weight gain. However, by the time we are adults, that struggle is very difficult. Even by the age of 10, a child has established habits that are hard to break. In today’s society, with media and advertising surrounding us, it is a challenge to decipher who has our best interest at heart.

A new baby is a clean slate. It is easy to teach a child good lifestyle habits, just as it is to teach him or her bad habits. This is why I have chosen to target parents of 3 to 5-year-olds. I hope to tap into that internal desire to provide a new child with the best life possible.

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
There is no one easy answer for the problem of obesity. Scientists have yet to pinpoint the ratio between biological and environmental involvement, but fortunately there are things we can do to affect the environmental factor. It’s just a matter of making the effort to do so. By instilling the habits of healthy living early in life, I hope to set up this new generation with the skills to make the right choices as they grow.