Here’s a powerful exercise to try: wherever you are, wherever you go, simply look at the people around you. According to recent findings from the American Heart Association, one third of everyone you see has high blood pressure.

Hypertension is not just for grandfathers any longer. A whopping one in three Americans now have it. According to the Centers for Disease Control, hypertension is now common in everyone from toddlers to college students to grandpas (and grandmas.)

Scary, right?

More commonly known as high blood pressure, the disease occurs when blood pumps too forcefully through blood vessels. The great push of blood stretches veins and arteries out of shape. The vessels then tear and develop scar tissue as they try to heal. These scars act like burrs, on which cholesterol gets caught and builds up. Another scenario: vessels tear and rupture, sending fast-flowing blood everywhere.  

A new anti-obesity campaign in Georgia, run by Strong4Life, has been causing quite a stir. The series features several black and white images of obese children revealing how obesity negatively affects their lives. One child tells the camera that she doesn’t want to go to school because the other children make fun of her. Another says that she was scared because the doctor just diagnosed her with hypertension. And perhaps the most powerful of the bunch is a young obese child asking his similarly obese mother why he is fat. 

The campaign, which includes print ads, billboards, and television commercials, features the tagline “Stop sugarcoating it, Georgia” and is meant to force people to acknowledge that Georgia has the second highest rate of childhood obesity, just barely behind Mississippi, and something needs to be done about it.

“We feel like we needed a very arresting, abrupt campaign that said” ‘Hey, Georgia! Wake up. This is a problem,’” Lina Matzigkeit, senior vice president at Children’s Healthcare told The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Can't keep up with the latest nutrition news? You don't have to! We'll do it for you! We've collected the highlights from around the web in one place.

Good, bad or neutral, we have the stand-out stories consolidated with their short intros!

U.S. touts fruit and vegetables while subsidizing animals that become meat
The Washington Post
On Myplate, the federal food diagram published in June to show Americans a healthful diet, half of the plate contains fruits and vegetables, while roughly a third is made up of grains and about a fifth is reserved for “protein”: meat, eggs, beans and nuts. A separate, smaller circle is designated “dairy.” The food plate looks healthful enough, but federal incentives to farmers reflect an entirely different agenda. Read more.

Who'd have thought an unreleased children's book could cause such media hysteria? Maggie Goes on a Diet by Paul Kramer has done just that, though, heaving news writers, bloggers, and parents everywhere into a frenzied state of indignation and protest.

The book, due out in October, follows the journey of a 14-year-old girl named Maggie. Maggie is overweight, unpopular, and a victim of verbal bullying by her classmates. Only when she goes on a diet, loses weight and joins the soccer team does she achieve "popularity and fame."

The highly disturbing messages of this children’s book have already been extensively covered by the media (LATimes, ABC, TIME, Huffington Post, to name a few). The internet is in uproar over the implication that children should diet, the association between weight and popularity, and (perhaps most horrifying) the body-dysmorphic cover image.

Paul Kramer defends the publication, claiming he is just trying to encourage children to adopt a healthier lifestyle. He sees Maggie's post-weight loss popularity as a product of her increased self-confidence and not as an endorsement of stigmatizing overweight children. "I’m not advocating, never did, that any child should go on a diet," said the author said in an interview with Fox News. "First of all, this is a change of lifestyle. This is not meant to be to go on a diet."

As the world continues to battle rising obesity and diabetes rates, it seems that health coaches are more important than ever. We recently spoke with IIN grad, Kris Barrett who told us about her experience at IIN and the need for health coaches in her native country of Australia. Check out what Kris has to say here:

What were you doing before Integrative Nutrition?

Running my own business importing and supplying specialty foods for people with multiple allergies.

What led you to explore Integrative Nutrition's program?

Every day I'd have new customers on the phone asking me all sorts of questions about what to feed their child, and how to get them to try new foods. I really wanted to be able to offer more advice but felt I wasn't "qualified" enough to do it, even though I had been doing a special diet with my son for 7 years after his autism diagnosis and knew the power of food in healing. When I finally learned about Integrative Nutrition, I was so excited, as this was exactly what I was looking for!

The LA times reported today that the Los Angeles school district has removed flavored milk from the cafeteria menu. This is sweet news. LA now becomes the largest school district in the nation to ban chocolate and strawberry flavored milk.

This is a huge victory in the battle against childhood obesity and for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution - the major catalyst in this move by Los Angeles Unified School District. Jamie was quoted in his reaction to this news:

"This is a giant step forward for the health and future of 680,000 kids in Los Angeles, and leads the way for more school districts around the country to follow."

In addition to removing the flavored milk, LA’s school district’s new milk menu includes low-fat and nonfat plain milk as well as soy and Lactaid milks.

LA is now leading the way to healthier school food. Larger school districts like New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and DC need to take note. For more see the The Great Chocolate Milk Debate.

What is your reaction to Los Angeles’ removal of flavored milk?

Obesity is a rising problem in America, particularly in low-income areas where access to fresh produce is limited. In a country where video games and fast food have replaced playing outdoors and eating nutritious, home cooked meals, it seems that something has to be done to halt the rapid increase in obesity, particularly for children.

Mayor Bloomberg, of New York City, decided to do just that. His newly proposed bill will make it impossible for sugary drinks, which are the leading contributor to obesity, to be purchased with food stamps, under the premise that New Yorkers will use their food stamps to buy healthier food and drink options for their families.

There’s a war going on out there, and some Philadelphia parents are taking matters into their own hands.

School lunch reform is something that we are in dire need of in this country. People know it and steps are being taken, but the pace is slow and special interest groups are doing their best to inhibit real change. But schools are not the only places where kids are eating junk.

Parents and school officials in one Philadelphia school district noticed that children are often stopping before school to get sugary, fatty snacks at corner stores. 

Enter: renegade parents.

Donning bright safety vests and wielding walkie-talkies, community members have set up a neighborhood watch-like operation to get kids to skip buying a snack – or shame them a bit if they do.

Research shows that adults only need to consume an extra 200 calories per day to be overweight. But a recent study out of Temple University shows that children are routinely getting 360 calories per day from chips, candy, and sugary drinks.

Vest-clad parents are hoping to cut some of those junk calories with their efforts outside of local stores. But they are up against even bigger adversary than store owners: biology.

Humans have a sweet tooth, but tolerance (and preference) is something that diminishes with age, meaning our nation’s children like things even sweeter than the average adult.

In an age of high-fructose corn syrup and aspartame, foods can deliver a sweet punch that is far, far higher than anything Mother Nature can come up with. This results in an ever-higher desire for sweet foods, and makes cutting back very difficult. Plus, studies have shown that foods high in fat and sugar activate similar reward systems in our brains as cocaine. They can also set off the release of dopamine, a feel-good chemical that can override the natural ‘stop eating’ signals our bodies send us.

It’s hard to say whether or not this particular strategy will work in Philadelphia, but one thing is for certain: The only way to beat childhood obesity is for parents and schools to work together. After all, a little education can go a long way.

Do you think the junk food vigilantes will work to curb those cravings?

Mexico, like nearly every other industrialized country, is fat. In fact, with 30% of their population categorized as obese and 70% overweight, Mexico is the fattest country in the world. But this January, officials put their foot down and said, “We have had enough.”

A recent New York Times article discusses new guidelines that went into effect on New Years Day, dictating what can be served and sold to children in schools around the country. The rules banned soft drinks and 90% of fried foods from the menus, and changed the composition of meals across the board.

Obesity starts early, so addressing how and what children eat is an important step in dealing with the obesity epidemic. Overweight children face physical and social complications, as well and an increased risk of being overweight or obese as adults. Obesity is a disease, and like any illness, prevention is always the best option.

Health officials began working on these regulations last year, but were quickly met with opposition from certain special interest groups: Namely, snack food companies. The resulting rules are not as strict as the original proposal, but officials say that the relaxed guidelines will still have an important impact.

The goal with all of this is to teach children moderation and to show them what types of foods will make them feel healthy and happy. Some things like lollipops, chips, and cookies are allowed under the modified guidelines, but they are now smaller and prepared in healthier ways (e.g. baked chips instead of fried).

Some schools are struggling because kids can get cheap junk food from vendors outside school grounds, but officials hope that by teaching children to navigate the food scene themselves that they will make better choices when face with those temptations.

The US has similar regulations in the works, plus another set of rules guiding vending machine options, but no date for implementation has been set and the exact rules are yet to be finalized.

What do you think? Should schools dictate what children eat?

It’s not just health problems that are at stake in the fight against childhood obesity. British researchers released findings this week that eating a junk food diet throughout childhood can even affect IQ!

As seen in US News and World Report, of the 14,000 children tracked, those who consumed a diet of highly processed foods had lower IQs five years later compared to peers with healthier eating habits. Fatty, sugary and processed foods consumed during some of the most important growing stages resulted in individuals lagging behind mentally.

It is believed that diet makes the greatest impact during the first three years of life—a time when the brain is quickly growing and developing. The connection between a healthy diet and good nutrition for physical growth, is easily understood; and now it appears that it is just as important for mental ability as well.

It doesn’t really seem fair that young children (with little say in what kind of foods he or she is consuming) could be permanently set back in their cognitive abilities because of their diet. To give all kids the chance to reach their highest potential, they should be given the opportunity and encouragement to eat a healthful diet from early on.

Are you surprised by these findings?