Childhood obesity has been on the rise for some time. Obesity can cause numerous diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease and may actually shorten the lifespan of overweight people. To find a solution, we need to understand why this is happening. Could the cause be an increase in the number of working parents, the availability of fast food, portion sizes or a sedentary lifestyle? I believe that obesity among youth is multifactorial and that all of these factors contribute. A sedentary lifestyle has become the norm for many children today. They often play indoors rather than choosing an outdoor activity. My son has a laptop, a play station, an x-box, a tablet and an I-phone. When I say it out loud it sounds ridiculous. He likes cycling and playing football, but more often he plays video games or watches television. We can no longer even rely on schools to provide physical activity. The Atlanta school system has banned physical education in hopes of improving academic performance, and fewer than half of the country's schools offer it. It is therefore not surprising that the percentage of high school children...