Let's be sensible. Losing weight is a battle, but it does not have to be. Choosing healthier foods is a must. If you are on low income (or know someone who is), pick up bags of brown rice, dried beans, soup, whole-graham wheat flour, and frozen or canned green vegetables. These can go far in planning healthy low-fat meals. Toss in some fresh or frozen fruit, low-fat milk, skinless chicken, cans of tuna and salmon (with the bone) and you can create some great meals for your family.

I speak from experience. I was a single mother with a low income and one son who had a very healthy appetite. When his half-sister had her baby, she came to live with us. On a $9000 income, money didn't go very far, but we never went hungry! No candy or potato chips were allowed. Just because we were poor was no reason not to eat sensibly, as I hear so many profess. (That is a load of crock - If you're too poor to eat healthfully, are you going to be able to afford the doctor bills when you get sick from high blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes, strokes, heart attacks, and cancer?)

It is what you eat, and what you do (or don't do) physically that makes you overweight. My son, step-daughter, and I ate cake, cookies, and pie for birthdays and holidays only. We got outside and rode bikes, or walked, or gardened. We were active! (And we could have vegged out in front of the idiot box with the Nintendo instead!)

When I go to town and see 8-15 year olds sitting in wheelchairs because they are so obese they cannot walk, it really disturbs me. Most of them won't live to be 20, and will suffer heart attacks and strokes - and it is preventable.

Get off the couch, America! Turn off those Nintendo's, GameBoy's, PlayStation's and computers! You can walk at least 30 minutes a day - and 4 hours a week is much healthier! The USDA and the CDC says we are a FAT NATION, so I am not alone in my thinking!