Seriously?

My wife ran across this article tonight. And for whatever reason, it set off a spark in me....

In mid June, I started really exercising. I increased my level of exercise at that time, mostly out of shame. For whatever reason, running "stuck". I love it. I get both a sense of ease and calm while doing it and a sense of accomplishment when I complete a run. The competitive rush I feel from a race is something that has been missing from my life since I was a senior in high school (swimming not running).

I do not eat perfectly. I REALLY like my beer. My diet still consists of too many fats. I LOVE chocolate. I am predisposed to high cholesterol and heart disease (via heredity). I am an aggressive driver. I smoked for a number of years in college. I NEED my coffee in the mornings. And in spite of 8+ hours, I typically get less than 7 hours of sleep a night.

I am not perfect. I am not perfect in many ways and my faith, general logic and my family tell me that (often).

I am however, dedicated to trying to improve my life. I am dedicated to improving my life spirituality, physically and emotionally. I am striving to be a better person, a better husband and a better father.

As I read the article above, I am sad:

I am sad that I actually get questions about the "amount" of food I eat for lunch. The question isn't what I expected. I expected that they were questioning if it was too much, but instead it was a question of if it was enough... One day in particular I had a small bag of carrots, a small bag of celery, an orange, a sweet potato and a grilled chicken breast.

I am sad I get questions about if I am actually "healthy" or not with the amount of weight I have lost. (I'm 5'7" and 152 lbs.)

I am sad that more and more advertisements and campaigns want to sell crap to my two boys. Sugar filled cereal, candy, gum, 'fruit' snacks. Oh yeah, and "kid's meals" at fast food restaurants are some of the worst nutritionally on the menu.

I hope my boys notice my running. I hope my wife and I can be that positive influence that teaches them how to eat right and take care of themselves. I hope that my household destroys the national statistics in that article.

Most troubling of all, if you're like any parent of any child anywhere in the world, you may be passing your health habits to your children, which explains why experts fear that this generation of American kids may be the first ever to have a shorter life span than their parents do.

Seriously?