I know we're in the wake of an obesity epidemic, but sometimes it's easy to forget just how serious it is. Until you read something like this, that is.

Little Jessica is seven years old -- an age where she should be spending summer afternoons on her bike or at the pool. Yet she can hardly walk. Why? She weighs 400 pounds. That's at least 250 pounds more than I, a 5'7" adult female, weigh. This is a scary world we live in, where parents will let their daughter's weight problem reach such epic proportions.

Kristin at Parentdish asked the question: is this child abuse? I think so. The parents control what kind of food is in their house and what kind of meals she is eating. I know that kids can be really picky eaters but when your 7-year-old is eating nothing but junk and consuming enormous proportions, it's time to step in. What's your opinion?

We're all trying. In some way, shape or form, we're all doing what we can to stay healthy. But, let's face it, it's not always easy. If you were to break down how much it costs to eat healthy versus eating a bunch of junk, you'll find that it's much more inexpensive to eat the unhealthier stuff. Therein lies reason number one: It has become cost prohibitive to eat healthy. Reason number two deals with time. Our workdays are longer than they have ever been, and the average commute to work is around forty-five minutes. So, by the time you're finally getting home -- after working ten hours or so -- you simply do not have time to exercise.

And the list of reasons for the worldwide weight gain for adults goes on and on and on...

What about kids? Their school day is the same length as yours or mine was. The commute is basically the same bus route. So why is it that research demonstrates a significant rise in childhood obesity, especially among girls? Before I attempt to answer, allow me to first point out just how much of a rise I'm talking about.

Swedish researchers found that in 2002, the average ten-year-old girl was 2.1 percent taller and 13.4 percent heavier than her 1982 counterpart, with a 13.3 percent increase in BMI. Boys were found to be about 1.1 percent taller and 7.6 percent heavier, with a 5.1 percent increase in BMI.

What the hell is going on?!!

Personally, I think it has to do with two things: 1) What these kids are eating, and 2) The lack of emphasis on physical activity. With respect to the former, you know as well as I do that those damn Lunchables aren't healthy. You know what I'm talking about; the fake pizza thing you make on a cracker. And it certainly doesn't end there. The cookies, the soda, the potato chips, the Doritos, the candy -- it's all to blame. Only recently have schools finally started to take steps in the right direction, with some offering healthier options in vending machines and cafeterias. As for the latter, the lack of emphasis placed on physical activity, I feel there are two separate points to be made.

The first has to do with how damn protective everyone has become with their kids. What happened to the days when kids would come home from school, change into their play clothes, and then vanish until dinner time? You see, all that time these kids were playing hoops, or touch football, or racing on their bikes. It's called exercise, and until recently, kids used to do it all on their own. Now, kids are lucky if they get exercise in gym class -- that is if they are allowed by their parents to take it. And speaking of gym class, it seems to have become so guarded, so structured that kids don't even play games anymore. A friend of mine, who is a gym teacher, told me that parents are becoming so overly concerned about the potential "dangers" of some games (i.e. Red Rover, Tag, etc.) that gym class may someday soon be reduced to an hour of calisthenics. Not a bad thing, but not exactly fun, either.

Now for the second point -- kids are spending far too much time in a virtual world instead of the real world. They IM instead of speaking to someone in person, they play video games instead of actual sports games in the playground, they surf the internet instead of swimming in the local pool. It's a dangerous path that is leading our kids to sedentary lifestyles, well before they are forced to live them because of our adult responsibilities.

It is incumbent upon us, the adults and so-called adults (the second is the category in which I think I fit best) to prevent our kids from having healthy and active young lives.

It wasn't very long ago that fat was considered the single-worst thing a person could eat if they wanted to follow a healthy diet. For starters, the stuff is called FAT -- so, even at first blush it has a negative connotation. Then, people began to associate the fat they wanted to lose with the fat they were consuming. Logic dictated that to lose that fat, one must eat less foods that contain a great deal of fat. Problem is, this reasoning is actually rather illogical, because fat isn't nearly the evil doer we once thought it was.

The key is to know the difference between "good" fats and "bad" fats. Here's the Cliff Notes description of each type:

TRANS FAT: Okay, so this one is definitely bad. It raises LDL cholesterol and lowers HDL cholesterol. It also increases inflammation, which can lead to heart disease and diabetes. It can be found occurring naturally in small amounts in red meat, but more abundantly in processed and baked foods (e.g. potato chips, cookies, Twinkies, etc.).

SATURATED FAT: Well, we're 0 for 2 at the moment -- Saturated Fat is also pretty bad for you. It raises LDL cholesterol, increasing one's risk of heart disease. Saturated fat can be found in cheese, whole milk, beef and tropical oils such as coconut and palm oil.

MONOSATURATED FAT: Now we're getting healthier! Monosaturated fat protects your heart by lowering LDL levels. You should try to get about 20 to 35 percent of your total daily calories from a fats source, and monosaturated fats are a good way to fulfill this dietary goal. What are some sources? Canola oil, olive oil, peanut oil, avocado, and most types of fish.

POLYUNSATURATED FAT: Here's another healthy option. Polyunsaturated fats -- including omega-3s and omega 6s -- reduce your risk of heart disease by decreasing LDL levels. You can source this good fat from sunflower, corn, walnut and soybean oils. Omega-3s are also found in fish and walnuts, and omega-6s are in seeds, nuts and vegetable oil.

As stated, the key is to understand the difference between good and bad sources of fat. However, just like anything else, too much of a good thing can sometimes become bad, so limit even your healthier fats to about 20 to 35 percent of your daily caloric intake.

Food can be a drug. This is something we've heard acknowledged in passing conversation -- but now our speculations have been scientifically confirmed. U.S. researchers have found that when obese people eat to excess, the same brain circuits are active as when drug addicts think about their cravings. The hope of the researchers is that this fact may lead the way for more effective treatment -- maybe like fat rehab. Obese people use food to fill up their emotional holes just like junkies use drugs to numb their pain. The researchers found more links between emotions, memory and desire to eat in the brain activity associated with eating excessively. Obese people need compassion and support just the way drug addicts do.

At this years London Fashion Week, world famous designer Giorgio Armani spoke out against the fashion industrys obsession with anorexic looking models. A designer of high art and integrity, Armani stated he never wanted to use unhealthy looking women to show off his works -- instead blaming the interfering of stylists and the media in their demand for ultra-thin models.

The remarks were made in response to an earlier ban at Madrids fashion week, keeping women with extremely low body mass index measurements -- and potential eating disorders -- off the red carpets and away from the cameras -- as a way of protecting the minds of young women, and their future heart health.

Armani made these comments at the years most highly anticipated, star-studded fashion benefit for (PRODUCT) RED -- spawned by U2s Bono to raise money to fight AIDS in Africa.

Thank you, Spain!

The regional government of Madrid has put the worlds first ban on anorexic-looking models from the catwalk of its upcoming fashion week. The ban comes in response to an eating disorder awareness group protest. Eating disorders can cause severe damage to the heart and nervous system.

The fashion industry strongly influences the self-image of many girls and women -- and with 30 percent of models turned away from the event based on an underweight BMI rating, the new message is healthy is beautiful.

In a fit of ridiculous desperation, Cathy Gould of New Yorks Elite modeling agency claims that the fashion industry is being scapegoated for eating disorders, and demands a stop to discrimination against models!

A statement from the mayor of Milan calls for a similar ban against sick looking models -- however, London claims it will issue no such restrictions on the size of models the designers choose. Moo.

Intuitive Eating is about making peace with food. Fostering a healthy relationship with food. Giving yourself permission to eat anything you want. The philosophy is more practical common sense than it is revolutionary -- but perhaps it is revolutionary in the common sense of learning to listen to your body when it sends you both hunger signals and then when it tells you it is full. The very nature of dieting teaches us to ignore all signals. Over time, we lose touch.

In the book Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works, Evelyn Tribole, former nutrition expert for Good Morning America and currently a dietitian with a counseling practice, and Elyse Resch, nutrition therapist for 24 years, specializing in eating disorders and preventative nutrition states that you can learn how to reject the diet mentality forever; learn how the three eating personalities define our eating difficulties; and how to honor hunger and feel fullness by following their program.

To begin, they offer the Are you an Intuitive Eater? quiz on the Intuitive Eating website. While there, you can read research and articles that explain more about learning to unlearn everything most of us have been taught about losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight. Although eating anything you want might seem absolutely backwards, it might be the most forward approach suggested in the last 40 years.

Women who accept and appreciate their bodies as they are also exhibit healthier eating habits, reports a new study from Ohio State University. A positive self-image can help women maintain the healthy habits that prevent heart disease.

Obesity in women -- which can lead to heart problems -- often results from emotional eating, used to cope with stress and other unpleasant feelings. In past research, intuitive eating, defined as eating to relieve hunger and achieve fullness, instead of emotional eating -- was found directly linked to a lower body mass index measurement in women.

This new study found that women who exhibited intuitive eating habits also reported a much higher appreciation and acceptance of their own bodies.

David Davidson has extremely harsh words for websites that promote anorexia in characterizing them as being "complicit in the murder and suicide of young people." This is a personal issue that hits close to home. His daughter suffered from anorexia.

Psychologist Deanne Jade, head of the National Centre for Eating Disorders, is equally outspoken about pro-ana websites when she said, "To some people they may serve a useful purpose, a place of support. But they are the porn of eating disorders. "

Davidson has turned his attention to the growing number of pro-ana websites where girls can receive advice on how to hide their eating disorder from family and friends -- even doctors -- and where they can connect and find support from other girls with anorexia. According to Davidson, the pro-ana websites use sickly skinny celebrities as thinspiration role models for these young girls. Some of the celebrities popular on these websites are Victoria Beckham, Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan and Keira Knightley.

He understands freedom of speech but he wants these websites and blogs shut down. Realistically, that is not possible. The very nature of the internet makes this type of censorship impossible.

"There are too many sites, on too many hosts, and there are too many users – if one site closes, another one opens," states Steve Bloomfield of the Eating Disorders Association. "Very few of these site owners refer to the serious health effects of anorexia, such as osteoporosis, damaged fertility and the significant increase of heart disease."

Davidson, Jade and other eating disorder experts have identified a real problem. What will be the real solution?

The Sunday Herald quotes Jenna, a pro-ana blogger, as saying she finds the pro-ana websites useful and a place where she has many friends. "I hate being under pressure to eat, and I think being ana means being pretty. I do feel awful sometimes, but it is worth it when you put on size six jeans."

Recent studies have linked depression to heart disease, and obesity is also a widely-known heart risk factor. A new study reveals obese people to be 20 percent more likely to suffer from depression.

Depression and obesity go hand-in-hand. Depressed people symptomatically binge eat due to increased appetite, exercise less, and sometimes gain weight as a side effect of anti-depressant medication. Conversely, depression can result from the stigma associated with obesity. Interestingly, the likelihood of depression rises to 44 percent in the white, college-educated obese-- possibly due to a larger obesity stigma in upper-class white communities. Past studies linked obesity and depression mostly in women, however the current larger scale study proved the statistics were the same in both men and women.

Although Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest actress Keira Knightley's grandmother and great-grandmother suffered from anorexia, the ultra-thin young woman insists she does not suffer from the same disease. When she showed up at the London premiere of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie in a low-cut, backless bronze Gucci dress, she was confronted with questions about her health regarding her waif-like appearance.

Knightley assured the reporters that she is fully-aware of the signs and dangers of anorexia because of her family history with the disease and that she does not have an eating disorder. She would certainly not be the first Hollywood actress to come under suspicion for anorexia, as it seems a current trend to be as thin as possible these days. But anorexia is not simply a matter of being underweight, it is a disease that can kill.

According to the Mayo Clinic, heart disease is the most common medical cause of death in people with severe anorexia. Anorexia can cause irregular heart rhythms; smaller heart muscles because the heart muscles lose size during starvation; drop in blood pressure and an imbalance of minerals essential to good heart health.