In what looks like a model program for teenagers grappling with weight issues, specialists at Children's Hospital of Iowa are offering the Better Eating, Stronger Teens (BEST) program for seventh- through 12th-grade girls.

The program is for those girls who are overweight or at risk for being overweight. This is needed for both boys and girls in many ways, but for a pilot program, I think something of this magnitude is fantastic. The program will extend to boys after the 10-week pilot ends as well.

The program involves twice-weekly exercise sessions as well as group sessions that focus around issues surrounding eating and exercise -- two large contributors to weight problems in most of the teenage obese I'll bet.