That's Fit

Maggie recently shared celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is helping to overhaul the UK's school nutrition program with healthier choices. They need a slew of chefs tying on aprons for the cause -- 23 percent of British children are overweight or obese.

British school officials are now instituting a new tactic. Starting in September, UK schools will begin weighing kindergarteners and students in their last year of primary school, and sending a letter home to parents with results. To avoid stigma, skinny and fat kids alike will receive a letter. To avoid hurt feelings, the terms "obese" or "fat" will not be used, replaced by "overweight" or "very overweight" instead. The British National Obesity Forum labeled this move "prissy and namby-pamby."

The British health minister says with so many children overweight or obese, many parents are having trouble determining if their own child is too heavy, and the letters are an early-warning system to prevent later health problems. I embrace healthier school nutrition programs, but will a new Big Brother -- the public school system -- honestly change eating and fitness behaviors of schoolchildren?