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MD's Dr Colker and Shaq Fight Obesity in Children |
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Written by ABC News
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Friday, 29 June 2007 |
Someone had to do it, and who else but an athlete, a father, and an
all-around champion? Shaquille O'Neal, the 7-foot-tall star of the
NBA's Miami Heat, has spent the last year leading the charge against
childhood obesity – first by designing a program for six overweight
middle-schoolers in Florida, then by leading the fight into the school
cafeteria, into the gymnasium, and onto our TV screens.
 Someone had to do it, and who else but an athlete, a father, and an
all-around champion? Shaquille O'Neal, the 7-foot-tall star of the
NBA's Miami Heat, has spent the last year leading the charge against
childhood obesity – first by designing a program for six overweight
middle-schoolers in Florida, then by leading the fight into the school
cafeteria, into the gymnasium, and onto our TV screens.
In
talking to the kids who were chosen to participate in the show, Shaq
realized that a child's weight problem can begin at school, where
physical education programs have been cut and cafeteria options are
heavy on the soft drinks and fast food. He took it upon himself to go
into the schools to see what was going on — and he discovered that PE
programs had been cut due to budget issues and that industrial-size
cartons of frozen food are the most affordable way to provide lunch for
more than 1,000 students. In visiting the six kids at home, Shaq also
realized that family dynamics, poor eating habits, and cultural
traditions can all compound the problem. It didn't take long for Shaq
to realize that reversing the trends would be a big job.
Shaq
enlisted his personal physician and trainer, Carlon Colker, to help him
with the effort. Before long, he had signed up his old LSU basketball
coach, Dale Brown, along with nutritionist Joy Bauer, Miami Children's
Hospital pediatrician William Muinos, Food Network celebrity chef Tyler
Florence, and tough-talking trainer Tarik Tyler. Together the team
tackled the food, fitness, and medical aspects of childhood weight
issues. It soon became clear that the quest to help six kids lose
weight was only the first step in a nationwide movement to conquer
childhood obesity.
Shaq's Big Challenge airs at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT every Tuesday night on ABC.
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