The New York Times had an eye-popping article this morning. Greece, the heart of the "Mediterranean eating plan", has an explosion in childhood obesity. How can that be? In a land of locally grown colorful fruits and veggies, olive oil, and vegetable proteins (like nuts and beans), why is obesity on the rise in kids?

My friends, here's the answer: it's not where you eat, but what you eat. Children are gobbling down fast food, giant sodas, and processed foods - and gaining weight. So, while living in the Mediterranean provides natural access to a healthful diet, the novelty of large portions of foods with a lot of hidden fats and sugars seems to winning out over the simpler, unprocessed diet.

That's the latest "food craze", and one which parents report in that article, find hard to fight. 'I don't want to deprive my child". Maybe parents need to take the longer view, that they don't want to deprive their child of a healthy life free of diabetes, high blood pressure, and other problems directly related to body weight.

This is a scary trend - already rampant in the US - and only education and early intervention about portion control and smart food choices is the solution. How about some more food-downsizing and smaller portions and lower prices? In this economy, that's a good start to help our waistlines and our wallets, both in the US and worldwide.

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