California appears to be leading the way in the battle against childhood obesity.

An analysis including more than 8 million California children and teens showed encouraging declines in obesity following a peak in 2005 among Asian and white boys and girls and among Hispanic boys — the same year that California lawmakers banned the sale of sugary soft drinks and snacks in schools and took other actions to address childhood obesity.

California is also one of the few states that require school-based BMI assessment, which is conducted in the fifth, seventh, and ninth grades.

It’s human nature to let things go until there’s a real problem. Even Rev. Malkmus didn’t stop to think about dietary behaviors before he discovered that he had colon cancer; in fact, he created The Hallelujah Diet in hopes of informing others about the perils of bad diet before it led to something like the cancer he had, or childhood obesity for that matter.

Emulate California’s actions – take the lead in your community to make people aware of dietary dangers… you may be surprised at the positive power of your suggestion!

Read the whole story here.