Clinton: 'I was a fat band boy'
Health scare prompts ex-president to lead childhood obesity fight
Programming Note: Former President Bill Clinton on fighting childhood
obesity, "House Call", Saturday and Sunday 8:30 a.m. ET.
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Former President Bill Clinton said his weight
problem and brush with death are the catalysts behind his foundation's
initiative of tackling childhood obesity.
Once famous for his love of fast food, Clinton told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta
that bad health habits since childhood led to his September 2004 quadruple
bypass surgery. That operation, he said, opened his eyes to a larger issue,
and he turned his attention to the problem of overweight American children.
"The brush with death I had maybe had the biggest impact of all," Clinton
recalled. "I realized that one more time I've been given another chance,
and I wanted to make the most of it."
Clinton, who admits "I was the fat band boy," said he knows what unhealthy
eating habits can do to a young body.
"Emory University's done a study saying that the obesity alone accounted
for 25 percent of the increase in health costs of the last 15 years, so I
thought it was a chance where I could save the most lives ... do the most
good and also do something that I understood from my own experience," he
said.
Clinton hopes to do that with a partnership between the William J. Clinton
Foundation and American Heart Association. The initiative, launched in May,
aims to "stop the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity" in the United
States by 2010.
The goal is that by starting children on a path that includes a proper diet
and exercise, they'll grow up to be healthy adults and reduce
obesity-related health costs.
Other highlights of the initiative include working with the food and
restaurant industry and the media and increasing physical activity and
improving lunches in schools.
Clinton said lawmakers should take a greater involvement in the fight --
setting higher standards for school lunches and eliminating junk food in
school vending machines.
He called on the fast-food industry to shape up.
"You get good bulk, and it tastes good for the money ... but we cannot
sustain it from a health care point of view," he said.
Clinton has made changes since his health scare. He said he has cut down on
french fries, eats more fruits and vegetables and incorporates exercise
into his mornings. He said he wants to teach that lesson to American
children.
"The bottom line is we've got too many kids too overweight," he said, "and
they're walking time bombs."