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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines launched a campaign to fight childhood obesity on Tuesday, including partnerships among organizations across the city, workshops, an exercise DVD and an interactive website that includes, among other things, talking vegetables and a video of the mayor doing pushups.

The Educational Childhood Obesity Prevention Program links the Gateway YWCA, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system, and the Winston-Salem chapter of The Links, Incorporated, which advocates for women of color. The goal is to educate children ages 7 to 10 — and their parents — about the importance of good nutrition and enough exercise to prevent diseases such as diabetes.

Joines said he became interested in the problems overweight children face after reading an article in the New England Journal of Medicine about childhood obesity. The U.S. Conference of Mayors has also asked mayors around the country to promote healthy eating and exercise among children, Joines said.

“This generation of young people may be the first one that actually has a shorter life span than their parents,” Joines said.

Joines’ program centers around a website that includes videos of dances for children to mimic, cartoon vegetables that talk, and ideas for playing outside, including a hopscotch diagram and a pattern to make a kite.

This article was written by Laura Graff and originally published by The Winston-Salem Journal. Click here to read more.