Who you calling fat, punk?

As if increased risk for heart disease, diabetes and a shorter lifespan wasn't enough to worry about for overweight kids, a recent study has shown that being overweight increases a child's chances of being bullied by 63%!

 New research suggests that just being overweight increases the risk of being bullied. And factors that usually play a role in the risk of being bullied, such as gender, race and family income levels, don't seem to matter if you're overweight -- being overweight or obese trumps all those other factors when it comes to aggressive behavior from other children. - Yahoo! Article

Let's be honest, we all went to elementary school and it's no secret that overweight kids get bullied. Not saying that you and I were the ones doing it, but it happens. Kids can be mean, which is debilitating to someone's self esteem, but biology can be just as cruel. Life gets much more complicated than it should for children who develop heart issues and metabolic disease at a young age. On top of the physical reasons why we need to get our kids more active and eating better, we can now add psychological and emotional reasons for doing so. I'd hate to keep beating on the same drum here, but the bottom line is a healthy diet and exercise simply make life BETTER. It may also help out our little friend in the picture...