Exercising choices: living a healthy lifestyle can be a family affair--even in busy political families.

• Author: Andrade, Jane Carroll

Costas Rerras has a lot of self-discipline for an 11-year-old. He loves to run, and has placed first in his age group in several races in his home state of Virginia. He adheres to a schedule, does speed and distance work, and keeps a running log.

In a nation where more and more children are becoming severely overweight, Costas is in danger of becoming the exception to the rule: a kid who gets plenty of exercise.

But Costas doesn't run because he worries about getting fat. He runs because he likes the exercise, and he's competitive and determined. He leaves the worrying to his dad, Senator Nick Rerras.

"We live in a culture of sweets and fats and sugar," Senator Rerras says.

That culture is of concern to legislators and public health officials across the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the prevalence of obesity among American adults ages 20 and older stands at 30 percent. Among children and teens ages 6 to 19, 15 percent are overweight, triple what the proportion was in 1980.

Like adults, children's weight is measured according to their body mass index, or BMI, a number that shows body weight adjusted for height. While there is one formula for calculating adult BMI, measuring it in children is gender and age specific because children's body fat varies greatly as they grow.

For this reason, the CDC does not use the term obese to describe children. Rather, they are classified as underweight, risk for overweight and overweight. Children are considered overweight when they have a BMI-for-age at or above the 95th percentile of the CDC growth charts, meaning compared to children of the same age and gender, 95 percent have a lower BMI.

CDC data also show that another 15 percent of children are at risk of becoming overweight (a BMI-for-age from the 85th to 95th percentile) and that overweight adolescents are at increased risk of becoming overweight adults.

All these extra pounds, of course, put children at a greater risk for contracting a host of chronic diseases, particularly Type II diabetes.

Former Surgeon General David Satcher says health problems resulting from obesity could reverse many of the gains made in the United States in recent decades. He called on states and communities to encourage healthier eating and more physical activity. States have taken heed, introducing approximately 600 bills this past session to address the problem.

ON THE HOME FRONT

While policymakers grapple with the government's role in the war on fat, many legislators put their sneakers where their mouth is at home.

Senator Rerras and his wife, Gall, watch what they feed Costas and their other two children, Nicholas, 16, and Helena, 14. And because he enjoys running and spending time with his kids, Rerras does both simultaneously.

"When the kids were younger, I would pick a course to run around the neighborhood, and they would get on their bikes and come with me," he says. "When they got bigger, they started to run."

Today, although he's "more of a computer kid" according to his dad, Nicholas occasionally runs with the dog and shoots hoops, Helena participates on her high school track and cross country teams, and Costas runs circles around all of them.

"I am, in fact, faster than my dad," he says.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

Other busy legislators also view exercise as a way to spend time with their children...