Why Clinton fights fat

2005-08-08 08:56

Washington - Former President Bill Clinton said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that a lifetime of unhealthy eating led to his "brush with death" last year, and inspired his recent crusade to improve Americans' diets.

"The brush with death I had maybe had the biggest impact of all" on his decision to take up the cause of combating childhood obesity, Clinton told CNN television, recalling his quadruple heart bypass surgery in September 2004.

"I realised that one more time I've been given another chance, and I wanted to make the most of it."

"The bottom line is we've got too many kids too overweight and they're walking time bombs," the former president said, adding that he was a chubby child growing up in Arkansas.

"I was the fat band boy," he told CNN.

Juvenile obesity

In May, Clinton unveiled a campaign against juvenile obesity in the United States.

The campaign by the Clinton Foundation in co-operation with the American Heart Association encourages food producers and restaurant chains to improve their menus by offering "more heart-healthy items," Clinton said.

"We've reached out to McDonald's and to the other fast food places and to a lot of the food producers" in the effort, Clinton.

He said his campaign is also trying to boost physical education and improve nutrition in US schools cafeterias.

Clinton said another key component of the effort is teaching Americans to make better dietary choices.

"Thirty years ago, the American family spent 70 cents of every food dollar eating at home with food they prepared, and 30 cents eating out. Now they spend almost 50-50 - 50 percent eating out - and over half of that is in fast food places," Clinton said.

"We cannot sustain it from a healthcare point of view. It's devastating for the country for people to be ingesting as much fat and sugar as they are," Clinton told CNN.

- AFP