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Personality of the Week: Taylor LeBaron, Teenage Role Model
“150 Pounds Lost, One Byte at a Time”
Taylor LeBaron, an emerging leader in the fight against the obesity and diabetes epidemics, is a teenage role model worth knowing about. At age 14 he was nearly 300 pounds, and he took it upon himself to figure out what to do about it. By age 15 he lost about 150 pounds of excess body fat and has been maintaining that weight loss, and a healthy muscular body, for over 2 years. This is a rare occurrence! There are few teens around who have been able to achieve and maintain such a staggering transformation.
Happily, Taylor is also an inspiring story teller who has just published a book. He has been asked to speak on television, radio, and to live audiences about his clever and novel approach. The approach he has taken, and described so clearly in his book “Cutting Myself in Half” (co-authored by writers Jack and Mary Branson) is an approach with which teens can easily identify. He explains to other teens that mastering the art of healthy living is much like mastering a video game. “The Ultimate Fitness Game” (UFG) is a system, or set of rules, or a mindset, that Taylor devised to train himself how to eat right and exercise consistently. His clever system can work for anyone, teen or adult, because it takes sound nutrition and medical advice and frames it in a way that works in the real world. This may be the best book I’ve seen for teens who are just coming to grips with an obesity issue, and recognizing that they need help.
Taylor does not have type 2 diabetes, but he recognizes that a great way to prevent type 2 diabetes in adults is to focus on teenagers with obesity, since these kids are at high risk for diabetes in adulthood. He invited me to write the foreword for his book, and he is motivated to help me promote my Diabetes Reversal work. He has also asked me to help him co-sponsor National Kid-Teen Bailout Week from January 10-16, 2010, which he established to invite the 9 million overweight kids in America “to bail out of lifetimes of physical, emotional and career challenges into the fantastic lives they deserve”. Taylor is scheduled for the Today Show on January 13th!
We adults who care about reversing the type 2 diabetes epidemic recognize that reversing childhood and teen obesity is a crucial part of the process. Let’s congratulate Taylor LeBaron for his leadership in this arena, and I’ll encourage you to check out his website and his blog for more information about his newly released book, and his national campaign for teen fitness.
Thanks, Taylor, for being the role model you are!
- Michael Dansinger, MD
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Labels: children, diabetes, obestiy, personality, teens
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