Audio of Dr. Angela Fals at growingbolder.com

Posted on July 7th, 2012 at 5:27 am

Your chance of living long enough to celebrate your 100th birthday is better than any other time in history of humanity.

The number of centenarians is increasing faster than any other age group. If that's good news for us, just think of what that means for our children.

Study after study is confirming that living a long life is not just about our genes, it's about our lifestyle choices.

One person who has dedicated her life to the study of this is Dr. Angela Fals. She's the medical director of the Healthy 100 Kids Weight and Wellness Program at Florida Hospital

She says a healthy weight will help us live longer, not only in years but in the quality of life.

Childhood obesity is approaching 35 to 38 percent children around the country. It's a very complex issue she says because of choices we've made as a society, and genes do play a part in it. But millions of children are also suffering from the effects of obesity because of the poor decisions of the adults in their lives.

Dr. Fals says she works with families to help manage children's weight and teach them new habits. She says if the entire family is engaged together, this problem is very fixable.

In some cases, Dr. Fals says it's the kids who lead the change in the family.

She explains her specialty, bariatric medicine (not to be confused with bariatric surgery), and how she works with children and families on weight management.

Plus, find out the difference between a "husky" child who will grow into his or her weight and an unhealthy weight.

To find out much more about the Healthy 100 program, including tips, recipes, interviews and more, visit healthy100.org.