P. Miller Stresses Education and Healthy Eating With It’s Time Tour

(AllHipHop News) A healthy lifestyle and a desire to learn were the key points emphasized by rap mogul P. Miller, who kicked off the It’s Time to Fatten Our Brain’s Not Our Bodies tour Friday (April 23) at 61st Street Elementary School in Los Angeles.   The No Limit Records founder, along with his son Romeo and congresswoman Maxine Water, were on hand for the event, which featured entertainment and appearances from Cymphonique, Fabulous Girls, Lil King, Veno, Miss Tami and The College Boyys. For Miller, the time is now to take a stand in light of the current obesity crisis in the U.S.   According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 67 percent of adults are overweight or obese. In 2001, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry estimated that between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents were obese.   “The cause is about the kids. It’s about eating right, exercising and the most important, education,” Miller told Hollywood.tv. “These kids are our future. It’s Time Kids is an organization that stepped up and said ‘You know what? Let’s get our kids into shape and let’s make sure they have the proper nutrition. They understand the importance of exercise.”   In recent years, efforts to combat childhood obesity have received national exposure, courtesy of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move national campaign. The effort works to help kids become more physically active aswell as provide healthier food in schools and support for parents while making healthy, affordable food available in every part of the country. The Let’s Move website reports that obesity rates have tripled in the past 30 years, thereby threatening the healthy future of one third of all American children. As a result, the life expectancy of children may be shorter than their parents, a first in the history of the country.   Obama’s involvement in the fight against childhood obesity did not go unnoticed by Miller, who applauded the First Lady’s determination towards tackling the issue.   “When you think about the president’s wife, Miss Michelle Obama, this is a movement that is spreading across the country. I definitely like to thank the first lady for steppin’ up,” the mogul stated. “We’re just gonna keep it going. Our focus is the urban community, the urban culture and to make sure that our kids stay fit, stay in shape. When you look at our kids in our culture, we have a lot of obese kids in the community, a lot of kids dying from obesity and we want to fix this problem. This is a problem that can be fixed by getting to these younger kids and saying ‘It’s easy to catch up now than have to catch up later.’”   A program created by the nonprofit organization Urban Born, It’s Time Kids is dedicated to helping inner-city youth attain success physically with an emphasis on healthy living and mentally through stressing the importance of education.   “I want you guys to realize that you can be successful if you believe in yourself. Think about it, believe in yourself, right, work hard and do the right things,” Miller expressed to those attending the It’s Time event. “We can be more than athletes and entertainers. We have an African American president.”   Waters echoed Miller as she showed her appreciation to the rap star and Urban Born founder Johnel Langerston for taking time out “to help you to understand how you can be healthy, how you can be smart, how you can grow up to have a career and how you can have a good life. How many people want to have a good life?   “Even though I know you’re depending on mom and dad to do a lot of things that have to do with your health and your education…you can do things for yourself,” the congresswoman added. “When you eat right you won’t get too fat because if you’re too fat then you can’t do all the things you want to do. And so If you really want to have fun, if you want to ride your bicycles, if you want to do things and not get too tired then you gotta eat right.”   With more stops planned for the It’s Time tour, Miller is confident the outing will resonate with all who hear its message to kids to stay in school, actively hit the books, eat healthy and exercise.   “This is more than coming to one school. This is definitely a movement, said the businessman, who deemed the trek as “a call to action. “We hittin’ all the schools across the country. This is a global experience and this is for our kids. It’s for our culture.”