( ) Childhood obesity is caused by eating too much and exercising too little. The solution is eating healthier foods and increasing physical activity, but it' ll be tough for your child to do it alone. The most effective way to treat & mdash; and prevent & mdash; childhood obesity is to adopt healthier habits for the entire family.

Change family behaviors Rather than singling out your child, encourage the whole family to make healthy lifestyle changes. Consider these helpful hints: Start small. Gradual changes are easiest to incorporate into the daily routine & mdash; and to maintain long term.

Start by making a few small changes, such as turning off the TV during dinner, switching from soda to skim milk or water, and taking a family walk after dinner once a week. Set goals. Set realistic, measurable goals for each family member, and then determine family goals. For example, your child' s goal might be to eat fruit for afternoon snacks. Your goal might be to take a brisk walk three days a week.

The family' s goal might be to limit fast- food meals to once a month. Recognize triggers. Be prepared for situations that may tempt you to fall back to your old habits. If you' re used to eating popcorn at the movies, for example, bring only enough money for admission & mdash; or agree that you' ll share a small carton of popcorn with your child rather than ordering separate treats.

Celebrate success. Frequent rewards can help keep your family motivated. When your child meets a goal & mdash; by asking for fruit rather than cookies after school, for example & mdash; offer praise and attention.

When your family meets a goal, brainstorm healthy ways to celebrate your success. You might try a family movie night, a weekend picnic or a trip to the pool. Keep it positive. Focus on healthy lifestyle changes, rather than your child' s appearance or a number on the scale.

Remember, treating childhood obesity isn' t a race. It takes time and dedication to replace established behaviors with new, healthier behaviors. Be flexible. It' ll take time to get used to your healthier habits.

Encourage everyone to stick to the plan & mdash; but if the goals aren' t working for your family, consider making adjustments. It' s better to create a new plan than to stick to one that isn' t working.

Create a healthy- weight environment As you work toward healthy habits and behaviors, create an environment that supports these efforts. For example: Keep healthy foods on hand. Stock your kitchen with fruits, vegetables, whole- grain foods and other healthy choices.

Keep junk food and sugary drinks out of the house. Eat in. Reduce the number of meals your family eats in fast- food and other restaurants. Better yet, sit down together for family meals.

Plan weekly menus using new recipes or healthier alternatives to family favorites.

Keep portion sizes reasonable and allow seconds only on salad, fruits and vegetables. Encourage your kids to get involved in shopping and meal preparation. Build physical activity into the daily routine.

Put as much emphasis on moving more as on eating less. Organize family outings that involve physical activity, such as walking to the library or taking a family bike ride. Include children in active chores, such as washing the car or walking the dog. Encourage your kids to participate in school or community sports & mdash; or to dance, jump rope or do other physical activities on their own. Limit household screen time.

Set reasonable rules for TV, computer and video game time, such as one to two hours a day for each family member & mdash; including mom and dad. Keep TVs and computers out of the bedrooms, and don' t allow eating in front of the TV or computer. Be a positive role model Remember, the best way to get your child excited about an active lifestyle is to commit to the changes yourself. Your actions teach your child what to eat, how much to eat and when to eat.

You also encourage your child to be physically active every day if you make it a priority yourself. Stress the importance of healthy lifestyle choices, rather than a number on the scale Making lifestyle changes can be challenging, especially when you' re busy juggling the demands of daily life. If your family works together and supports each others' efforts, however, you' re more likely to succeed. Eventually healthy habits will become routine & mdash; and you' ll be well on your way to treating childhood obesity and improving your family' s health.

( CNN) - - Leading Chinese activist and artist Ai Weiwei declared that China' s government has no humanity - - and that the Communist Party is trying to silence anyone who disagrees with it. & quot; They crack down on everybody who has different opinions - - not even different opinions, just different attitudes, & quot; Ai told CNN' s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. & quot; Simply to have different opinions can cost ( dissidents) their life; they can be put in jail, can be silenced, and can be disappeared, & quot; he said.

Ai is no stranger to controversy or danger.

He helped design the iconic Bird' s Nest stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but then called for a boycott of the games because in his opinion China was using them as propaganda. He also faced a barrage of official criticism in 2008 when he assembled activists to collect the names of thousands of unidentified students who were killed in the massive Sichuan earthquake. He also slammed local governments for allowing the construction of shoddy schools that collapsed.

Ai has paid a heavy price for his dissent.

He says he was beaten in a hotel room by Chinese police and later needed emergency brain surgery for injuries he suffered in the assault. Even as Ai spoke to CNN, Google appeared to be moving closer to leaving in a showdown over Internet censorship and hacking from inside the communist nation.

Popular Western social networking sites are already banned from China. & quot; There' s no Twitter in China, there' s no You. Tube in China, now we' ll have no Google in China, & quot; Ai said. & quot; They shut down three of my blogs in seven minutes, so you can see how fearful ( Chinese officials are) about somebody speaking out their mind. & quot; He said 12 million people were reading his blog posts until they were closed. Ai though said there are new technologies that can help people overcome what he called the Great Firewall, but it' s available to only a small number of people. & quot; Now we have about 50, 000 people - - writers, editors, journalists - - who can get the information. And they can get whatever we say in the West, & quot; he added. & quot; It has a great effect on the government.

Young people see what we are talking about on Twitter and blogs ( and) they would speak the words to different kinds of media. So that can have great potential, if millions of people read them. & quot; Ai said he believes new technology is the only way to bring change to China and he' s convinced it will happen one day.

Diagnosing dry macular degeneration Testing for defects in your central vision. During a complete eye exam, your eye doctor may use a test called the Amsler grid to test for defects in the center of your vision.

If you have macular degeneration, when you look at the grid some of the straight lines may seem faded, broken or distorted. Examining the back of your eye. Your eye doctor will examine the back of your eye to look for a mottled appearance that' s caused by drusen & mdash; yellow deposits that form in people with macular degeneration. To examine the back of your eye, your eye doctor will dilate your eyes using eyedrops and then use a special magnifying lens.

Creating images of the blood vessels in your eye ( angiogram) . During an angiogram of your eye, a colored dye is injected into a vein in your arm. The dye travels to the blood vessels in your eye. A special camera is used to take pictures of your eye.

The pictures show the dye highlighting the blood vessels in your eye. Your eye doctor uses the information from the angiogram images to determine whether the back of your eye shows blood vessel or retinal abnormalities, such as those that might be associated with wet macular degeneration. Optical coherence tomography. This noninvasive imaging test helps identify and display areas of retinal thickening or thinning.

Such changes are associated with macular degeneration. It' s often used to help monitor the response of the retina to macular degeneration treatments. Determining the stage of your dry macular degeneration Early stage. Several small drusen or a few medium- sized drusen are detected on the macula in one or both eyes. Generally, there' s no vision loss in the earliest stage.

Intermediate stage.

Many medium- sized drusen or one or more large drusen are detected in one or both eyes. At this stage, your central vision may start to blur and you may need extra light for reading or doing detail work. Advanced stage. Several large drusen, as well as extensive breakdown of light- sensitive cells in the macula, are detected.

This causes a well- defined spot of blurring in your central vision.

The blurred area may become larger and more opaque over time. & copy; 1998- 2011 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research ( MFMER) .