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Still, nearly everyone who currently treats obese children knows that these programs are only a temporary solution. "The money lies in prevention," says Dr. Seema Kumar, a pediatrician at Mayo Clinic's Children's Research Center. And that push has to start early so that healthy eating, physical activity and effective strategies for coping with stress are second nature. Getting old, as any senior will tell you, is not easy. It's hard, it's painful, it's dispiriting--and it's 100% fatal. One of the great gifts of childhood is that the final act is--or at least is supposed to be--a long way in the future. Recognizing how obesity accelerates that time frame is the first step toward slowing things down and keeping old age where it's supposed to be --among the old.