HAYDEN - Kids these days aren't exactly enamored with the idea of exercise.

Walking, running, biking or swimming don't usually make the top 10 of must-dos for today's younger generation.

Not when there are easier ways to gets things done.

"As technologically savvy as we all are, I see 11-year-olds texting their friend instead of walking across the room to talk," said Samantha Read.

But times, they are changing with the ZumbAtomic program for children at Peak Health and Wellness Center in Hayden, where Read is a trainer.

"This is one way I know I can personally get involved," she said.

The Hayden Peak location offers a ZumbAtomic program, which began in January, aimed at encouraging children to be active, eat well and be courageous, too, because that's what it takes to change.

Read said ZumbAtomic classes are a fun and healthy program for children created using the Zumba tness concept. They build confidence, learn team work, leadership and respect, and yep, they learn to love to exercise.

Children are introduced to a variety of international rhythms including salsa, cha-cha and hip-hop. They are taught fun choreography using these rhythms in energizing, kid-friendly songs. ZumbAtomic classes also involve playing games to promote creativity, dexterity and confidence.

The goal of ZumbAtomic is to develop a healthy lifestyle and incorporate tness as a natural part of children's lives, not just a class they attend once a week.

It's fast-paced enough to keep kids interested and moving, but still relaxed enough so they don't want to quit.

Getting younger children to exercise early will keep them on that road later in life, Read said.

At Peak in Hayden, there are 12-20 children ages 6-11 in the 45-minute ZumbAtomic course offered each Wednesdays. Cost is $4-7 a class.

Additional ZumbAtomic classes through Hayden Parks and Recreation will be offered soon at Flip Factory.

"The kids seem to just love it," she said.

"They forget that it's exercise. They're having a good time."

National concern

Last year, The American Medical Association put its weight behind requiring yearly instruction aimed at preventing obesity for public schoolchildren and teens.

The nation's largest physicians group agreed to support legislation that would require classes in causes, consequences and prevention of obesity for first through 12th-graders.

Another new policy says the AMA supports the idea of using revenue from taxes on sugar-sweetened sodas as one way to help pay for obesity-fighting programs.

Obesity affects more than one-third of U.S. adults and almost one in five children, or more than 12 million kids.

Parents should watch what their kids are eating. Beware of a diet too reliant on processed foods, say doctors.

Last year, scientists used imaging tests to show for the first time that fructose, a sugar that saturates the American diet, can trigger brain changes that may lead to overeating.

After drinking a fructose beverage, the brain doesn't register the feeling of being full as it does when simple glucose is consumed, researchers found.

It's a small study and does not prove that fructose or its relative, high-fructose corn syrup, can cause obesity, but experts say it adds evidence they may play a role.

These sugars often are added to processed foods and beverages, and consumption has risen dramatically since the 1970s along with obesity.

A huge, decades-long study involving more than 33,000 Americans yielded the first clear proof that drinking sugary beverages interacts with genes that affect weight, amplifying a person's risk of obesity beyond what it would be from heredity alone.

This means that such drinks are especially harmful to people with genes that predispose them to weight gain. And most of us have at least some of these genes.

In addition, two other major experiments have found that giving children and teens calorie-free alternatives to the sugary drinks they usually consume leads to less weight gain.

Sugary drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the American diet.

Changing course

Read agrees the state of kids' health is in a "dire situation right now."

This is a generation of children that won't live as long as their parents.

Computers, TVs, video games, have changed the lifestyle of young people, and not necessarily for the better. Add processed foods and soda pop to the mix, and it adds up to declining health and increasing obesity.

Children are being diagnosed with preventable conditions far too early, she said.

"That's very alarming," Read said.

But it can be reversed.

Read grew up in a home where activity and fitness were not a focal point.

"As a child, I could immediately see that something was amiss with our family's lifestyle," she wrote. "At 12 years old, I finally convinced my parents to enroll me in a dance class near our home."

A 12-year-old girl who had never danced before, never thrown a softball, kicked a soccer ball or even gone on a family hike, was not the most coordinated student in the class, she wrote.

"Thankfully, I remember the instructor pulling me aside one day and saying 'I know that you can do this, just keep practicing.'"

Good advice, turns out.

Read graduated from Eastern Washington University with a degree in exercise science. She has been training and teaching multiple aerobics and strength classes each week for more than seven years, as well as dancing and teaching salsa.

"I enjoy an active and healthy lifestyle and I am passionate about sharing that with others," she wrote.

Welcome to ZumbAtomic, which Peak brought back this year after a three-year hiatus.

It is something, Read said, that will lead to children enjoying physical activity as part of their routine - and it will stay with them.

"My hope is that this class will show your children how rewarding an active lifestyle can be and create healthy habits for them that will last a lifetime.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.