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Atlantic Canada has its charms - a beautiful ocean, breathtaking scenery, a laid-back lifestyle and delicious food.

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Ah yes, the food - fresh vegetables, seafood, home-grown meats. If that were the focus of our diets, we might not be known for something less charming - obesity.

The issue of obesity is especially troubling in our children. We in Atlantic Canada have the biggest kids in the country. In New Brunswick, 34 per cent of our kids aged 2-17 are either overweight or worse, obese.

The national childhood obesity rate, according to Statistics Canada, is eight per cent. New Brunswick tips the scale at 13 per cent. Only Newfoundland beats us in these obesity and overweight categories.

With all that in mind, we take special comfort in the news of a few projects announced last week for our region. Each one promotes physical fitness.

We all know that diet and exercise are the keys to good health, and they are completely within our power to embrace. Three projects will make that a bit more easy.

First, the City of Fredericton, with help from the federal government, will spend $669,500 to upgrade the walking trails system. This plan includes several kilometres of paving, plus lights and benches on various trails.

That will make exercise easier and safer for everyone, especially cyclists, in-line skaters, those with disabilities and those pushing strollers.

The city's 80-kilometre urban trail system has been recognized nationally, with a Top 3 ranking among Canada's cities. No wonder. It is magnificent, and it's about to get even better.

Second, with help from the federal government, the Town of Oromocto and 3,000 athletes who play soccer, football, field hockey and rugby got good news last week. The Waasis Road track and field facility is getting a $750,000 retrofit that will include an all-weather synthetic turf surface of the playing field inside the oval track. The running track will also get an upgrade.

With the synthetic turf in place, the sprained ankles, cracks in the track and muddy games will all but disappear, making sports in Oromocto a real pleasure.

There are 600 soccer players in town alone, from three-year-olds to over 40, and every one of them is sure to enjoy playing on such a professional surface.

The upgrade of the field could well prove to be a drawing card for new recruits in a variety of sports, which could lead to lower obesity rates.

Finally, the time has come to expand Winterfest. The founder, John Antworth, is looking for corporate sponsorship to take the event from one weekend to two, from one venue to many, and from a volunteer-run event to a paid staff.

It has outgrown its current space, and the crowds for the February outdoor festival have been almost unmanageable with 25,000 trying to park and enjoy the activities.

The province has long made an effort to sell winter tourism here and abroad during a season that does not see a lot of visitors, which fits perfectly with Antworth's plans.

"We want to embrace winter tourism," said Antworth. "There's an opportunity to engage the entire community. The opportunity is ours to grasp or lose."

Antworth is right. For his Winterfest, plus the other projects already mentioned, there is potential to attract traditional tourists, sporting tourists and winter tourists.

And while tourism is important, childhood obesity rates are even more pressing. Each project has the potential to put a dent in those troubling statistics.

When we fund and support fitness opportunities as businesses and various levels of government are doing, and when we as adults and parents model that fit lifestyle, we make exercise far more easy and far more inviting.

It's a priceless gift to give our kids.