So we stuffed ourselves silly last Thursday, and on Friday we burned off some calories running to the cash registers. Some people even left tread marks on the backs of their fellow shoppers in the stampede to snag a super-cheap laptop [1] at WalMart. Yikes.

Now that we’re done giving thanks for all the blessings of abundance, can we talk for a minute about the curse of overconsumption, aka affluenza [2]?

Sorry for the buzzkill, but it was scary and sobering to hear Bill Clinton on CNN’s Housecall with Dr. Sanjay Gupta [3] on Sunday, discussing the fact that kids today may live a shorter life than their parents, thanks to the obesity epidemic in the U.S.

That’s a stunning and depressing thought. But before we totally bum out about it, there’s a ray of hope. I switched to CBS Sunday Morning [4], and caught a segment about a school cafeteria in Cincinnati that’s deep-sixed the deep fryer and switched from processed, pre-packaged foods to cooking from scratch with organic [4] meats, vegetables and whole grains.

Seven Hills Elementary School cafeteria chef Jimmy Gerhardi serves up exotic fare like Moroccan meatballs with couscous, salmon with lobster sauce, and lemon tilapia. And guess what? Mikey likes it [5]! There’s hope for this generation yet.