I understand what you two are saying. Childhood obesity is well past the stages of being a vanity-related issue. Not only are children being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, they are now in the early stages of CVD related issues (high cholesterol, blood pressure, etc). The fast food industry and school lunches aren't the only ones to blame on this. However, they do have their faults. A perfect example of how schools feel they are making healthy food options available to children is they took out sodas and offer 100% juices. Look at the labels of the juice and you will see more calories, more sugar (corn syrup, fructose), and more carbohydrates. How is that helping?
Children come home from school and go straight to the computer, TV or video games and only get up to get something to eat or drink. Schools, being pressured by the A.I.M.S. (how is this a censored word??!!) test, have cut physical activity time in schools and the built environment and safety issues have made it nearly impossible for children to walk to and from school. This probably leaves the average child with near non-existent daily physical activity.
This is definitely an issue that needs to have schools, concerned parents, and health officials come together and create positive and long lasting solutions!
OK, I'm off my soap box now! Thanks for opening this topic!
First of all greetings to everyone as this is my first post. I just want to say that I really appreciate the diversity, intelligence and compassion of this online family.
Fatness jumped on me when I was about nine-years-old. My parents were into healh food, veggies, organic foods and such. But we got a housekeeper who unfortunately equated starchy junk food with love. I had never had much sugar or white flour or other empty calories but overnight it seemed became addicted to junk and obese, as a result. I've been searching for a normal relationship with food ever since. I'm sure most of you are aware of the vicious cycle. The more we're harrassed about our outward appearance the more we eat.
It has taken me years to understand what kind of foods trigger what kinds of responses in me as well as the importance of working out, not for just conditioning or heart health but for sanity.
I have adorable twin girls thankfully who did not inherit my metabolism. In addition to this, they are active and wonders of wonders, enjoy outdoor activities more than tv. I have worked overtime not to pass on any food issues to them. Their diet consists of mostly whole foods but they do get treats sometimes. I think that if kids are nourished well, they keep in touch with their internal food monitors. Too much processed food and junk creates imbalance and cravings.
Still, I have to be vigilant regarding their self esteem. One of the girls was upset because a classmate said her rear end was fat. And she wondered if she should go on a diet. I had to explain about insecure fools and player haters. And that beauty is as beauty does.
I'm sorry this post is so long. But, it kills me how even if we try to do right, love ourselves and our children, they still got to go outside and live in the cold cruel world.
ok i know i am going back to the original point in questionbut here goes
you suggested that information was the key to childhood obesity however as with many people i think the delivery of the information is critical!
as a child as we all do i had many problems and as my dad raised me i had to have regular checkups at school as he worked alot so it was hard for him to take time off at the age of 7 they discovered i was around 6 lbs over weight i was then shipped to a dietician once every 2 weeks so i ended up hidding what i ate for one and a half then fasting for 3 days to try and loose weight.
after several months of this my dad brought up the fact that i had refused to eat my tea twice in a run (we stayed at my mums sometimes and alot at my granparents so it was hard for him to keep track) so when i explained he stopped my visits to the dietician as i was becoming unwell, this gave me free range to eat what i liked i was fairly sensible tho and stayed constant for a while then i learnt about baliemia, after a couple of months i had to stop it started to hurt so much i couldn't walk out of the toilet any more as people noticed i was crying!
any way after the strictness to the total lack of what felt like (to a 13 yr old girl who got bullied at every point of her lfe) compassion i hit rock bottom and amongst other things developed a compusive eating disorder which even now i struggle with!
my simplified message is sit down with ur kids let them know why they should go and run about and eat their greens and set an example, money tho i totally understand has a part in eating patterns (we lived on beans on toast once for 10 days straight) can not always be the excuse!
sorry for my life story there but i at least feel better, free couseling hey u cant beat it lol!
Dang Music get out of my head. No really thanks for writing my post.
When i was a kid we were out at the crack of dawn. Home for lunch and dinner and out all other times. And I may have not know all my neighbors but believe me they knew who I was. They not only new my parents but also Grandparents. It was safe. There were a few problems but no many. And it was not unusual to see a group of 20 or so kids playing with and in the area of each other ranging form like 5-15. Today people would wonder what was up with that.
I have 3 kids. One is chunky. (We are a fat family from way back) she use to starve herself cause she didn't want to be fat and cause people called her fat. Well anyway she would starve her self at the age of like 10. A teacher use to call her fat. And then when she was so hungry from not eating she ate a pack of crackers that were on a table at day care. The teacher made fun of her in front of the whole calss. Needless to say that after the next day he no longer had a job. She still struggle to this day and she is so pretty. I struggle and give up but am trying to do better for my girls. It is hard since money is limited. Ok i have droned on enough. just thought I would add to the post. Bye the way Good Topic
I'm speaking from my perspective... a very large woman who has never been small in her life.
As a child, my family was very low income. We ate whatever mom could afford to cook.... which was mostly starches, since starches seem to be cheaper. We couldn't afford the lean cuts of meats and ate mostly hamburger... which became a savory casserole full of fat and calories. My mother was also from the depression era and that made her refuse to waste food... therefore, we were required to eat everything on our plates... even if we were full.
Thin has always been the acceptable size... and my generation had Twiggy as the standard... and I was far from being a Twiggy.
Because I was constantly told how fat I was, as I got older and gained, I never thought about 'how much' I weighed... I just knew I was fat. I look back at pictures of me in my early 20s and realize that although I was a large girl... I was NOT fat. I wore a size 18... oh, to be a size 18 again.
Also as a child, my parents were not the outdoorsey type. We did no outdoor activities. Therefore, exercise was/is foreign to me. I've tried to establish some exercise habits, but it just doesn't happen in my heart and mind and is short lived.
I have successfully lost a fair amount of weight on Weight Watchers, but because of the need to limit portions, I end up going back to my old habits... emotional eating is my downfall. I always lose a little weight when I'm happy, but always gain when I'm depressed and lonely... guess where I am now...
Anyway... I believe the schools can do whatever they want, but until the home reflects good eating habits, it will change nothing.
I don't think it requires a person to be obsessive about it. I think just doing activities with your kids and encouraging them to be physically active will go a long ways in helping prevent childhood obesity. You know, spending family time doing something fun outside instead of renting a movie, that kind of stuff.
I agree with you, when I was a kid, I was running around playing from after school until dinner time then until bed time. It was safe to do so and pretty much was the norm. Too bad we can't get the sense of safety back for everyone's sake!
I only became fat in early adulthood from around age 19/20. Why did I become fat?
Because I was drinking for Britain every weekend, then going out for a curry, pizza, kebab afterwards. I was going to the chippy every lunchtime at work, then getting another full meal at 6pm when I went home. I was in the meantime, snacking on crisps, biscuits, Snickers bars, pies, etc.
What I'm basically saying is YES, there are some people who are big due to bad upbringing or medical issues, but there's also those of us who were slim once and then proceeded to pile the weight on ourselves, with nobody forcing our hand. I'm doing okay now though, I've got down from 330 pounds to 275 in a year.
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