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We need to change how we see things
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Another idea is to offer incentives to families to help their "super size kids" (direct quote), to keep down health costs.
Taxing sugary drinks or junk foods or what have you are not going to help. Bad for you foods are a very small portion of the problem.
When did people become a war?
I am a nanny, and I see what parents do/do not do with/for their children. They do not tell their children or themselves "no". We let children rule the roost in this country. We allow them to make demands of adults that are followed. We have fallen head first into a "keeping up with the Jonses' " mentatlity. We justify everything with "I deserve it because..."
In this ecconomy, I still see people purchasing luxury items and living beyond their means because they feel like it. I haven't worked for 3 years and that has meant that I have done without an awful lot, yet I continue to see parents buying their children what they are (literally) screaming for, good or bad, because they will not or cannot tell their children, "no.'
This extends to cell phones, Wii's, PS3's, PSP's, personal DVD players (portable and in-car),T.V.'s in their rooms, and their own computers. THIS IS WHAT IS MAKING CHILDREN GAIN WEIGHT! It is lack of activity and socialization that is doing more harm than good. Schools are struggling just to teach the basics and are cutting back on or out programs that require money they don't have, including sports. Some schools have even gotten rid of recess due to budget cuts. They're screaming that our kids don't exercise enough, and then they take away at least 1 time a day they can.....?
I think this idea has gotten out of hand. Kids consume what their parents buy at the store. The ones who can buy what they like, are old enough to know what they should and should not eat. Look at a so called nutrition lable sometime. Everything is listed in grams. We don't use the metric system in this country. 1 gram of sugar is roughly = to 2 tsp. of sugar. Lables only have to list sugar, not all sugar additives, like honey, molasses, or corn syrup in all of it's forms. You may actually consume 12 -15 tsp. of sugar in addition to the plain sugar per portion if you add up all of the sweeteners in your food.
And they are blaming pop for making our kids fat?
Here's a solution. Buy fresh, buy local, buy natural. Cook you own food. Eat pre-packaged foods once in a while. Unplug you kids video games, take the T.V. out of their room, go for a walk with your kid and the dog, but stop "attacking" obesity like its a rogue government with WMD's!
We are dealing with people, who have feelings and emotions. You are going to make a LOT of kids (and adults) feel even worse about themselves. They way to get healthy people is NOT to shame them, but to gently encourge them. Show them that there is a better way, but do not condemn them. Do not make them feel like they are wrong or worse. Embrace them, love them for who they are, but do not make them feel like they are less.
We try to boost our kids confidence, but what are we saying to them now? If you're fat, I won't love you?
I stand by my earlier post with how we need to lose the word "obese" and just be healthy.
Insurance companies are using this as an excuse for why rates are so high. Fat people cost more. Years ago smokers were blamed for high rates. They have now "conquered" them, so now it's on to us. What happens when we are all healthy?, are they going to blame people with genetic pre-dispositions for cancer?
Be well, move more, eat right, be you.
Remember, every person has value,no matter what.
Mod
Sandra's diet is so closely monitored and any weight gain seen as the worst thing in the world, that I am worried about her and her body image. The other 2 children do not go through this kind of scrutiny, and Sandra has been under this microscope for years, allegedly because her doctor said she was getting too big. (I am not too sure about this statement, as I know Kara can be a bit exageratory at times, and can build something up.) I wonder what Sandra is going to do when she is no longer at home and under her mother's watchful eye and can eat all those forbidden carbs and the like.
I feel, but I don't feel that it's my place to say, that Kara is doing more harm than good. Instead of teaching Sandra healty eating habits, she has made food an enemy....and possibly made Sandra wonder if her mother loves her. I have wondered upon more than one occasion that some of this is because Sandra reminds Kara of the "ex", in this case boyfriend, and all the drama attatched to that relationship (a fact I was witness to many, many times, and was even she's with now, it is a much more pleasant situation all the way around, including being engaged, which for now, makes her younger 2 children pleasant reminders. I wonder, sometimes, what would happen with them if anything should happen between her and "Norman".
Kara has turned food into an enemy. How many of our children are seeing food as an enemy right now because of this national "war on obesity"? How many of our children will have food issues because they are learning from their parent's examples of food paranoia? How many children are going to have problems as adults due to forbidden foods and "fat watching parents?"
Teach your children about food, where it comes from, what it looks like, how to make healthy choices, but don't villify food. If they eat something that is not the most brilliant choice once in a while, don't panic. But, don't make it the enemy, or we are going to see a rise in food disorders, and see this movement backfire like you wouldn't belive.
Be well, move more, eat right, be you. And above all, show your children you love them no matter what they look like.
Mod
She went on to discuss that children often develop eating disorders in response to being teased, or pressure from parents that they start by trying to diet. The problem is that children have different caloric needs, even when they are not active, for development and growth. They also learn by hearing adults discuss weight issues and worry that if they do not do something that they will have issues too.
One of the biggest messages is about "the war on childhood obesity." Kids are hearing the message that food is bad or food is the enemy. So, they start restricting food and such in hopes of losing weight.
So what are we telling our kids?
That they are not worth it, that they are not loveable unless they are a healthy weight, that they have no value....that they are less. And what does that say about us as adults? The same thing.
Eat healthy and get more movement in your life, but don't obsess. Accept the fact that you will not a be size 2 and that most published pictures of size 2's are touched up.
CHANGE HOW YOU SEE,NOT HOW YOU LOOK!
Love you kids for who they are, make sure that they know that they have value and value yourself. That is the true "war on obesity."
I think that we need to take the word obese out of our vocabulary. I think we need to focus more on healthy eating and moderate exercise. We need to stop equating large size with ill-health. We need to accept that big people CAN be healthy too, and that we all need to be more aware of what we are eating. Big does not always equal over eating of bad foods or lazyness.
We need to encourage our kids and ourselves to do more outside! Not inside playing video games or texting eachohter while sitting next to eachother!
We need to set an example, that all people can be healthy, just that some of us are bigger than others. If we keep going the way we are, we are going to have several generations with eating disorders, extremely low self-esteem, and people who can't get insurance.
Be well, move more, eat right, be you.