OT: Very fat kids :(

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Registered: 08-08-2003
OT: Very fat kids :(
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Fri, 12-12-2003 - 10:34am

I'm home sick today.  I rarely get to see daytime TV, but I'm watching Maury Povitch right now.  The name of the show is "Help!  My 218 lb. 5-year-old needs to lose weight!"  At the moment, there is a 70-lb. 2 year old baby on.  The baby eats more food by 1:00 than I eat all day; but it's all junk.  There's a 1-year-old infant pigging out on fries and already weighs almost 40 lbs.


What do you all think of this?  Why do these people have all of that junk in their house, and why are they letting their children eat like this?  Many of the parents are only mildly overweight, but these kids are very obese.

Maggie  

"Success is a journey, not a destination"

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Avatar for imthebigsister
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 12-12-2003 - 10:45am
Four words: 1) Convenience, and 2) perceived low cost. It's easier to throw together a meal of prepared/boxed/packaged food when you're busybusybusy (it's pretty easy to broil a lean cut of meat and steam fresh veggies, too). I don't understand why people believe this type of food costs less - you're paying for packaging, not for quality nutrition; plus the future cost of treating health issues like type 2 diabetes and heart disease that could be prevented by eating a proper diet is so high.

Did anyone happen to see last week's Time magazine article on the diabetes epidemic in this country - obese children as young as 11 years old developing "adult onset" diabetes (type 2)? Pretty scary, and so totally avoidable.





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Registered: 08-08-2003
Fri, 12-12-2003 - 10:56am
I didn't see Time Magazine, but I've been reading/hearing about the alarming numbers of young

Maggie  

"Success is a journey, not a destination"

Avatar for shandc
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Registered: 04-07-2003
Fri, 12-12-2003 - 11:27am
Maggie,

I was out of work for awhile and became very familiar with daytime TV, and I think I saw that episode. I'm with you, I can't believe how MUCH junk those kids eat on a daily basis. When they show those tables all filled with a day's worth of food for those kids, I remember thinking that I could live for a month off of that...not to mention that most of it is junk I can't eat more than once in a great while (even before SBD).

I babysit a lot, and many of the parents will just tell me to make the kids mac 'n' cheese or take them to McDonald's for dinner. I'm not sure how many of them just assume that I can't cook, and I know they're trying to be nice and make things easier for me, but lately I've been speaking up and volunteering to cook an actual dinner for the kids. I know it's harder when you're the mom and have to do the cooking EVERY DAY for picky eaters (when I lived at home I split the cooking chores with my mom, and my brothers and dad are the pickiest eaters in the world), but so far it's been working out well. I'm not a big vegetable fan myself, so I let them each pick which vegetable they want to eat out of whatever's available.

I think the saddest thing about these kids on Maury is that most of them have no idea what real food tastes like and will probably never learn.

Shan

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-21-2003
Fri, 12-12-2003 - 11:29am

It makes me so angry to see fat kids!

MelMel
Avatar for imthebigsister
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 12-12-2003 - 1:33pm
And if they don't learn to cook, they'll be the parents of a new generation of sick kids. And the beat goes on.....
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-04-2003
Fri, 12-12-2003 - 2:12pm
EDUCATION IS THE KEY!!!!

I was raised with the traditional southern mentality that everything edible can be fried! Counting calories, fat grams or carbs wasn't imaginable. It wasn't until I took a nutrition course in nursing school that I learned enough about it to see the light! I'm guilty of opting for the convenience foods for my family, and still make mac'n cheese for my sons. Now they at least get veggies with it! There's a lot in the SBD plan that we never hit on in class about good carbs and bad carbs, etc. This truly is a lifestyle change, and I hope to acquire more good food habits. Fortunately, our guys are very active in baseball, basketball, gymnastics and golf and have no weight problems. But I do agree that they need a strong base of nutritional knowledge to prevent future problems. We're on the right track...just need to keep going!

Debbie

Avatar for maw602000
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 12-12-2003 - 3:07pm
Yes I agree education is the key to eatting right.I see fat kids in the mall while Christmas Shopping.I was shocked to see how young they getting. I think it up to the parents. My DD I-L's want to take the grandkids to the fast food restaurants. My DD told them she won't let them go with them. "My children are going to eat the right foods, that cook for them."They haven't ask her anymore. She put the law down,and the in-laws must abide by them when it concerns her kids. Maryann
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Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 12-12-2003 - 3:25pm

I have seen that show and it almost brought me to tears!

Susan :)

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 12-12-2003 - 3:30pm

I babysit a lot, and many of the parents will just tell me to make the kids mac 'n' cheese or take them to McDonald's for dinner. I'm not sure how many of them just assume that I can't cook, and I know they're trying to be nice and make things easier for me, but lately I've been speaking up and volunteering to cook an actual dinner for the kids. I know it's harder when you're the mom and have to do the cooking EVERY DAY for picky eaters (when I lived at home I split the cooking chores with my mom, and my brothers and dad are the pickiest eaters in the world), but so far it's been working out well.


shan, will you move to New England so I can hire you to babysit????

Susan :)

 

Avatar for shandc
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Fri, 12-12-2003 - 3:48pm
LOL, thanks Susan :-) I would watch your kids for you, but New England is too cold for me...it's too cold for me here!

I don't mind getting junk with the kids every now and then, but there have been times when I'm there three or four nights a week and that's usually when I volunteer to cook, especially since I know the family well enough to know that they usually eat good food and it's probably killing the mom to have them eat junk that many times in a week anyway!

Shan

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