Childhood Obesity Rant

[carole]

Hey i am the first one to appauld anyone who is comfortable with their body shape, be it thin or not so thin.

But young children being obese is sad in my opinion, they are not in control of their eating habits, their parents are, some people would consider it a form of child abuse, no i am not saying I agree with that, but it has been said before.

Of course it is assumed if you are fat , you must be lazy, and that can be far from the truth,there is such a thing as being fit and fat,some thin people are not fit at all.

In my opinion, and generalising here, and from what i read is fact, this generation is lazy, even my generation,not exactly through choice but because of technology,and even if you are not one of them, a lot of the children are not participating in regular exercise, eating badly and hence we have obese children.

Being obese or morbidly obese, just is not good for your well-being, the health problems are many as most of you know.,and maybe not in the US, but here in NZ can end up costing everyone financially.

So it really is sad when you see a young child three times what they should weigh, as they are being set up for a lifetime of health problems, I think everyone would be in agreement here surely.

[Twisterdog]

I do think there is a lot more to what someone weighs than what they eat and how active they are. And it's SO unfair.

Example: my son has this incredible metabolism. He eats, I'm not EVEN exagarating, more than the rest of the family combined. He eats all day long, whatever quanity, whatever calorie content he wants. He must consume 10,000 calories a day! And, frankly, he sits on his butt a lot. He plays a lot of video games, watches TV, etc. He is 5' 10" and weighs 160 pounds, quite thin.

My step-son, OTOH, eats an average amount for a teenage boy, I'd say, but less than my son, for sure. He is a little more active, too, riding his bike around more, etc. He is 5' 1" and weighs 150 pounds, quite heavy.

My niece and I were always the same way growing up. We are about the same height, but she always weighed at least 20 pounds less than I did, yet ate easily twice as much as me a day, every day. No fair!

[Anita Cholaine]

Childhood obesity is also becoming a big problem here in Argentina.
I went to the mall last saturday morning, and I saw this woman with his son, who was about 3 years old. Guess what she bought him: huge hamburger, fries and soda, and it was 10 AM! I don't want to even imagine what her mother gives him for lunch and dinner.

I feel so disgusted about parents who do this. I mean, their children will probably have lots of health problems in their future, and they have no idea of what they are doing. And these poor kids will grow up thinking that this kind of eating habits are ok, making it harder for them to change.

I think education is crucial to battle childhood obesity. All parents and soon to be parents should know the importance of healthy eating habits during their children's infancy. It is something that will affect them for the rest of their lives

[sparks19]

but we aren't talking about kids who are just a little over weight here or there.... we are talking OBESE... MORBIDLY obese. Every kids weight can fluctuate and they all have different metabolisms BUT obesity is totally different. There HAS to be a way to curb that kind of weight gain before it reaches the point of obesity.

[Argranade]

That's my family. Well in the summer we are barley in the house but in the winter everyone stay inside (for obvious reasons!) I am underweight but I eat lots of junk food and sit on my butt all day. But I'm not anorexic or belemic and I don't think I'm fat. I have a few friends who are fat and they bmx and eat semi-healthy but dont seem to loose weight (they bike ALL the time and every day in the summer) so they are very active. I don't think you should be blaming the parents, tv, or food for alot of people (well less then majority) it's just the way they are built.

I'm like the same as you almost lol,

During the winter I'm home like ALL day because I HATE the cold, I mean in middle the summer I'll have 2 large blankets rapped right around me like it's the middle of a winter storm lol, I just can't sleep without being with blankets.

In ther Winter I usualy wight only 100 Pounds but in the summer I'm more active then I''m usualy around 98.

I eat ALOT and sit in my a** all day long as I don't know why I don't gain any fat O.o, but then again I'm kinda lucky ... there's not one obese person in my family so it probably has to be genetics with being obese, but than again some parents don't even care about what there kids eat & if there even getting any exsersize.

[finn's mom]

I don't think anyone is saying it's anyone's fault if a child has medical problems or that they're disgusted by children who have thyroid problems or other medical conditions. I know personally I'm just talking about those children whose parents allow them to eat whatever they want, whenever they want and however much they want. Or those who allow them to be completely physically inactive. Or a combination of the two issues. I had a friend in high school whose little sister would drink about ten sodas a day. They had step stools all over the house for this child to get into the cabinets, fridge, pantry, etc whenever she wanted. And, it's not like she was pigging out on apples and bananas and celery. She was eating nothing but junk food and she was so big, i couldn't bear to be around her, it made me so sad and so mad all at once. The entire family was unhealthy, but especially her.

Anyway, just wanted to clarify my own stance.