Sept- National Awareness a Month for Childhood Obesity

GreatSetOfBrains

Okay guys! I'm on a mission! I want YOU! All of you. Please please please. Let's declare September as a month of no sweets! Cut processed sugars! Eat natural! Help spread the awareness with social media! Find me one Facebook. Add me here! Together let's make a step to stop childhood obesity by setting good examples! Who is with me?!

paperpudding

Not me, sorry.

I think childhood obesity is more complex than just cutting sugars and 'eating natural'
( although I do agree that healthy eating, physical activity and portion control is important)

And sweets in moderation is not the issue at all so going without for a month doesn't achieve much - would be better to promote as treats, rather than mainstays of one's intake ie it is the concept of 'sometimes foods', not 'never foods'

Besides, if I ate no sweets for a month, no children would notice, so rather a pointless 'example'

And I'm not on Facebook anyway :indifferent:

myrtille87

I agree with the poster above - it's about moderation, not banning foods.

Kids will always go out of their way to get sweets, etc. It's human nature to want foods which provide plenty of energy, and also they taste good.

I actually wonder if some of the healthy eating campaigns have had the opposite effect to what they intended. When I was at school, we could buy crisps, chocolate, small bottles of pop, etc. from vending machines at breaktime. That is, normal sized, single serving packets (150-300 calories). Of course these are not healthy foods and it's not good to eat them every day, but they can be part of a balanced diet.

However, I now work in a school where I regularly see kids with full sized tubes of Pringles (nearly 1000 calories), 2 litre bottles of coke (over 800 calories) and "sharing" sized bags of sweets, M&Ms, etc. Because they can't buy the food they like at school, they call at the shop on their way to school to buy these things.

I'm not saying that the answer is to bring more unhealthy food back into schools, but I genuinely don't know what the answer is.

It's really up to parents to bring their kids up with good habits and provide them with healthy and tasty food (not to mention, not giving them loads of money to spend on snacks) but when the damage is already done it's difficult to find a solution until the child grows up and realises they have a problem.

weightliftingdiva

I also think kids are a lot less active (read: more TV and video games) than they used to be.

GreatSetOfBrains

It's not about just cutting sugars! You guys are right me, and the 5 ppl that do join me are not going to make a difference. Cutting sugars for a month isn't going to make a difference, it's the idea of it all. Parents need to preach moderation and being active I agree. Really.....what can one do other than try?

lemurcat12

Telling kids it's all or nothing seems a good way to make them say forget it and ignore the message.

Back when I was a kid (when childhood obesity was much lower--I don't recall many if any kids in my classes who were overweight), only very few ate no sweets at all, and they were the ones with weird parents and usually got treats elsewhere. Instead, we were active, and we had sweets in moderation, and limited amounts. Speaking for myself personally, we didn't have soda at home, fast food was a rare special treat, and we had small desserts or other treats at specific times, and were expected to mostly eat wholesome foods, including vegetables. Seems to me that lots of kids today just eat whatever they want, and of course what kids think they want are not always the most long-term focused or sensible ideas.

nicsflyingcircus

I have 4 kids. I am obese, they are not. I am working towards not being obese, either. I am teaching them moderation, appropriate portion sizes, balance, etc.

That is my contribution.

garlic7girl

I understand you plight...You want to motivate people to care for their and be more active as a family! I saw a mom the other day overweight but she was jogging and her son (he looked 12)who was obese was with her and her daughter who was younger like 7. I was applauding them because she was working it out and had her kids with her! A family affair! I think that is the key! Did you hear the study done recently where most parents don't even realize their kids are overweight? They thought their kids were fine in weight when most were in the overweight or obese category! Sheesh! Go for it girl!
Go to www.theleangreenbean.com she had some RDs talk about what they feed thier kids like a week ago.

GreatSetOfBrains

I have read it!