Why are kids obese??

BigDave1050

We went out to eat last night and my son (Who is 15) ordered Honey Chipotle Chicken fingers and ate a half order of Texas cheese fries plus several glasses of Dr Pepper. After dinner, we figured his calorie intake was close to 3500 Cal. Food everywhere is so full of calories these days and portions are so out of control. I don’t think most kids (mine do) think its ok to eat half and save the rest for later. My son ate all of his order because he ran track yesterday afternoon and needed the pick up.

boggsmeister

There was a great article in the NY Times yesterday about how access to food (fast food, or good fresh foods) has absolutely no correlation what so ever to childhood obesity. Yeah, so that meme is a crock. It's. The. Parents.

EndofEternity

There was a great article in the NY Times yesterday about how access to food (fast food, or good fresh foods) has absolutely no correlation what so ever to childhood obesity. Yeah, so that meme is a crock. It's. The. Parents.

Yes, but surely parents will have an easier time raising healthy, fit children if they have better access to healthy and affordable foods?

Newmammaluv

Yeah, I blame the parents. Not knowing what a proper diet actually consists of (because it certainly is NOT what the food pyramid of old used to say), not paying attention to what a serving size actually looks like, not actively teaching their children when you recognize that their tummies are full, not eating out of boredom and their own unhealthy relationships with food. You can get fat off of a vegitarian diet if you try hard enough (my cousin is easily 400lbs and is completely vegetarian). It doesn't matter what you eat if you dont have an example of healthy food relationships and education on what serving sizes look like.

boggsmeister

There was a great article in the NY Times yesterday about how access to food (fast food, or good fresh foods) has absolutely no correlation what so ever to childhood obesity. Yeah, so that meme is a crock. It's. The. Parents.

Yes, but surely parents will have an easier time raising healthy, fit children if they have better access to healthy and affordable foods?

What part of no correlation don't you understand?

EndofEternity

There was a great article in the NY Times yesterday about how access to food (fast food, or good fresh foods) has absolutely no correlation what so ever to childhood obesity. Yeah, so that meme is a crock. It's. The. Parents.

Yes, but surely parents will have an easier time raising healthy, fit children if they have better access to healthy and affordable foods?

What part of no correlation don't you understand?

What part of my response didn't you understand? It plays a part. Parents could have their kids exercise daily and eat in moderation but it'd be better if they had access to a diverse and healthy selection of food instead of just bacon and cheeseburgers.

boggsmeister

There was a great article in the NY Times yesterday about how access to food (fast food, or good fresh foods) has absolutely no correlation what so ever to childhood obesity. Yeah, so that meme is a crock. It's. The. Parents.

Yes, but surely parents will have an easier time raising healthy, fit children if they have better access to healthy and affordable foods?

What part of no correlation don't you understand?

What part of my response didn't you understand? It plays a part. Parents could have their kids exercise daily and eat in moderation but it'd be better if they had access to a diverse and healthy selection of food instead of just bacon and cheeseburgers.

Dude, they did a huuuuuge study. They are scientists. They said there is no correlation. Apparently parents who give a damn find a way to feed their kids in a healthy manner. Go figure.

(edit)To clarify, the scientists didn't find any areas where you couldn't access healthy foods with relative convenience, just some where there was more crap available than others. So more accurately, the amount of crap food in an area has no correlation to childhood obesity.

DietingMommy08

Well what if you dont have a bottle??

Also, the water in my school was brown... Not kidding.
And there was always pee in them...

Good ole' ghetto schools.

Same here. Lol.

& you was NOT to put your mouth anywhere near that water fountain because you just never knew wat was on it.

EndofEternity

There was a great article in the NY Times yesterday about how access to food (fast food, or good fresh foods) has absolutely no correlation what so ever to childhood obesity. Yeah, so that meme is a crock. It's. The. Parents.

Yes, but surely parents will have an easier time raising healthy, fit children if they have better access to healthy and affordable foods?

What part of no correlation don't you understand?

What part of my response didn't you understand? It plays a part. Parents could have their kids exercise daily and eat in moderation but it'd be better if they had access to a diverse and healthy selection of food instead of just bacon and cheeseburgers.

Dude, they did a huuuuuge study. They are scientists. They said there is no correlation. Apparently parents who give a damn find a way to feed their kids in a healthy manner. Go figure.

(edit)To clarify, the scientists didn't find any areas where you couldn't access healthy foods with relative convenience, just some where there was more crap available than others. So more accurately, the amount of crap food in an area has no correlation to childhood obesity.

Okay, I understand you now. I don't have a problem with fast food joints or anything like that. Many of them even have many healthy options nowadays. It's just that in some areas basic fruits and vegetables can be sparse and/or expensive. The responsibility will always lie on the parents, but the burden can be and must be lessened in this country.

Dtho5159

I babysit a 7 year old girl that is 80 pounds. As a reference, I also babysit her 9 year old brother who is 71 pounds... I've been walking my daughter, niece and nephew home from school to get exercise in for them and myself. When I first started babysitting the 7 and 9 year olds, their mom didn't want them to walk home. The VERY first thing I thought was that poor little girl definitely needs the exercise.

She eventually warmed up to the idea of letting them walk, but jeez...

Oh good grief!! My 7 year old weighs 40lb. My 4.5 year old weighs 30lb and my niece who is also 4.5 years old weighs 55lb. So she weighs more than her cousin who's 2 and a half years OLDER than her.

DietingMommy08

I babysit a 7 year old girl that is 80 pounds. As a reference, I also babysit her 9 year old brother who is 71 pounds... I've been walking my daughter, niece and nephew home from school to get exercise in for them and myself. When I first started babysitting the 7 and 9 year olds, their mom didn't want them to walk home. The VERY first thing I thought was that poor little girl definitely needs the exercise.

She eventually warmed up to the idea of letting them walk, but jeez...

Oh good grief!! My 7 year old weighs 40lb. My 4.5 year old weighs 30lb and my niece who is also 4.5 years old weighs 55lb. So she weighs more than her cousin who's 2 and a half years OLDER than her.

It also depends on the height of the child.

Again I state.... My 3.5 (he will be 4 in August) is 40lbs but he is also tall for his age.

According to the doctors he is not everweight at all.

Normal weight range for a 4 year old is around 40lbs.

Rach_Gem_n_Disguise

While I do agree in most cases obese children are a result of their parent's fault....however, many factors can come into play. Each situation is different. There are cases of children suffering with thyroid issues or depression, etc.

I personally have a 12 year old son who is slightly over weight and we are working with him on his diet. He is seeing a doctor about his depression/anxiety issues. With his father and I being divorced and numerous other factors (his birth Mom up and leaving without saying goodbye a few years back) he started holding emotions in and feeding them with food. You can't always monitor what and when your children eat. Especially when they want to buy food at school and it's mainly junk I recently found out. However, I've tried showing him MFP and explaining the importance of realizing how much he's consuming and eating only if he's really hungry. It's helped. His father and I were amazed he has lost 9 lbs since seeing the doctor and starting baseball. So proud of him.

My youngest just turned 5 and is so picky. He takes after me I guess. I can barely get the child to eat anything other than nuggets, fries, ramen noodles, or garlic bread. He loves carrots and celery...grapes, apples....so that's good. I just wish he'd try regular food without such a struggle. I've heard many people say their children went through the nuggets/fries stage. He starts school this fall. Afraid his packed lunch will consist of a fruit snack, carrots, celery, and grapes. He won't eat regular bread, so sandwiches are out of the picture. Anyone with picky little ones?

archgrrrl

I would bet my bottom dollar that if we focused on the mounting poverty crisis in this country, the obesity "epidemic" would magically and nearly completely disappear.

Ohjeezitskim

I seen this on facebook and really just had to show it. )

I read the title, and thought of this picture before clicking on it lol

DietingMommy08

I seen this on facebook and really just had to show it. )

I read the title, and thought of this picture before clicking on it lol

Hahahahaha. :bigsmile:

kkjay

My youngest just turned 5 and is so picky. He takes after me I guess. I can barely get the child to eat anything other than nuggets, fries, ramen noodles, or garlic bread. He loves carrots and celery...grapes, apples....so that's good. I just wish he'd try regular food without such a struggle. I've heard many people say their children went through the nuggets/fries stage. He starts school this fall. Afraid his packed lunch will consist of a fruit snack, carrots, celery, and grapes. He won't eat regular bread, so sandwiches are out of the picture. Anyone with picky little ones?

I myself was a really picky eater. I still am. I didn't really open up to more foods until the past few years... so most of my life so far I've been uber picky. My favorite food of choice was also chicken fingers and fries. I still love it. :laugh: I know sometimes for me I didn't like foods because of certain textures/the way it looked or smelled. For example pork. My parents always used to use shake and bake breading mix and I just do not like eating it. I thought I hated pork for the longest time until we tried something new, a marinade- not breading-and I love eating it. Whats regular bread? You could try different kinds? I grew up on wheat/whole grain bread only to realize all my friends had white. I refuse to eat anything on white bread, I can't stand it. I think it again goes back to texture, everything is just so soggy on white bread among other things. Doubt this helped, but I thought I'd give my own two cents.

DietingMommy08

My youngest just turned 5 and is so picky. He takes after me I guess. I can barely get the child to eat anything other than nuggets, fries, ramen noodles, or garlic bread. He loves carrots and celery...grapes, apples....so that's good. I just wish he'd try regular food without such a struggle. I've heard many people say their children went through the nuggets/fries stage. He starts school this fall. Afraid his packed lunch will consist of a fruit snack, carrots, celery, and grapes. He won't eat regular bread, so sandwiches are out of the picture. Anyone with picky little ones?

I myself was a really picky eater. I still am. I didn't really open up to more foods until the past few years... so most of my life so far I've been uber picky. My favorite food of choice was also chicken fingers and fries. I still love it. :laugh: I know sometimes for me I didn't like foods because of certain textures/the way it looked or smelled. For example pork. My parents always used to use shake and bake breading mix and I just do not like eating it. I thought I hated pork for the longest time until we tried something new, a marinade- not breading-and I love eating it. Whats regular bread? You could try different kinds? I grew up on wheat/whole grain bread only to realize all my friends had white. I refuse to eat anything on white bread, I can't stand it. I think it again goes back to texture, everything is just so soggy on white bread among other things. Doubt this helped, but I thought I'd give my own two cents.

Same with my son and he wont eat vegables at all.
Certain textures seriously make him gag and hes even thrown up a time or 2. "/

I still give him what he prefers but just in smaller portions of those and bigger portions of the fruits that he WILL eat.

DG_Allen

I can't respond to this w/o going on an epic rant...
:explode:

amysala85

My mom fed me huge servings and i got used to eating like a pig, i was 3 and drinking 6pks of coke a day. We had to finish all of our food, I guess because back then they didnt get to eat so much so mom wanted to make sure we did. We had fruits,veggies, but they werent pushed on us. When i was little i wanted them but that learning curve left and i didnt really care for them. i was 9 years old and 125 lbs, 5 foot 3. I got 3 1/2 inches taller and closer to 200lbs and then down to 150, and then had my kids and am still struggling, but ive found my balance and the weight is starting to come off. I haven't had a soda in about 2 months (diet) and am weaning off crystal light. 3 of my kids are of healthy weight, my 2 year old though is 36 lbs and 37 inches tall, She is chubby, and would sneak food. I was also being like my mom and started filling their bowls more, now i do less for the kids under 5, then add a little more for the ones over, and then there are ours, I do a cup and a half for adults, a cup for the children, and half for the babies. i do not limit their fruits/veggies, and do limit sweets and am trying to get them off crystal light and onto water, its hard but i do not want them like me. We do exercise and we are working on being healthier.

jcriscuolo

Fast foods and video games