i tell you this fat debate with kids has really made me mad. seriously.
why is all fat being looked at equally. they are not equal. esp. in children. esp. children with healthy eating.
how come genetics is not taken into consideration? what happens to baby fat?
the reason why i bring this up is coz i have suffered. dd has been fat since birth. she continued to be fat through her early elementary school years. she couldnt perform on the monkey bar like her other skinny friends. she wasnt just fat. she was obese. she had to deal with her friends calling her fat. i would not call them bullies though. just social conditioning. she was struggling to fit into clothes in the large sizes.
did i worry? did i do anything? no. because first dd is a high energy child and she always ate a healthy diet (now that she is 10 its a whole other story - but she still eats some of her veggies) dd has inhereted her father's body type. he had teh same thing as dd had. down to the same round cheeks till he hit his puberty. and boom he lost the weight. dd has followed in his footsteps to the T. she is now a slim girl with curves. on the scale she is still heavy (no longer fat or obese) but that's because like me she has heavy bones. but seeing her slimness you'd never believe she was that heavy.
everybody loves jumping on the fat bandwagon. we have gotten so judgemental about it that even our children make fun of other children. yet no one tries really hard to help. this is the result of wonder bread. what was it. a hundred years ago or so wonder bread ads made you feel horrible if you were cooking from scratch and not spending time with your family. in the process one lost basic nutritional knowledge. and then throw in addiction and how can anyone compete. we are a nation that is overeating and are addicted to food. i think the book overeating was an eye opener to me.
it is v. easy to say hey tell the kids to stop eating all that junk. but is it that simple? there is the social pressure. there is the food addiction. even adults though they know they are intolerant or allergic to some foods, still cant say no. even adults cant stop eating. somehow food has become a big thing than just feeding our body.
btw no we are not the only nation that is obese. it is spreading all the world over as people get more sedentary and eat an american diet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfENV7cW3eE
why does soda even exist? or for that matter even martinelli's
in fact as i watch some people i see for whom the definition of food is completely different than mine. and we eat completely different things. as dd gets ready for middle school one of my concerns is will she be able to handle the peer pressure over teasing about food. how sad is that - that healthy eating is looked down upon. where a muffin is a good breakfast - when in my books - it is junky food.
many of us - we are lucky. we have access to good healthy basic whole grains and veggies. for many others either they have no idea how to cook carrots or they have gotten so used to processed foods that carrots taste disgusting.
i think too we are looking at fat so differently. you cant look at fat in children the same way as adults. growth spurts or other hormonal changes made our kids for a while heavy set.
there are a few kids in dd's class that are fat. i think the kids by now in 5th grade have gotten over the fat name calling.
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