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This is not something that I talk about very often on this blog, but it is a real passion of mine.
When I worked at the elementary school up the street, I helped the school nurse develop a program to address the problem of obesity with the children in our care.
We talked about nutrition, I developed a program of calisthenics for my kindergarten class, and we added an extra P.E. class during the week. (We had originally only had one, if you can believe it.)
As a personal trainer I talked to the teachers and even helped them to work on exercise programs of their own so that they could be examples to their children. It was a lot of fun and we had some pretty amazing results. (And by the way this was not about making people skinny, it was about making them healthier. Some of the teachers actually gained weight but the fat percentage in their bodies went down and their heart rate improved along with flexibility and even an improvement in their moods.)
I read someplace where conservatives were complaining that the government should not be telling children how to raise their children, and that parents could determine for themselves how much to feed their kids or when to make them exercise. But the cold hard truth is that childhood obesity has tripled in the last 30 years and there is no indication that it is going to get better on its own.
Michelle Obama gets it. Her speech (and I encourage you to listen to the whole thing) is dead on.
However Mrs. Obama is constrained by rules of decorum and the need to be politically correct. So as eloquent as she is I would like to make the case a little more bluntly.
If you are letting your children sit around stuffing their face with empty calories while playing video games all day, you are committing child abuse! You are helping to actually shorten their lifespan and are guaranteeing them a life of chronic health issues and expensive medications. In other words as a parent you suck!
Not only that but you are taking the genetic material bequeathed to you by your Homo-Sapien forefathers, who struggled to survive in the harshest of environments so that you might live, and squandering it on a life of gluttony and slothfulness. How dare you!
Okay all done now. I am sorry if that seemed a little harsh, or as Sarah would say "like lecturing", but I care about you and your children, and I care about our country, and I just think we need to start taking better care of ourselves.
And by the way, Michelle Obama agrees with me. You might be able to ignore me, but she is so nice wouldn't you like to put a smile on her face by making some healthier choices for your family?
Yes! Well said. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteCan't shout it from the hill tops any louder---
ReplyDeleteAmericans are FAT and so are our children!
Stop feeding your children FAST FOOD (Hint: It's NOT food!)
Stop feeding your children boxed anything made from man.
Get off your butt-ox and MOVE and ENJOY:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCNUMk7oCXE
It isn't how much our children are eating. It's that the food we are able to provide to them is drenched in sugar, fat and chemicals. And we're deliberately denied both the time and money to change that, for the most part.
ReplyDeleteJarred baby food is what? Nearly 50% sugar, and immense amounts of sodium? The last few kids, I made immense pots of low-heat veggie goop and froze it in single servings. But cooking takes time. Mothers work until right up to dinner time, and rush everyone through a quick breakfast to get to school & job on time.
And unless you have the money to go organic -- and NO middle-class family does -- you buy the chemically-enhanced and DNA-twisted produce from stores. The catsup, juice, cheese from genetically-damaged cows, seafood with 'acceptable' mercury levels, fruit grown in third-world countries, contaminated by water and soil, and covered in dozens of different bug and mold repellants. Also, flavorless and unripe.
WTF are we supposed to do? There are too many corporations running the food production of this world with the collusion of governments who want us uneducated and living with the results of poor nutrition -- we're lucky that we haven't yet been given the choice of eating Soylent Green or starving.
Wasn't there a television program that focused on just this topic called "Honey, we're killing the kids?"
ReplyDeleteThey basically took real families and projected their kids' image and health data 20 or 30 years to show parents just how much of an impact they actually had.
PS - Agree on the comment about the over-processed foods. Just because something is "safe for consumption" doesn't mean it should be consumed.
I just moved to the Valley from rural AK a few months ago. I now work in a restaurant in the Valley and I am so shocked by the choices people make. It amazes me when families come in there children are set no limits or given any guidance in there menu selections. It will be 9pm on a school night and the kids order soda first thing ( and receive several refills usually requested by the parent) Then they have a fried appetizer followed by a double bacon cheese burger and cheese fries and last but not least a piece of pie or cake with ice cream. The whole time the kid is sitting there playing with some portable video game. It is just so sad. But all I can think of is what the teacher the next day has to deal with. A kid with little sleep who has a digestive system that is so over loaded I doubt the kid can keep his eyes open. Thanks for taking this subject on.
ReplyDeleteNutrition? Gasp! Isn't that socialist?
ReplyDeleteYeah Mrs. Obama! Yeah Gryphen! I too am passionate about this topic. Eat to live, not live to eat. Think about what you put into your body and teach your children well. Change takes time. For me and my family, watching some documentaries like Fast Food Nation, Supersize Me and one other that escapes me, helped to change our ways. We buy locally now. I do a coop garden with coworkers - yes it is a 20 minute drive to get there, but it is totally organic. This country can not afford another generation of people with many self caused health problems. We can't.
ReplyDeleteI need to heed the advice myself and eat better, exercise too. Unfortunately, the food that 'fits best' with my budget isn't always healthy.
ReplyDeleteExercise? I've found an affordable gym right near my house. It's $25/month, no contract or credit checks. IF I can work up the nerve for public exercise, I might give it a shot. If not, I'll just try to walk more, on a regular basis. It's better than doing nothing, I guess?
Great points, Anonymous 12:07 p.m.
ReplyDeleteOur physician added the following tips to our quest to get fit:
1. drink your food (i.e., chew it well so it not going down in big chunks that are difficult to digest for nutrients).
2. chew your water (i.e., sip your fluids while you eat instead of gulping a beverage that can cause gastric distress and also impede proper digestion).
3. slow down when you eat. Turn off the TV, put away the newspaper, have conversations or simply concentrate on the blessing that is food.
4. stay away from soft drinks and any processed foods made with high fructose corn syrup. It is being proven to be a leading factor in adult-onset diabetes. Manufacturers use it because it is cheaper than sugar. Some say our current obesity problem can be traced to the introduction and widespread use of HFCS.
5. As Gryphen says, exercise. Our doc says even 10 minutes a few times a day can lower blood pressure and help stabilize blood sugar, but do something you love do to - dance about, walk, play Wii, or just stomp about after reading a Sarah screed.
6. Eat every two hours - a bit of protein (like hummus, a cube of or peanut butter if nothing else), some fiber (like fruit) and stay hydrated. Sometimes we feel hungry because we are dehydrated - just don't drink soft drinks to quench your thirst.
Like Gryphen says it's not about weight, it is about being fit.
W are not powerless, but you are correct - the food industry and our busy schedules don't make it easy on us.
Yes walking is a great exercise. Start small and build up. In my school the teachers were given pedometers and they tracked how much they walked in a day and tried to increase it a little at a time. It really made a difference.
ReplyDeleteThey took their kids for nature hikes, and did more outside the classroom education,the children loved it and it got them up and moving.
It is true that bad foods are cheap foods, but there are plenty of healthy choices that do not cost a lot. Think natural. Stay away from processed foods as much as possible.
Eat out only once a month. Make it a treat for the family, not an everyday occurrence.
back in the olden days...we would play outside til dark and burn off God knows how many calories each day. We had actual gym class at school (you know...break a sweat)We didn't have soda at home (couldn't afford it) and rarely had snacks.
ReplyDeleteMy 20 year old son is skinny,,,and has been since he was a baby (good genes I suppose). So many of his friends were chubby in grade school. I can honestly only remember a handful of kids in my school that were overweight. Lack of exercise, supesized portions, and way too many preservatives.
Good for Mrs. Obama. I am sure we can expect Sarah to weigh in on the benefits of eating moose soon.
Being recently diagnosed with an eating disorder, I hope Michelle Obama is able to do this in such away that it empowers children and their parents and not place too much emphasis on the skinny waif size some people may not attain. I agree obesity is a problem in this country, but I don't want to trade one weight related health issue with another.
ReplyDeleteGryphen, as a personal trainer do you think this is an achievable goal?
If you listen to Michelle's speech you will hear her carefully make the point that this is not about being skinny, it is about being healthy.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of skinny people who are very unhealthy.
Do I think it is achievable to lose fat without developing an eating disorder? Hell yes!
Remember to set easily achievable short term goals. Long term success is developed by reaching a number of short term goals.
I live in an area that has many overweight people. It's shocking to go to the grocery store and see the number of obese people riding around the store in the motorized shopping carts. These are youngish people. I have no idea if they have health problems that caused the weight gain or are just obese. I feel sorry for them.
ReplyDeleteI also live in a small town in Colorado that has a very active, outdoorsy population. Guess what? I rarely see over weight people here. I'm blessed by good genes. I also make sure I eat wisely and walk or bike everywhere. I'm glad Michelle is making this one of her missions.
I'm less likely to blame food than some of you. I grew up eating fried everything and drinking Kool Aid with sugar. No one discussed nutrition. School lunches were salisbury steak and gravy. There wasn't a diet soda until Tab and that was high school. We paid no attention to what we put in our mouths--including Red dye #2 which came off the market when I was growing up. (No more red M&Ms!) The single largest change in our children's lifestyles is screen time.
ReplyDeleteWe did NOT have 24 hour television geared to our tastes. We had it for 2 hours after school and Saturday morning. When I was growing up, The Ten Commandments was considered children's television because of the special effects. We did not have video games. We didn't have computers. We didn't have parents who were so frightened by media coverage of stranger abductions that we were chauffeured everywhere.
It's easy to blame the food, but I think that's a much smaller piece of the puzzle than the screen time.
Eating a healthy diet is important, but the gorilla in the room is TV/computers. No one will point that finger though, because it's too useful and lucrative a tool to those that should do the pointing.
Kudos to Michelle for trying, but I think this train has left the station. Games/social networking/Nickelodeon are too ingrained in youth culture now.
I applaud Michelle's motivation and intent. Unless she is willing to say "the emperor has no clothes" I fear it will be futile. The government recommendations for healthy diet fail to recognize the research on nutrition. It's not particularly the government's fault. THe medical and nutritional communities also ignore it.
ReplyDeleteI encourage everyone to read Good Calories/Bad Calories - written by a science journalist (award-winning) who chose not to make it a diet book because he wanted respect as a journalist and scientist. Current nutritional guidelines are based on egos and politics.
Thank you for posting.
ReplyDeleteIs there a twit yet or facebook rant about the Obama government telling us how to raise our kids!!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how the right wingnuts will twist this to make what Michelle is saying into something ugly.
ReplyDeleteI love her. What a wonderful woman!
When I developed a bunch of food allergies, the first thing that the allergist had me eliminate from my diet was any prepared food. I could only eat fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, meat products, simple foods. It wasn't hard to make the change, and I lost a couple of pounds as a bonus.
ReplyDeleteI started reading labels on prepared food. It is amazing how many chemicals and preservatives are put there to prolong their shelf life. If it is put there so the item can sit on the shelf for a week, guess what it does to your body. It sits there. Fats, salt, more chemicals are put in there to enhance taste. None of this is really good for you.
There are many good, simple, healthy items to choose from. For example, a local Italian bakery makes the best bread using only flour, water, salt and yeast. A piece of fresh fruit is better than a flavored soft drink.
A big advocate of healthy eating is Bill Maher, who insists that one of the worst drugs in the US today is high fructose corn syrup. Its sugary good taste is so addicting and it is responsible for a generation of fat kids.
Another serious problem is the over-exposure to antibiotics in our food chain. To prevent animal feed from spoiling, it is dosed with antibiotics. Hormones also speed the growth and bulk of cows, for example. So, we are being overexposed to hormones and drugs in our hamburgers and milk shakes. It may account for girls reaching puberty at an increasingly younger age each year.
The rant is over; let's get back to Sarah. At first I was very critical of the way she dressed, made herself up, even the way she dressed Piper. Then I remembered the criticism from the 2008 campaign when hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on shopping sprees, stylists, and lost underwear. I think that Sarah is trying to dress to please her crowd, trying to look like something that appeals to them. For the guys, those skirts will be even shorter. She actually does want that cheap-glam look because the people she wants to attract will find it just right, not phony, like that stylist stuff from the campaign. Originally, Sarah wanted to be as glamorous as Cindy McCain. Now, she is working on a "authentic, folksy" appeal.
Mrs. Obama is on Larry King tonight (Tuesday)
ReplyDeleteYes,you did a very good job helping all those children Gryphen. Thank you. Too bad Mrs Palin and her ambulance chaser Von Flien had to out you. Why does Mrs Palin and Von SFlien hate children?
ReplyDeleteLisaB,
ReplyDeleteI agree that a lot of this issue has to do with raising generations of "couch potato" children. But I saw an article not long ago comparing portion sizes from different decades. Those burgers and fries we all ate as teenagers were much smaller. As for "school food" (we had great cooks at my K-12) they made fresh food, not this premade salty, additive filled stuff being fed to todays children.
Americans are the most obese in the world. As many have pointed out, it is not just one factor involved in being healthy; but a combination of healthy food choices and some form of exercise on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteWhen the fast food industry exploded in America, it was for many a quick, easy replacement for home-cooked meals. More people bought into the fast food and, coupled with the advent of the computer coming of age, we created a nation dependent on immediate gratification. Computer technology experienced rapid growth. Anyone remember "Pong"? ;D
That was soon replaced by far more sophisticated gaming than we ever dreamed of. More growth spurts in that area with more people glued, addicted to fantasy gaming and investing enormous amounts of time playing.
Then anything and everything we didn't even imagine was suddenly available any time from anywhere with anybody at the touch of our fingertips. We became glued to our monitors. More immediate info available at home and at work with our computers, laptops. Plug in at our favorite Starbuck's, Peet's or local cafe. Woo-hoo--we are "connected".
We sat in awe at the altar of our amazing and wonderful computer. Our children sat playing endless games for hours. The family unit was in some ways replaced by their computers. Grab some fast food, a pizza, soda and call it dining together-but hurry.
Sedentary activities added a lump of soft fat that grew with the lack of physical activity. Grab a bite amongst the computer bytes.
Of course, this is not applicable to every person in America; however, the statistics did indicate that we as a nation were simply fatter and out of shape.
Fitness centers, gyms, spas beckoned us to reclaim our bodies and health. We did flock to them. That was a good thing, but again as a nation we are still out of shape.
Thank you First Lady Michelle Obama for taking on this problem and providing your own story along with information and the need to take better care of our bodies, health and well-being.
Americans are the most obese in the world. As many have pointed out, it is not just one factor involved in being healthy; but a combination of healthy food choices and some form of exercise on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteWhen the fast food industry exploded in America, it was for many a quick, easy replacement for home-cooked meals. More people bought into the fast food and, coupled with the advent of the computer coming of age, we created a nation dependent on immediate gratification. Computer technology experienced rapid growth. Anyone remember "Pong"? ;D
That was soon replaced by far more sophisticated gaming than we ever dreamed of. More growth spurts in that area with more people glued, addicted to fantasy gaming and investing enormous amounts of time playing.
Then anything and everything we didn't even imagine was suddenly available any time from anywhere with anybody at the touch of our fingertips. We became glued to our monitors. More immediate info available at home and at work with our computers, laptops. Plug in at our favorite Starbuck's, Peet's or local cafe. Woo-hoo--we are "connected".
We sat in awe at the altar of our amazing and wonderful computer. Our children sat playing endless games for hours. The family unit was in some ways replaced by their computers. Grab some fast food, a pizza, soda and call it dining together-but hurry.
Sedentary activities added a lump of soft fat that grew with the lack of physical activity. Grab a bite amongst the computer bytes.
Of course, this is not applicable to every person in America; however, the statistics did indicate that we as a nation were simply fatter and out of shape.
Fitness centers, gyms, spas beckoned us to reclaim our bodies and health. We did flock to them. That was a good thing, but again as a nation we are still out of shape.
Thank you First Lady Michelle Obama for taking on this problem and providing your own story along with information and the need to take better care of our bodies, health and well-being.
Great post, Gryphen!
ReplyDeleteOur kids' generation is the first generation in a long time whose lifespan is expected to be less than their parents because of unhealthy lifestyle and food choices. Sad.
Great topic Gryphen. I admire Mrs. Obama for taking this issue on. I weep for the children I see who can barely waddle. It just kills me to see the cr*p people put into their shopping carts. The woman with her two young children standing in front of me in the supermarket today had a cart fully half loaded with cookies, donuts, chips and sugary cereals. It takes all my strength to keep my mouth shut.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but the "I don't have the time" excuse is no excuse. Your children and your self is worth making the time. I worked two jobs, reared three children, kept a nice home with pets and a garden and managed to cook a meal nearly every night. We had pizza occasionally or maybe Chinese, but that was the rare exception and not the rule. Growing up, we did not drink soda. We drank water or milk until we were old enough to have cafe au lait if we wanted it. I followed that with my own children. It takes very little time to put a nutritious meal on the table. You don't need meat at every meal. We did Meatless Mondays and Pasta Wednesdays long before it became a mantra.
Read every book written by Michael
Pollan. Read Fast Food Nation. Do not buy processed food! If it is food that has had something done to it, it is no longer food. It has become a chemistry experiment. Shop the perimeter of the supermarket. That is where the food is. Buy a breadmaker. Rachel Ray has cookbooks that give recipes you can whip up in 20 minutes.
Rant over.
I cut a deal with my kids. We don't have XBox, WII, or anythink like it. In exhange, I buy them bikes, skateboards, skates, a pool, camping equipment, bats, balls, footballs, soccor balls. You get the picture. My 8 yr old asked me this year for a game system. I listened to his pitch, then calmly walked to the big glass window and said "Behold! Thy Video games! I call it the OUTSIDE!".
ReplyDeleteI wish I were as good a mom as Palin is. Seems I read somewhere they've got video games out the wazzo. No wonder her kids are losers.
Dear sarah, That hope and change is working very well for me. Thanks for asking.
ReplyDeleteI am very proud of the work that the president and first lady are doing for all of our citizens.
Sincerely,
A real American
My mother was a baby boomer. She fed us Banquet frozen chicken & bolongna with Wonder Bread. (I remember Salisbury steak!)
ReplyDeleteYikes, no wonder when I was 16, I quit drinking soda. When I was 17, red meat. 19, all meat.
I've tried to eat a whole foods, vegetarian diet for the last 20 years. But it was too late for me.
My metabolism was shot. I can workout for an hour, 6 days a week and not lose weight. I do not absorb nutrients & I am tired all of the time.
Then I found out I was allergic or sensitive to almost everything I did eat. (even the good stuff)
WHY? I think my body is so full of toxins from the crap that I grew up on & the hidden stuff I didn't know I was eating.
Luckily my son never fought me off as I fed him salad. He never whined when I didn't take him McDonald's. I didn't want my son to end up like me. (He loves that movie "Super Size" me)
I think Mrs. O. is a great woman & is doing more good for the country than Sarah Palin could do in 100 lifetimes.
Maybe the next generation will have a better chance of being healthy with a spotlight on nutrition & well being.
Of course no one will acknowledge the elephant in the room when it comes to these obesity problems. High fructose corn syrup has got to be a huge part of the problem. Too much money to be made by Coca-cola and the rest of them. When I was a kid drinking a soda in school got the same response as cracking a beer would have. Now they sell that pop in the halls and justify it because it 'supports school programs.' My ass.
ReplyDeleteI applaud Mrs. Obama's efforts to bring childhood obesity front and center for all of lazy-assed parents - and I say that with tongue in cheek because I do think that we've become at the very least complacent.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that there are FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS in our school cafeterias, and POP MACHINES in our schools' hallways tells me that we have SOLD OUT.
I say we start by saying NO to that revenue even if it means we need to levy up and raise it otherwise, taxes or donations. We can not expect to see results from anything we do at home if it is at least not SOLD to them at school.
I have children who are too young right now to be at risk because they eat what i give them here and in their lunches - AND they are active...I am hoping that the good choices they make here at home (based on having several reasonably good options of course) will translate to saying no to crappy food when they are in schools that serve CRAP.
I hate that it's necessary to serve substandard food to all because it is the only way to guarantee that they will ALL be fed. I'd so much rather go back to brown bagged lunch for all or a PB and J....seriously, school lunches are just - CRAP, most of the time.
And POP MACHINES? that is freaking INSANE. Unbelievably insane and such an obvious disregard for the precious commodity that is our children in the name of the almighty buck.
Screw that. I get irate on this topic in case nobody has noticed.
Jill in OH
anon 5:37 pm Same here, and thank you for your post supporting our president, and his family. With all the undeserved hate this family is exposed to 24/7, I am sure any support the citizens give is very much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteWhen going out to eat at a huge number of places, what they serve you for breakfast alone is sufficient for me for my 3 meals that day. Portion sizes in many restaurants have grown to the point where people who eat everything on their plate have had their calorie intake for the day - plus more. I sit in a restaurant and feel like instead of voices talking, it should be the grunts of pigs. Just because it is on the plate, doesn't mean you have to finish it. It's why a number of tourists look at Americans as wasteful, greedy people and therefore deserve to be obese then complain about not being able to loose weight - the boo hoo story.
ReplyDeleteWell, it didn't take long. We're now living in a "nanny state" and the critics are asking Where in the Constitution...etc. Are we living in the Twilight Zone?
ReplyDeleteAlso too. When you provide an environment of constant anxiety in childhood in the child's "home" or "havoc" nee "compound"; you start your cortisol losing the fight or flight thingy so that by the time they are in their twenties or thirties they are guaranteed to be shoving ALL extra calories into gargantuan lipids stored viscerally until they prematurely collapse. The pix of Piper and her "Mommy" is a case in point; ergo the older sisters and the crawlers in the "home/havoc". Oh yeah sure. What's another million. Right Say ree? :) It's all good.
ReplyDeleteI'm ashamed that this was posted by a Tennessee woman (guerillawomentn.blogspot.com):
ReplyDelete~~~~~
Michelle Obama is talking about her daughters' weight again. How many girls do you know who are comfortable with the nation discussing their weight and scrutinizing their changing bodies? Is Michelle Obama's concern about health? Or is it about the cultural prescription that girls must always be thin?
"I cringed when I read where President Barack Obama referred to his own daughter Malia as “chubby.” How did she feel to realize that the most important man in her life found fault with her appearance and then told the whole world about it?" -- sandymaple
~~~~~
I was banned from commenting there (they don't like my satirical satire), but dang they make me so mad they way they bash Michelle.