Get Rid of Obesity Once and For All?
March 14, 2008 by Liz Harper
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Obesity in children is seriously getting out of control.
But where does it start? It has been suggested by some health commentators that it goes back to when you first start introducing solids to your kids diet….at an infant level. If this is true, does that mean we as parents decide (Through our own eating habits and actions) if our children will be obese or healthy? Personally, I believe that to a large degree we do.
Why are our children obese?
Parents talk about children who are fussy eaters (and I am not including any children who have food allergies or intolerances here as that is a whole different kettle of fish)….Now I’ve heard it can take anywhere between 8 and 15 attempts to get a child to eat a new food. So it makes me wonder how many parents of “Fussy Eaters” have simply given up after 2 or 3 attempts?
Having said that, We all know how difficult it can be to have to expend extra energy fighting with your children over food at the end of a 50 hour working week….but at the end of the day if you don’t do it…you run the risk of producing an unhealthy or obese child.
You also end up on a merry-go-round of wasted energy. Why? Well lets say your child has refused a healthy meal of meat and vegetables and has thrown a tantrum until they’ve been offered a snack or processed food or fast-food take-away meal that is loaded with sugar or fat. Now, the immediate reward for you (as the parent) is that you get silence and a seemingly happy child (because they got their own way). And Believe me, I know how much you can like the silence!
But what has the child learned? That they only need to throw a tantrum for 3min? 15min? 17min? Before mum/dad will give in and give them what they want? That they decide what is the best food for their bodies?
What happens to the child now? Well they are fed, but with all the extra sugar and salt and fat they aren’t getting the proper vitamins and minerals that they need for healthy bodies, quick minds, strong bones and steady blood sugar levels. This can result in more frequent illness, poor sleep, poor concentration and behavioral issues (not to mention in some cases diabetes and higher cholesterol etc…scary finding… Autopsies of children killed in accidents showed they had adult levels of cholesterol in their veins ).
What does this do for the parents? Well instead of spending the extra 15-30min of energy in getting your child to eat the foods that YOU decide is appropriate, you now have to regularly attend to behavioural issues because your child can’t concentrate properly or hasn’t gotten adequate sleep. Or you might have to take a day or two off work more frequently because you can’t send your child to daycare because they are too sick.
This then makes you too tired to be bothered cooking a nutritious meal and you end up buying take-away for the family and then YOU don’t get the vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy and you end up with health issues of your own (and in a lot of cases this can be more severe - especially when it becomes related to heart disease.)
And so it goes… round and round you go…
Breaking the Obesity cycle
At some point you will need to break the cycle. Personally I haven’t heard of a case of an overweight child dying in their sleep because the parent told them they could either eat the meal that was served up or go to bed without eating at all. I have a 4 year old who sometimes refuses food but then later wants a sweet treat. But I always make her throw out her leftovers with the knowledge that if she does, there’s no more food for that meal (its amazing how reluctant she has become to throw food in the bin). And I can’t tell you how gratifying it is when she goes to look in the fridge during the day for a snack and chooses of her own accord- an apple!
If you are going to implement this technique you CANNOT give in! Last night it took her 3 hrs to finish her dinner (bringing it in and out of the fridge) and then she couldn’t fit in the ice-cream that she wanted.
Is Obesity A form of child Abuse?
One question I would like to ask the families of Obese children and even adults is….If a person is morbidly obese and unable to do their own grocery shopping, who brings their food to the house? And further more, if they love this person, why would they choose foods that will contribute to the problem?
Maybe its not as black and white as I think it is….maybe I’m generalising too much…. maybe there is more underlying psychological issues here…if so, I would love to hear your comments on this? I have also read a number of studies where they are analyzing the way babies are fed (ie breastfed or bottle-fed) and also looking at what women eat during pregnancy and then seeing if there’s links to pre-disposing children to weight problems….in other words they are saying children can be born with a sweet tooth and that there’s nothing you can do about it… its pre-determined that they will be fat!
Which is in my opinion absolute rubbish! (You might have a different opinion, but I believe that just because a child might like sweet things… doesn’t mean they should be given them! )
In Summary
At the end of the day - you are the parent and have control (or at least should have control) over what your child eats. And I will even go so far as to say that I think that parents who allow their children to become obese are actually committing a form of child abuse. Children rely on their parents to set boundaries and teach them how to live healthy lives.
If your child is a fussy eater and you need more help in guiding them towards healthier food choices… here are some great sites and resources for you to use:
- Healthy Eating for fussy eaters
- MasterFoods - Spice up your kids meals
- Nubella - How to deal with Fussy Eaters
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I’ve spent 30 years treating overweight and obese people. And what I’ve found is that only a very small percentage of them have any physical problems like a sluggish thyroid causing them to gain weight.
Instead I find that they have eating disorders.
That means the they are overeating because of stress, conditioned responses, and emotional problems - being overweight does provide all sorts of emotional protection.
The next time you walk through the mall, or down the street, take a look at the families as they walk by. Notice that in most cases, if the parents are overweight, they will both be overweight, and the children will all be overweight. And notice that the opposite is also true.
What that means is that children tend to emulate their parents as far as things like personality and eating behaviors, and for that matter many other attitudes and behaviors as well.
So the parents have “hypnotized” the children into their behaviors. Monkey see monkey do. So if you parents really care about your children, and you want them to stay healthy and fit, then the best thing that you can do is to provide a positive example by living a healthful lifestyle yourself! That will have a lot more effect on the way your children behave and eat than telling them to do as I say, not as I do.
Thanks so much for your comment Alan… its great to get a professional’s point of view…I think its an excellent point that you make re: parents needing to set a positive example by living a healthy lifestyle themselves…that way both the parents and their children benefit…Liz
The first thing that I saw in this post is the Fries. And the first thing that I have in my mind is going to the nearest McDonald!I think we need to put more healthier pictures around us so that we are motivated to stay healthy than the motivation of eating..
This article explains clearly and correctly the responsibility of parents to develop good eating habits in their children. Easier if you model good eating habits.
In my husband’s book about problems in education, he devotes an entire chapter to the impact of diet and nutrition on children’s learning and behavior in school. One thing parents need to be vigilant about is monitoring what school cafeterias and vending machines are providing as “food”. If unhealthy food and snacks make up the mainstay of a child’s diet during the day, growth & LEARNING suffers. Not to mention the longterm health problems associated with obesity and a sickly diet.
Too many people don’t realize that Malnutrition is BAD nutrition, whether it’s a matter of too much or too little.
Thank you for an excellent report!
Brennan Kingsland RN, BSOM, CHRN
Brennan Kingsland’s last blog post..Teens, STDs & Consequences
Of my 4 children, my youngest was the fussiest (sp) eater, and I’ll never forget the time she went to a favorite family “healthy” fast food place, where her favorite meal was a plain tuna sandwich. Plain, meaning just tuna salad and white (or the closest they had to white bread).
After a year of this, she proudly came home and announced, she’d gone there with some friends and gotten tuna salad on whole grain. She still ate it plain, but she’d switched her bread choice.
For her, it was a food milestone…………………….:)
LisaN’s last blog post..LisaN commented on the blog post Busy, busy, busy
Thx for the comment Sleepy Surfer…..One of the reasons we used that image is because it evokes so many different reactions - while for you seeing the fries makes you want to run down to your local McDonald’s store, for me I rather vomit.
I agree that you do bring up a good point about surrounding ourselves (and our children) with positive healthy images. I know here in Australia we are trying to stop fast food being advertised during children’s programs.
I believe that children need to learn early about what effects junk food has on their bodies. Removing every image of fatty food temptations isn’t the way to do that in my opinion. At some point, our children are going to be confronted with “bad” foods and I think that they need the skills to be able to deal with that. These skills don’t always involve not eating the food, it might be that they choose to eat less (knowing that its not a good food choice).
I like to reinforce the healthy food choices in our house by doing things like associating how the body feels when you eat certain foods. If my daughter has been to a party, and has eaten the lollies in the lolly bag, usually she complains later of feeling sick… and I always say “that’s because of the yucky sweet lollies you ate”. If we are playing a game of “Tea Party” we pretend to eat pieces of big, juicy watermelon, or crunchy apples. I like to use lots of positive adjectives to describe good foods and use less appealing adjectives to describe foods that I’d rather she didn’t eat.
Thanks for your comment Brennan…sounds like your husband has a good book. I’m pleased to say that we’re seeing a move towards healthier food choices in our local school tuckshops (Aussie speak for canteen/cafeteria…place where the kids can get “tucker” or food.) The schools seem to be putting more carrot sticks and fruit choices on the menu than they have fried foods. What’s happening in your schools? What would be the percentage of healthy foods vs unhealthy foods? (For others reading this comment - please feel free to respond with your school’s menu %)