Pajamas Media

43 Comments

1. Tony R:

Laughable.

“…if our children are fat, the chances are we bear a big load of the blame.”

A big load? Try “nearly all”.

Too many weak parents no longer have any ability to say “no” to their demanding little brats and therefore just give in and give them what they want. It’s not rocket science, its just poor lazy parenting.

TV ads? Soda machines in schools? Excuses all.

Dec 11, 2008 - 2:38 am 2. Austin:

Kids that play outside a lot have no issues.

Dec 11, 2008 - 5:56 am 3. Macgawd:

Excuses, excuses. Scientists can stop with the studies already: Kids are fat because their parents leave them comatose in front of the TV for hours on end, while choking down junk food full of empty calories. End of story.

I live in a neighborhood full of kids, and I rarely see any of them playing outside. And guess what? Most of them are fat. Conversely, my son, who eats his fair share of junk food, plays constantly, whether inside or out, and I could play a tune on his ribcage.

As a responsible parent, my son will not have a game console, a tv in his room, or internet access. He will play outside, ride his bike, read a book, and play team sports if he so desires, but I will not allow my child to become a zombified fat blob.

=M=

Dec 11, 2008 - 7:04 am 4. Andrea in NY:

If only it were this easy.

What of the obese children whose parents have healthy eating habits, whose homes contain only healthy foods and who participate in lots of sports? They exist.

Were researchers to explain the obesity in these children, they’d be on to something substantitive in unlocking the cause of obesity. Yes, overeating and lack of exercise cause obesity, but why are the compulsive eaters eating in the first place?

Dec 11, 2008 - 7:55 am 5. Shelly:

I just have to throw this in. What is the use of serving low fat low calorie food at school if it tastes disgusting. NOt because it’s healthy but because they can not cook good tasting institutional food. My kids take a healthy lunch because of the school food. But I would rather my kids eat a healthy salad with a good tasting dressing evne if the dressing is not low fat or low calorie. Broccoli with a nice tasting cheese sauce. At least they are learning to eat and enjoy real food.

Dec 11, 2008 - 7:55 am 6. Macgawd:

I would prefer that my kid eat a steady diet of butter, bacon and eggs than all the so-called “low fat” and “low calorie” crap that exists today–have you seen the processed chemicals they put in that stuff? The only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in, pure and simple. It isn’t just the diet, it’s the total lack of any meaningful exercise–mashing buttons on your X Box controller doesn’t count.

=M=

Dec 11, 2008 - 8:11 am 7. Macgawd:

Andrea writes:

“What of the obese children whose parents have healthy eating habits, whose homes contain only healthy foods and who participate in lots of sports? They exist.”

Do they? Evidence, please.

No doubt there are people who’s weight issues are not completely corollary to diet, such as people with diabetes, hypothyrodism, etc., but the notion that a person of normal health and metabolism can eat nothing but healthy foods, participate regularly in active sports, and still be obese is ludicrous.

=M=

Dec 11, 2008 - 8:17 am 8. Heather:

What of the obese children whose parents have healthy eating habits, whose homes contain only healthy foods and who participate in lots of sports?

They’re still worthless drags on society, Andrea, and the parents are at fault. How DARE they have children whose genetics dictate they won’t fit society’s increasingly shallow definition of “acceptable body”?!? Inconsiderate of them to force bigots like Macgawd and Katherine to see fat children in public.

More fun to shame and ridicule parents than to examine your own bigotry and totalitarian impulses, isn’t it?

Dec 11, 2008 - 8:30 am 9. Macgawd:

Heather writes:

“How DARE they have children whose genetics dictate they won’t fit society’s increasingly shallow definition of “acceptable body”?!? Inconsiderate of them to force bigots like Macgawd and Katherine to see fat children in public.”

“Bigot”? Is being obese the newest “civil right”? How ridiculous.

Heather’s ridiculous rant represents one of the biggest problems, which is the incessant need in society today to make excuses, and to be “tolerant” of everything, regardless of its merit. Put down the Ding Dongs, the X Box controller, and get outside and play.

=M=

Dec 11, 2008 - 8:54 am 10. momof3:

Oh heather. People are fat for one reason and one reason only. They take in more calories than they burn off. It does not matter if those calories are Big Macs or apples and oranges. A calorie is a calorie whereever it comes from, and too many make you fat. Some people burn a lot less calories than others. That means they need to eat less than others, not that they are genetically designed to be fat.

My kids don’t get junk daily, but they get a treat more days than not. A cookie, a few chips, something like that. Fries maybe twice a week. We eat bacon and sausage when we want. They are very active. We have one tv in our house, no game systems, and a great backyard. I also take them to parks and other active places. I literally kick them outside a while each day even if they don’t want to go, for “recess”. They always have fun once out.

We eat little processed white flour foods. I’d rather them eat homemade buttery chocolate chip oatmeal cookies than white bread. At least the cookies have some nutrients. I don’t buy Ding Dongs or twinkies or the like, again because at least homemade goodies have some nutrition and no chemicals. And don’t get me started on the a-holes who give their toddlers soda. Diet or non-diet, it’s equally terrible for you.

Past that, the very first comment on this article really said it all.

Dec 11, 2008 - 10:57 am 11. fatherof3:

My inlaws have 3 children. 2 are at a healthy weight. 1 is fat. My wife and I are fat. 1 of my children is at a healthy weight, 1 is fat, and 1 is overweight but not fat. My kids were notorious for only being allowed healthy lunches in school.

Choices? Do any of you self righteous jerks know what a food craving is? Do any of you know what it is to crave pizza so much that you take food from your own beloved child’s plate? To make the concious decision that a shorter life is preferable to being ravenous? To have the desire for food be unrelated to the physical need for food?

Quitting smoking was easy. Quitting food is impossible. An alcoholic locks his tiger away and never lets it out. A food addict has to walk his tiger 3 times a day.

Dietitians are worse than useless. The one I went to refused to acknowledge the possibility of a food craving.

The experts are destructive. You see, every time you go to an expert and try their new wonderful system, here is what happens. You lose a whole bunch of weight. Then the system stops working, and you stop losing. Then you gain back all of your weight loss plus 10%.

If I had been content to go through my life overweight, I would have been healthy. But no, I tried to lose weight. Because the experts were wrong so many times with me, I am obese and healthy is seriously impaired.

One of my problems is that I never feel full. Never. My stomach can be in pain from being distended and I don’t feel satiated. The experts tell me that there is a satiation sensor at the top of the stomach. Well mine is missing or dead or something.

I tried sports but I have a congenital problem with my ankles. I can’t walk 3.25 miles per hour. I can walk 2.8 miles per hour for a whole day. But the ankles don’t work right to go faster. When I run, I look really stupid and I am terribly slow. So, the only way I can burn lots of calories when walking or running is to be fat. Otherwise, the speed I am physically capable of is too slow to burn the calories.

Yes I feel sorry for myself. Yes it’s my problem. No, I don’t expect the doctors to fix me. I will have to fix me. I just wish you people who don’t have the problem would stop acting like jerks. I was born with a couple of physical impairments. Is your lack of compassion genetic or something you worked on?

Dec 11, 2008 - 12:29 pm 12. Macgawd:

Fatherof3 writes,

“Do any of you self righteous jerks know what a food craving is? Do any of you know what it is to crave pizza so much that you take food from your own beloved child’s plate? To make the concious decision that a shorter life is preferable to being ravenous? To have the desire for food be unrelated to the physical need for food?”

Yes, I do know what a food craving is. No, I don’t take food from my child’s plate, because I have self-control. The fact that you acknowledge that you’ve made the conscious decision to continue on the destructive path of obesity, rather than deal with the psychological withdrawal is a clear indicator of your total lack of self-control.

It’s sad that we in this country have such lack of want, that we need to invent problems for ourselves. Maybe you need more jerks telling you to stop stuffing your face, and less people enabling your self-induced psychological condition.

=M=

Dec 11, 2008 - 1:15 pm 13. momof3:

fatherof3, you do have problem. It’s called lack of self control. I can see chocolate and want it so bad I can taste it and start shaking a little. Sometimes I have it, sometimes I don’t. The deciding factor is not do I want it, it’s does it fit in with today’s eating already done? Today’s exercise level?

A friend of mine has lost 96 pounds in the last year. Alone. She now eats steamed foods, and lots of veggies and whole grains, instead of crap. I doubt she really wants that, but that’s what it takes and that’s what she does. AND she eats a lot less, period.

You are right, you have made a concious decision that it’s easier to die young than tell yourself no. I bet your kids have never heard the word, unless they were reaching for your food. How pathetic. I wish this was britain and we could take your kids. Grow a pair. Or at least a spine.

Dec 11, 2008 - 1:52 pm 14. March Hare:

Our family has struggled with weight issues for years and I’ve found it’s a complicated interplay of nature AND nurture. My sons have a higher metabolism than my daughters, so their BMIs have always been in the “optmial” range. My daughters’ never will.

What I have focused on, instead, is making sure our diet is healthy and incorporating exercise into our daily lives. I also acknowledge that life isn’t fair and the girls will never be able to “pig out” like the boys can. Had their body types been reversed, the boys would probably be football linemen.

I DO NOT want my daughters to go to the other extreme and become anorexic or bulimic, which is just as devastating to their health.

Dec 11, 2008 - 3:17 pm 15. jae:

Let’s not forget weight gain that comes from tossing kids on a whole spectrum of medications not intended for them. Not all childhood weight is due to food habits.

Dec 11, 2008 - 6:23 pm 16. Nom dePlume, Ph.D.:

The comments in this thread remind me of debates I’ve seen regarding depression. Most people have never experienced clinical depression, assume it is comparable to their own sad and blue moments, and impute a variety of moral failings to depressed people who won’t just “snap out of it.” The reality is that serious depression, aka Major Depressive Disorder, plunges the victim into a hell of emotional agony that resembles normal sadness about as much as multiple compound fractures resemble a scratch from a rose thorn.

Most can indeed “snap out of” normal life disappointments. People with mild to moderate depression can, in a significant number of cases, recover with the help of serious psychotherapeutic techniques such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. People with very serious depression generally require powerful antidepressant medication to function, and even then, not all recover.

So to those who believe that self-control, exercise, and healthy eating can solve all cases of overweight, lighten up. Just as for depression, there is a range of weight issues from mild to severe, for which a range of strategies ranging from healthy living to medication, or surgery, is appropriate. If you are fortunate enough to be able to maintain a good weight without the more serious interventions, count your blessings–and don’t equate your experience of food cravings to that experienced by an 800 pound woman who can eat a gallon of ice cream and still be starving.

Dec 11, 2008 - 6:29 pm 17. Macgawd:

Nom dePlume writes,

“Just as for depression, there is a range of weight issues from mild to severe, for which a range of strategies ranging from healthy living to medication, or surgery, is appropriate. If you are fortunate enough to be able to maintain a good weight without the more serious interventions, count your blessings–and don’t equate your experience of food cravings to that experienced by an 800 pound woman who can eat a gallon of ice cream and still be starving.”

What a load of crap. This is what our society has become–a population of people looking for excuses for their bad behavior, and a boat load of worthless PhDs to justify them.

You know why you don’t see obesity in sub-Saharan Africa? It isn’t because they don’t have “issues”–it’s because they don’t have enough food. Simple: eat less, lose weight. The reason why Joe Fatroll weighs 800 pounds is because he’s convinced himself that the only way he can be happy is if he’s stuffing his fat face with 10,000 calories a day. He wasn’t born obese, and he didn’t wake up one morning weighing 800 pounds, either–HE made himself that way.

=M=

Dec 11, 2008 - 7:22 pm 18. ddg:

As a friend of mine once said: yeah, there were those fat people in the concentration camps who just couldn’t lose weight no matter how hard they tried.

There are *rare* obese people with psychological or physical disorders. But for nearly all people changes in behavior are the key to changes in body composition. It can suck, it requires discipline, but it’s doable. Eat “clean” in the bodybuilder sense and anyone will have an improved body composition.

Most people, however, rationalize and make excuses.

Dec 11, 2008 - 7:41 pm 19. Anonymous:

Macgawd, let’s chat about this again after you develop an endocrine problem like hypothyroidism, or need to take a drug like Zyprexa (notorious for causing weight gain and diabetes) to manage schizophrenia. I think you’ll find that your dismissive attitude becomes a lot harder to justify at that point.

DDG, I basically agree with you. It’s a question of distribution of metabolic rates across the population, rather than an either/or situation. I don’t think there is much doubt that the majority of people who have weight issues can indeed manage them through lifestyle changes. My quibble is with the absolutists who have no conception of what life is like at three standard deviations from the mean.

Dec 11, 2008 - 7:59 pm 20. Nom dePlume:

Macgawd, let’s chat again after you develop an endocrine disorder like hypothyroidism, or after you have been taking a drug like Zyprexa (notorious for causing weight gain and diabetes) for five years to manage schizophrenia. I think you’ll find your dismissive attitude a lot harder to justify at that point.

DDG, I basically agree with you. Most people who have weight issues can manage them through lifestyle changes, if they choose to do so. My quibble is with the absolutists who make blanket statements that *everyone* who is overweight is simply too lazy and undisciplined to change their habits. That simply isn’t true.

Dec 11, 2008 - 8:06 pm 21. db:

This is so obvious but it’s the first time I’ve seen it mentioned by any media. Think about the fat kids you know. They ALL have fat parents. There are fat parents with thin kids but never the reverse.

Dec 11, 2008 - 8:35 pm 22. Brian:

My mom’s fat, my dad was thin; I’m fat (and have been since puberty), my sister’s thin. My goodness, it’s almost as if there were genetic factors at work! My sister’s diet and mine are essentially identical; she exercises a little more in high school than I did but not significantly more. But somehow, it’s all a matter of diet and exercise. Of course.

With proper diet and exercise, you can get your weight on the low end of your predisposed range. For many, especially with the silly BMI definitions we have, that’s still overweight. For those people, to fit into your narrow image of a “healthy” (read: thin to average) body, they have to starve themselves, which is decidedly not a healthy thing to do. Moreover, starvation screws with basic body metabolic functions, so if you stop starving yourself, your set point ends up higher; this is what causes yo-yo dieting.

We’d have a much more pleasant, and frankly healthier and thinner society, if we were less obsessed with fatness and more focused on actual health. Exercise 30 minutes a day for your health, and eat like a normal person, and to hell with the idiots who think you should hurt yourself to meet their ideal body image.

Dec 11, 2008 - 10:00 pm 23. Jonesy55:

99% of fat people are fat through their own choices, if you have a slow metabolism eat less, if you have a sedentary lifestyle eat less and exercise more.

The reason that fat kids have fat parents is not genetic, I bet that their grandparents, great grandparents and so on were much slimmer. The reason is that they pass on their bad dietary and lifestyle habits.

Dec 12, 2008 - 4:08 am 24. G Alston:

#7 Macgawd — “Do they? Evidence, please.”

My neighbour is a health food freak. Has two adopted kids. One is huge. The other is normal. Genetics is the biggest factor.

Epidemiologists twist statistics. That’s their job. Tons of babies are chubby and stay that way until later in life they lose their baby fat. Had one of these geniuses seen me at 4 years old I’d have been classified as fat. Lost the baby fat by 7 years of age. Normal since. Not because of being a health food freak, either. I eat what I like. I have 4 children, most of whom are grown up and have left home. All were “fat” as babies. None are fat now. They all did the horrid thing of watching TV, playing video games, and so on as teenagers. My point? A snapshot of the population that includes baby fat kids is misleading. Blaming things on an X-box is stupid. Epidemiologists are notoriously bad at this stuff.

From what I have read here most of you would be surprised at what you think you know but don’t. As Twain was fond of saying — “It’s not what you don’t know that gets you, but what you know that just ain’t so.”

I suggest you start here:

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/

In fact here’s a classic case of what you’re on about:

“How do you create an obesity epidemic in a country with nearly the lowest percentage of “obese” people in the world?”

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/12/this-is-how-you-do-it.html

Ask questions. Who says there’s a crisis, and why? Follow the money, people.

Dec 12, 2008 - 6:15 am 25. Macgawd:

Nom dePlume writes,

“Macgawd, let’s chat again after you develop an endocrine disorder like hypothyroidism, or after you have been taking a drug like Zyprexa (notorious for causing weight gain and diabetes) for five years to manage schizophrenia. I think you’ll find your dismissive attitude a lot harder to justify at that point.”

Then may I direct you to post #7, in which I acknowledge that there can be weight issues not corollary diet or food intake. That being said, hypothyroidism and drugs that have weight gain as a side effect likely account for only a small percentage of cases of obesity–the vast majority are simply due to overeating and lack of exercise.

=M=

Dec 12, 2008 - 6:49 am 26. Donna B.:

I call bullsh*t on the article and almost every comment. Why were my relatives fat during the depression? Was it because they went to McDonald’s every day? Oh wait, there wasn’t a McDonald’s them… hmm… must have been something else.

Okay, they had too much meat at every meal. Um, gee… no they didn’t. They survived on greens and beans. What meat they had was used to flavor the greens and beans. Gee… sort of like the supposed great oriental diet?

Did they eat baked potatoes loaded with cheese and sour cream? Um, no. They ate boiled potatoes with neither.

The obesity epidemic is a fraud. There really is no such thing. Sure, I’m fat and I’ve come to the realization that there is nothing I can do about it. I’ve dieted, I’ve had the stomach reducing surgery, I’ve lived on less than 1000 calories/day and I’m still fat.

So, get over it you skinny self-righteous morons and enjoy your skinniness. But leave me the hell alone. I’m happy and pretty darned healthy even if you don’t like the way I look.

Dec 12, 2008 - 8:16 am 27. dinosaur:

I think it takes a village to make a child fat.

Shouldn’t this be the daycares fault? Do children spend more time in daycare then woith their parents. See it’s someone elses problem.

Mine are not fat nor will I let them be.

Plenty of time for that after they move out.

Dec 12, 2008 - 8:28 am 28. Tom:

You want to see a difference? Travel to Mexico. I have been to Mexico 6 times to the Tlaxcala/Puebla area to visit my brother and his family.

One of the things you notice right away is the far fewer number of obese people, especially children.

They are not just sitting in front of the TV ALL DAY playing GTA3 and chowing down sugared drinks and food ALL DAY. They are moving around a lot.

It is their lifestyle that is just healthier when it comes to obesity. My brother laughs and says that he knows others from the USA who notice the same thing when they first travel to real Mexico.

Dec 12, 2008 - 9:13 am 29. Bob M:

I was raised in the forties and fifties. From the time I was about 7 I was probably obese. We had no TV to watch and did not have a car until I was a teenager. Part of those years I walked a mile or so to the bus stop. We lived in the country so during the summer I walked all over the country. Our diet consisted mainly of vegetables with chicken on Sunday. Even though I did everything right, why was I still obese.

Yes today’s kids are couch potatoes and eat a lot of junk food, but there are other underlying causes of childhood obesity. I think a lot of it is in the genes. I have seen some of children’s friends that got very little physical activity and ate junkfood and are still skinny.

Dec 12, 2008 - 9:19 am 30. Fat Kids Get It From Their Parents:

[...] latest column, Fat Kids Have Their Parents To Blame, is up at Pajamas [...]

Dec 12, 2008 - 11:12 am 31. momof3:

Even on meds, you ONLY gain wight if you take in more than you burn. The meds might make you burn less. SO eat less. The meds might make you hungrier. Eat bulkier, lower-calorie foods and less of them. No med on the planet makes your body take a calorie it needs to function and put it into fat storage instead.

Yes, some of you have lower metabolisms and don’t burn as many calories just existing as other people do. That means…you eat less! NOt that you just get fat and blame genetics cause you want to eat as much as the high-metabolism blessed man at the next table. You want to be fat? Fine. Quite calling fat-ism and “poor me victim” for everything. You can’t fit in an airplane seat? Buy two. Don’t expect those of us who don’t choose to eat as much as we want to cram ourselves into only half of our seat because you’re spilling over from yours.

Dec 12, 2008 - 11:31 am 32. Terry G:

Speaking strictly for myself, and deliberately not having read any of the previous comments: I volunteer two mornings per week at a local grade school, serving breakfast to students. We generally have between four and six different choices of fruit to go along with (mostly) sugar-free cereals, whole wheat toast, hard-boiled eggs, juices and cheese (processed slices). I take a keen interest in what the kids leave on their trays and, when I can nab them in time, request that since they asked for fruit (small chunks, grapes, easy bite-sized things) that they finish it.

It’s a small thing, but I hope I’m making a bit of a difference. (We parent-volunteers also took it upon ourselves to limit the toast intake of one young, slightly roly-poly child; we’ve got her down from 6 slices to 2.)

Dec 12, 2008 - 1:25 pm 33. Donna V.:

momof3: thanks for your sensible comments. I say that as someone who has struggled with my weight since puberty and has to work hard to keep it off, because I also like to cook.

The “heredity” excuse is nonsense. Many African-Americans are obese – very few Africans are. And very few African-Americans were 100 years ago, when they had a very limited diet and worked as sharecroppers. Americans are fatter than Europeans – does that mean that all the Europeans with “fat genes” caught the boat to Ellis Island. Why, those smart genes!

The problem is that too many of us eat like we’re going out to plow the back 40 after breakfast while we sit in front of computers all day long. Even housework was far more physically taxing in 1909 than it is today. Churning butter and washing clothes with a washboard – those pioneer women didn’t have to worry about flabby upper arms.

Today we have to think about what we eat – and make choices. I ate 10 million calories on Thanksgiving – and then made sure I went for a long walk after dinner. If you want to indulge, you need to exercise more. If you don’t want to exercise than you need to eat less.

I’ve tried to notice and imitate the habits of people who don’t have to struggle with their weight. I noticed a long time ago that those lucky devils who seem to be able to eat everything and not gain an ounce often really don’t eat that much and tend to eat very slowly. My skinny older brother and his skinny wife take years to consume a meal and they stop eating when they’re full. Really, watch thin people eat sometimes – and then watch fat people eat. Fat people tend to eat very rapidly, as if they’re afraid someone will come take the plate away on them. I now make a conscious effort to eat as slowly as possible, put the fork down, chew thoroughly, converse during meals and so on and I find that I’m satisfied with eating less.
(I did once have a thin boyfriend who could eat an entire chicken in record time – he was a bike courier in Washington DC. Yeah, you can pretty eat whatever you want when you spend 8 hours a day on a bike.)

Dec 12, 2008 - 3:02 pm 34. Donna B.:

Donna V., my experience has been the opposite. I watch skinny people eat and it’s like they have a bottomless stomach.

Also, I have a daughter-in-law who is about 35 lbs overweight (according to BMI) but she runs marathons.

Whatever works for whoever, but don’t assume you know what I eat or what I do. Or what anyone else does, even the skinny people.

Dec 12, 2008 - 5:46 pm 35. myth buster:

Fatherof3- if you’re too hungry to cut calories and you can’t exercise enough to maintain a healthy weight, might I suggest surgery. It is a radical solution, but yours is a radical case.

Dec 12, 2008 - 5:47 pm 36. Donna V.:

Donna B: Yes, there are thin people who seem to be able to devour everything in sight. But the number of svelte folks who eat huge meals AND don’t exercise are far fewer in number than many overweight people assume. The naturally thin people I know either eat very moderately or exercise regularly. People who have never had a weight problem are apt to say “Oh, I’m just lucky, I can eat anything and not put on pounds” and those with a weight problem often assume that for the skinny ones “eating anything” means eating the same amount of food heavy people eat. In my experience, once I started paying attention, I found it doesn’t.

And those of us who put on weight easily are prone to fudge the amount of food we actually eat – which is one reason Weight Watchers has you keep a record. You have to count points, but you also develop an awareness of what a portion size actually is, and when you start thinking back to what you were eating before you suddenly realize where those extra pounds came from. The most extreme case of self-deception I know of was a very obese young woman I once worked with who swore her metabolism was slow, her thryoid was bad and her genes worked against her because all she had for breakfast was a bowl of cereal and salads for lunch. And one or two Kit-Kats during the day. Well, she did eat salads for lunch. But I noticed that that one Kit-Kat bar was present all day long. One evening after she left work, l peeked at the wastepaper basket by her desk. The trash was emptied every evening. The thing had at least a dozen Kit-Kat wrappers in it.

She’s an extreme case, but we’ve all done it – watched TV, decided to have a few chips and – whoa! the bag is empty! Understand that I’m not speaking from the contemptous viewpoint of someone who has never been fat and can’t understand how it happens. I put on 60 pounds when I quit smoking and it’s taken me 5 years to lose 48 of those pounds. And the last 12 are really putting up a fight – they’re comfortable and at home on my thighs and hips and don’t want to go anywhere! But they’re not there because of my genes, my thyroid, or my meds. They’re there because I ate more than I should have and exercised less than I should have. And that’s true of the overwhelming majority of fat people.

Dec 12, 2008 - 10:13 pm 37. RE:

All I can do is shake my head at the level of ignorance in both the article and the majority of comments.

Most of you are utterly clueless as to what causes obesity, and this notion that calories burned must be greater than calories consumed (an application of the First Law of Thermodynamics) is such an oversimplification of the science to be utter nonsense.

I implore everyone here who thinks they know what good nutrition is to read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. It is a science book, not a diet book, and it will shred much of what many of you think you know about what comprises healthy eating (hint: it is the carbohydrates that make people fat not saturated fats – that’s a blanket statement so not totally true, but trust me, read the book). Not all calories are the same – the human body evolved while consuming moderate fat, high protein, low carb diets (these are relative terms – low carb does not mean no carb). “Modern” carbohydrates (i.e., sucrose, white rice, bread, potatoes, peas, corn, string beans, legumes, etc.) wreak havoc on our metabolic systems/pathways and cause hormonal changes (long-term insulin elevation) that destroy our bodies from the inside-out.

Dec 13, 2008 - 5:01 pm 38. WestGuard:

“This is the food police! Drop the cake and move away from the fridge. Raise your hands above your head and give me 50, jumping jacks!”

Dec 13, 2008 - 7:55 pm 39. rammer:

Oh, please. Kate’s point was to remind parents to care for their children. A good lesson. Take it to heart.

Most of these comments are about sanctimonious adults. Let me tell you all a fact you seem to have missed. No one cares if an adult is fat or not. If you care then fix it yourself. Because no one else cares about your problems.

But remember to care for your children, if for no other reason your Government as Kate says will treat you poorly if you don’t.

Dec 13, 2008 - 9:01 pm 40. Blame parents for fat kids at Joanne Jacobs:

[...] Parents are to blame for the obesity of their children, writes Katherine Berry on Pajamas Media. It’s not the soda machines at school. It’s not the ads on TV. It’s the choices parents make: To us falls the task of saying “no.” Of making short-term decisions — like what’s for dinner — based on long-term health consequences. Of exercising the self-discipline and time management needed to prepare meals that don’t harm our kids That is our job. [...]

Dec 14, 2008 - 3:40 am 41. Obesity and parents and children | Logic Model Obesity:

[...] Pajamas Media » Fat Kids Have Their Parents to Blame [...]

Dec 17, 2008 - 4:15 pm 42. jennifer:

i am doing a discursive writing piece on obesity and whether the parents are to blame or not. and i have to say that many of these comments has helped.
me personally dont think it is all the parents fault on why their children are fat. the children are fat because they had no self control on their food habits and food cravings, so they just eat and eat to make them happy.
also when they become teenagers its their own responsibilty on what they eat and do. as when they are teenagers they get a great deal of money and freedom that they take advantage of it and spend it on fast food like mcdonalds, or chocolate and sweets. their parents dont realise they are doing this to themselves as they cant keep tracking down their child when they are 17 or 18 making sure they are eating healthily. and on top of that they dont excercise, they prefer to sit in front of the tv all day instead of going outside for a run; this makes them lazy so they will never lose the calories they gained by the food they eat; and then they eat more so more calories are put in the body, and nothing is getting lost. this leads to heart discease and diabities which is life threatening. and who is to blame for that?? themselves

but i do agree that the parents have something to do with it, as when their child was younger they cant help but keeping them satifyed by giving them unhealthy food. this gives the child a bad food habit that they cant help. also the parents dont always encourage their child to excercise, or make sure that they have a balanced diet. but some parents do so, like my parents. they always make sure i eat healthily which did a good thing for me and i am nowhere near obese. because my parents always got me familiar to salads and veg, i started to like them and now i am happy to eat them. no complaints. however i do get cravings for chocolate every now and then but i have self control and stop myself. but that does not mean i dont treat myself ever now and then. i do. but i am aware of how much i eat and make sure i have a balanced diet. then if i feel that i gained some calories that day i go and excercise. i am a very active person, and i am in lots of sports clubs, which then allows to lose the calories i have gained, which make me feel good.

so all i am saying if u control yourselves and have a good deal of excercise and healthy food then their is nothing wrong for every now and then treating yourselves. and this will definately make you happy. overall obesity is 50 50 blame on the parents and the child, as each have their own responsibilities.

i hope my points are good, thanks.
my points may not be accurate as i am only 12 for goodness sake, but thats what i think, no one has to agree.
thanks bye xx

Feb 17, 2009 - 5:02 am 43. Sarah:

I think a lot of obesity today is because portion sizes have snuck up on us! Plate sizes, restaurant sizes, you name it. Many things are supersized to the point that many now feel DEPRIVED if they have NORMAL portions of anything.

Mar 11, 2009 - 10:12 am

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