The idea of taking kids away just because they are obease to me just sounds nuts. If they would be taking them away because the parents are going to have that child undergo obesity surgery, that is another thing. I don't necessarly think it would be a good idea for kids to have that surgery, but taking the kids away is a bit much maybe. If it was simply because of the obesity, my question would be pretty much this: On what grounds would those children be taken away, and what if only some kids in a family are overweight and some are not. In my family I have to sisters at a very healthy weight, and then there is my brother and I who are overweight. The only grounds I could see kids being taken away from their parents when they are overweight is because of the fact that they would be blaming the parents for the children being overweight, but if other kids in that family were not overweight, IMO that idea doesn't hold much ground.
It's not the parents fault that their kids are overweight. The parents are just feeding the food which this country is supplying. It's the GMO foods and chemicals which our food is treated with is causing the glands in our bodies to not function properly. Food industries better stop putting the blame on someone else.
For that to be true would require ALL kids to be fat little slobs. But it's a minority, so clearly there's something else here. And I can only assume that the parent of a fat child would look for someone else to blame. ONLY parents are to blame for a child's behavior until the age of 18 at which point you cut them loose.
I'm all for it (foster care vs. lipo). Allowing or encouraging your child to become obese is no different than encouraging them to get addicted to marijuana or crystal meth. Parents need to parent, not whine and point the finger at others. If you cannot manage a child, don't have one. And for a kid to become obese-a parent has to really try hard, they have to go out of their way to avoid nutrition and offer the child bad choices, reinforce them, etc.... it's pathetic. And to blame someone other than the parent is beyond reproach.
I am just amazed that a 5 or 6 year old child can atually be morbidly obese.
Kids this age is the incarnation of excess energy.
Now am I to believe that hamburger is cheaper than veggies and candy and sodapop is more accessable than fruit and water?
While I am no vegitarian, I do believe that fruit and veggies make better snacks than the crap that our kids are eating.
I think that maybe it should start with the baby food. Much more veggies than meat and get them used to veggies.
I know morbid obesity in a very young child is shocking. However, I don't think it really has anything to do with burgeres. Take your average 6 year old, imagine you give that kid a egg mcmuffin for bfast, a happy meal for lunch and a happy meal for dinner and you offer him say a snack of ice cream and a snack of gummy bears. OK, very poor diet. However your average 6 year old is not going to get obese. Why? Most kids stop eating when full and if you visit a McDonalds you will see most young children not finishing their happy meals. When meal time is over they are not eating anymore, they are playing or whinning or sleeping. They don't pile food in their face normally. And if a kid ate happy meals every day they would be even less inclined to stuff themselves with food they have all the time. The only time a kid overeats beyond being full is when you offer them something that is rare or special.
With these really fat kids you have either a medical issue or you have some kind of unhealthy relationshipi with food in general. Food to soothe for example to ease anxiety or ease bordom.
People forget we are just a few generations away from a society that ate eggs and bacon every day, pork fat out the wazoo, red meat three times a day, nothing low fat, no skim milk, no whole wheat and unless you had canned veggies or even if you did you just ate them at Sunday dinner. no refrigerators and produce if you did not grow it yourself was expensive. It was a very high fat diet. What was probably better about it is that it was not processed and the food was rather fresh and simple. But it was high in fat, high in colesteral. The portions were smaller, possibly half the size they are now. Snacks were highly limited and there was certainly no snack food. People did not have unlimited access to food and typically food was higly budgeted.
There are other reasons for having bad teeth. Someone I know hasn't been to a dentist for over twenty years because he has an easily triggered gag reflex. Even having his teeth cleaned results in the process being interrupted more than once. He'd have to have general anesthesia to have any dental work done. Sounds unbelievable, I know, but there truly isn't any other remedy, and no one wants to undergo anesthesia every six months to a year.
I have a friend with a rare blood disorder, similar but more rare than hemophelia. She has landed in the hospital for several days after a simple teeth cleaning. They will do their very best to be gentle and carefull but invariably they would nick her and that would cause serious problems for her.
The solution in her case was to go instead of twice a year - three times a year. With less buildup and the buildup being less established (fresher) they can be even more gentle with the cleanings. Naturally she is religious about brushing, flossing, etc.
I think a lot of the obesity problem in the US has to do with people (and not just women) not knowing how to cook. I think folks could avoid a lot of calories by simply not eating out often and by not buying processed and prepared foods. When both parents work it shouldn't be solely the woman's job to prepare healthy meals. My husband is a great cook. There are a lot of meals that are healthy and quick to prepare. The magazine "Real Simple" has loads of them, and they are available at their web site. They have a search engine where you input the ingredients you have or want to use and you get recipes. I use it a lot.
Exercise is important, too, and that does require more time than cooking and eating. It's easy to forego exercise after a long day at work. People just have to make it a priority to the extent possible. It should be easier for kids to get exercise because they have more free time, but in urban areas it can be difficult to find safe places to play. More low-cost exercise opportunities are needed for kids and adults.
Perhaps it's our turn to fall like the Romans did.
Everyone loves to say that Rome fell because of X (X being whatever they're currently got a bee in their bonnet about) but it's really not true. Rome fell because many things happened all at once and even then, the western empire had been gradually declining for centuries.
Also, the overweight aren't always "fat, dumb and lazy". Grimmer became quite portly in the last few months of her life because she was mostly house-bound but if you'd called her lazy, she'd have battered you with her cane.
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. ~ Proverbs 14:31
There are other reasons for having bad teeth. Someone I know hasn't been to a dentist for over twenty years because he has an easily triggered gag reflex. Even having his teeth cleaned results in the process being interrupted more than once. He'd have to have general anesthesia to have any dental work done.
Sounds unbelievable, I know, but there truly isn't any other remedy, and no one wants to undergo anesthesia every six months to a year.
This doesn’t vitiate any of the points previously made, but today, while talking to a guy at the Laundromat, I realized that bad teeth cause many to consume fast foods, which are generally soft and easy to bite into, and eschew produce, which can can be difficult to eat as they require biting into and much chewing. Or they require prep work before they can be consumed, something some don’t wish to do, or can’t do.
This man hasn’t any interest in visiting a dentist even though his teeth are falling out as a result of type-II diabetes. So he dines on fast food many times per week.
Irene.
Interesting point, Irene.
I need serious dental intervention and I have taken care of my teeth and my parents did before. I've just chosen a facility I think will work for me. Old fillings and even a crown have fallen out causing many problems. I have Federal dental insurance but it will still be costly and uncomfortable. I'm a tad frugal but I am also glad I can do this--not all can.
My problem is a loss of appetite and designing a decent diet until the work is done.One of my answersnow is potato-leek soup, French style with a bit of cream and also other soups I make, such as Scotch broth. I have the time, inclination and ability to make these.
Within the past year or two a teen American died from a dental absess that could not be addressed. That is a disgrace.
