:)
Posted on 02/10/2010 4:54:21 AM PST by shortstop
I appreciate Michelle's concern, but if your kid is fat, it's your fault.
Period.
It's not the high-fructose corn syrup, it's not the drive-thru, it's not the Lucky Charms, it's you.
And she can call for billions in new spending -- as she has -- she can call for curbs on advertising to children -- as she has -- she can even call for Grocers for Ghettos -- as she has -- but it's still going to come down to bad parenting.
Let me repeat that, to make sure I hurt your feelings: Bad parenting.
Fat kids don't have a sedentary lifestyle or a metabolic imbalance, they have bad parents. Usually parents who have poorly managed their own weight as well.
But in the day of blame somebody else and go to the government for help, individual and family responsibility aren't even thought of -- even though they are the only solutions to this national epidemic.
Welcome to America, where our poor people are fat. In fact, where they're fatter than any other demographic in the society. But the rest of the folks aren't far behind. In America today, the average person is fat. Fat is the new normal and, with just a few more percentage ticks, obesity will take over as the most common body type.
That's something to be proud of.
To her credit, First Lady Michelle Obama is focusing public attention on childhood obesity. Unfortunately, she has the same big-government tendancies as her husband. She will ask Congress to spend yet more billions and Americans to accept yet more restrictions. Probably both will go along. Probably neither will do any good.
Because this is a matter of personal choice, conduct and responsibility.,p.
And accepting that is the first step to overcoming the problem. Unfortunately, in the era of blame shifting, everybody wants something or someone else to pin the responsibility on. So people hiss at food additives, or fast-food places, or soda-pop companies, or the people who make ice cream and potato chips. They blame it on their genes or the fact they live in a poor neighborhood or the TV ads or what's for lunch at the school.
But all those things are excuses.People get fat because they let themselves. Kids get fat because their parents let them. The parents lack whatever it takes to recognize the problem, care about it and fix it -- and the kids suffer as a result.The bottom line is that adults determine what their children eat, and to a large extent what their children do. They consequently determine who their children are -- at least when it comes to gross tonnage.These are hard words, but they are true and necessary.In the days of the Seven Deadly Sins -- before we diversitied ourselves past the point of believing in right and wrong -- two of the big wrongs were Gluttony and Sloth. Gluttony was eating too much and sloth was doing too little.Whereas they once were sins, gluttony and sloth have now become the American way of life. We have ballooned. We eat like pigs and we lay around like dogs.And that steady equilbrium of calories in and calories out cannot be denied. If you eat more than you burn, you pack on. And if you pack on, it's going to show. And someday it might kill.
Which ought to be all the motivation parents need.But reality shows that it's not. Reality shows that many parents seem to not care at all.Because the health problems associated with being overweight are obvious. Ditto for the social problems. And you'd think the average parent would want Junior to avoid unnecessary health and social problems. It would seem that dodging the bullet of diabetes would be a good thing. It would seem that helping to sidestep the express lane to heart disease and high blood pressure would be very desirable.But as the bumper crop of fat kids shows, it isn't.And that is a national tragedy.
So God bless the First Lady as she raises awareness. And God bless parents as they make the effort to learn how to cook and prepare balanced meals for their children, as they learn that soft drinks and sugary drinks are treats to be enjoyed infrequently, as they learn that they should cook at home and avoid prepared foods, as they include vegetables and fewer fried foods in their meals -- and as they chase their kids out from in front of the TV.
And God bless parents to recognize that their own example may be their child's greatest curse.
Son and daughter are fat because mom and dad are fat -- and it's nurture, not nature. It's bad choices meeting bad example for a bad outcome.
And, believe it or not, I say that because I love you. Because your health and happiness matter to me. And the health and happiness of your children matters even more. And it can't go on the way it's been going. Out lack of discipline is literally killing us.
So lose weight, and make your children lose weight.
Eat better, eat less, exercise more.Get a simple cookbook. Make your food from scratch. Avoid prepared foods. Eat reasonable amounts. Dessert is a treat. Avoid sugary drinks. Eat out less often. Turn off the TV. Go out and play. Walk around the block. Go swimming or bicycling or hiking. Drop down and do some pushups or jumping jacks. Get enough sleep. Eat together as a family around the dinner table. No candy except as a treat.
These are simple common-sense things that we have completely forgotten.
And our children will suffer as a result.At the end of the day, the only children Mrs. Obama can save are her own. Because this isn't a government problem, this is a parenting problem.Parents caused it, and parents can fix it.
Only parents can fix it.
And if they don't, it won't get fixed.
Yup, my boy is fat... At 12 he wears size 16 pants that are too short and just right for size 12 in the waist. Thank God for belts. I’m thinking a kilt if he keeps getting taller and stays as thin.
Michelle needs to have her body fat measured before she lectures others. Bring out the calipers!
“Michelle needs to have her body fat measured before she lectures others.”
I was thinking the same thing.
Look in the mirror, Wookie!
A few years back I read a new article stating that, suddenly, over the course of one year, something like an additional 10% of the American population became obese.
The story smelled, so I did some digging.
What was at the core of that change in America’s percentage of “obesity” was the fact that the federal government changed the weight categories for men and women by 10 pounds.
That’s right. If you were a man of average build and weighed about 190 lbs with a typical amount of fat, one year you were “average” the next year you were overweight because the federal government decided that you should weigh 180lbs.
I did some more digging and found out that, according to the categories defined by the federal government, Tom Cruise was considered overweight and Russel Crowe was obese. I looked at the charts the federal government had put together. The ideal American man, as they defined him, would be shaped like a woman (narrow shoulders, slim hips, a waist that is curved inward). The ideal American woman, as they defined her, would be shaped like a starving Ethiopian.
At the time, I was weight-lifting, training in the MA, running, and in very good shape. But I weighed over 200lbs. I, too, was a fatty.
Make no mistake, folks. The “obesity” Nazis are just like the Eco-Nazis and the Socialist-Medicine Nazis. What they want is control over your liberty, punitive taxes on our lifestyle, and to subvert America to third-world standards.
Bravo.
Why is it that the ‘greatest generation’ grew up eating eggs and bacon and steak and potatoes, but didn’t battle obesity? Because they didn’t eat a small cow at every meal, and in between meals they were up and moving — grownups working, kids playing. Outside.
Now, our society views it as normal to have a hamburger half the size of the platter, after an appetizer of Cheese Fries, a never-ending supply of soda and a Chocolate Volcano for desert.
We spend our days on our behinds — in front of computers and televisions and video games.
Nothing to do with advertising or corn syrup. Just a lazy bunch of people who don’t know when to say when...and parents who are either too lazy or too doting to harm their little one’s psyche and tell them to put down the cookie and go climb a tree.
:)
"Keep your hands off the twinkies lard butt."
My neice and nephew aint fat. They are active in various things like Karate, scoccer, baseball, dance { for the neice}.
Thats because my sister and her hubby rule with a iron fist when it come to Tv and treats.
Just pass a law what says you can either have a 52” pair of pants or a 52” widescreen hi-def tv but not both. Problem solved.
Ms. Obammy’s beam is broader than most ocean liners.
Around here she is known as ole shelf ass.
If they were using BMI tables, they are useless...especially for someone well built. BMI is merely a ratio of your height to your weight. It does not take into account what that weight is made up of, i.e., muscle versus fat.
Michelle has a lot in common with Hitlery Rotham Clinton: a rear end big enough to play pinochle on.
The pendulum swings both ways....I predict we will see a rash of news articles about eating disorders in the next 10 years if too much is made of this.
Everybody is entitled to an opinion.
My kids have an opinion of her, too.
I just can't post it.
your post reminds me of my experience as a college athlete.
Our coach was concerned that many on the team were officially “overweight” according to some chart.
She knew something couldn’t be right because she saw how hard we working - and we didn’t look fat to her.
So she decided to send us to the water tank for body fat testing where we ranged anywhere from 4% to 11% bodyfat.
Because of this experience I have always ignored this BMI garbage.
Some people are very fit and carry a good bit of muscle on their frame - they may weigh the same as someone carrying around too much flab.
So - I go by what size clothing - does the person look flabby?
Out of my 7 kids, 5 of them look pretty good, with 1 borderline, and 1 definitely overweight.
But even when we manage to deal with his flab, he’s still going to officially register as “overweight” on those darn charts because of the type of build he has. I’ll just be happy when we can get rid of his pooch.
“Michelle has a lot in common with Hitlery Rotham Clinton: a rear end big enough to play pinochle on.”
It’s good thing I have Carbonite because I don’t think I’m going to be able to salvage my lap top. Oh man I’m still laughing.
New bumper sticker: “My fat kid is smarter than Michelle Obama!”
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