Strollerderby : fat kids

They Say: Schools Near Fast Food Makes Fat Kids

JeanneSager — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 13:09:00 GMT

Think your kids are OK as long as you keep them clear of Burger King and Taco ~~Hell~~ Bell? Guess again.

A new study says kids who attend schools within walking distance of a fast food restaurant are more likely to be obese. If they can see the golden arches, they can walk.

The study, which appears in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Public Health, looked at data from half a million kids in middle and high schools in California. It found students who attend schools near fast food restaurants eat fewer servings of vegetables and fruits, and drink far more soda than students at schools not located near fast food restaurants. By near, by the way, they mean within half a mile of the school. They cite the restaurants serve as hangouts for the kids – and with hanging out comes eating.

Before you start Google mapping the Mickey D's and Wendy's in your area to pick the best school, you might want to look at kids outside of California. The closest fast food restaurant is at least half an hour from the local school in my hometown. And we've got plenty of fat kids in my town. What we don't have much of? Sidewalks. Or kids who would have reason to walk past a fast food restaurant, or walk at all for that matter.

Living in the country might mean we're free of the fast food menace, but the need to drive everywhere and the lack of parks and playgrounds means we have a lot of sedentary children. But I dare not move - because this study shows I'm screwed either way.

The free order of fries goes to someone who can find me somewhere my kid WON'T be influenced by crappy foods

Image: FastFoodHealth.org

Source: Reuters

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New Food Pyramid Promises to Help Picky Eaters

JeanneSager — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:32:00 GMT

Is there anything your kid won't turn his nose up at? Help is on the way - via the federal government.

The new version of the USDA food pyramid breaks down the old one size fits all triangle, with a Website directed toward parents of the two-to-five set. MyPyramid for Preschoolers is being touted as the answer to all their nutrition needs.

The site launched this fall, with a customizable plan section that allows parents to input their child's age, gender, and amount of physical activity. When I tried inputting my daughter, however, I got a message saying the server was unavailable. So I can't say what comes next.

The site does, however, calm the nerves of parents of those picky eaters with reminders that kids who are growing normally are probably just fine (nice to hear something positive from the government), and tips on how to get them to eat something different - without hiding the food. We're talking ideas like give them new foods at the beginning of a meal, when they're so hungry they'll eat anything.

A lot of it is common sense, but for parents who have spent as much time as me worrying about their own weight vs. health issues, it's nice to have a little extra help. And it's nice to have something that we can relate to our pint-sized kids without having to account for their much-smaller sizes.

Image: MyPyramid.gov

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They Say: Text Messaging Can Fight Childhood Obesity

JeanneSager — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:49:00 GMT

So they have a permanent squint from staring at that little screen and they speak in text-message-ese (or is that only in corny wireless commercials?). Texting can be good for your kids. According to a study in this month's issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, obese kids get the same benefits from texting that they would from traditional food diaries.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina broke families into three groups - one with kids reporting back to parents via text message, one with kids filling out paper diaries and a third not monitoring their intake at all. Parents of the texting and paper diary kids were given a series of questions to ask daily: what was the number on your pedometer today?; how many sugar-sweetened beverages did you drink today?; and how many minutes of screen time did you have today? Before letting them loose, researchers led the families in an educational program to help kids learn better eating behaviors. They were encouraged to reduce their sweets and increase their activity levels.

The kids who answered via their cell phone were more than twice as likely as the paper diary keepers to make the effort to answer the questions. Less than half fell back into their poor eating habits. Perhaps playing a role in the results were the positive feedback messages generated when kids sent in their text messages. A little bit of sugar goes a long way - especially for kids on a diet.

There's a certain amount of irony in the researchers' suggestion that kids limit their "screen time," before putting them in front of a tiny screen to monitor their weight. But a little screen they can take anywhere can take them off the couch and out into the fresh air. Turns out kids can walk, talk, chew bubblegum AND text. And maybe, lose weight?

Image: PocketPicks

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Your Stress Is Making Your Kid Fat

Amy Kuras — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:02:00 GMT

This, this is just kinda sad. Researchers have found that stressed-out moms may be raising fat kids because those kids respond to family stress by turning to food.

Awww.

More to the point, this affects kids who are raised in poverty because of their mother's money worries, long work hours, health insurance concerns and other factors, said study leader Craig Gundersen of the University of Illinois.

"People will eat in response to feeling stress," he told Reuters news service, "and in this case children may be eating more in response to stress-related trouble at home."

Gundersen's fix is a better social safety net for poor families, such as food stamps and better health insurance coverage and better financial education to help people manage money.

Gundersen and colleagues at Iowa State University and Michigan State University looked at data on 841 children in families living below the poverty line who were part of a government nutrition survey conducted from 1999 to 2002.

Certainly many of us have been guilty of "stress eating" – grabbing carb- and fat-laden foods that taste good and have little to no nutritional value, and we probably unwittingly pass that behavior on to our kids.

But I think this also overlooks a really important fact: Many people who are living in poverty also live in what are termed "food deserts" — places where it's difficult to find fresh, healthful food. I live in a pretty poor city and while my neighborhood is blessed with two decent grocery stores, that’s not the case for much of the city. What is common are gas stations and party stores selling chips, cookies, candy bars and pop, with not a healthy choice to be found.

If you're a mom working two jobs just to make ends meet and it's two bus rides to the nearest grocery store, I refuse to blame you for your child's obesity because you're stressed out and sometimes are reduced to shopping at the gas station. I think finding a way to make more healthy, affordable foods available to low-income families is key to the health of the next generation of urban kids. Sure, parents need to be responsible in what they feed their children, but offering them smart choices is key.

Babble Talk: Why Do We Worry About Eating Disorders, But Only for Daughters?

Jen Chaney — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:25:00 GMT

In this week's Bad Parent essay, Jeanne Sager confesses that she is a recovering bulimic and is petrified that she'll pass on her eating disorder to her daughter.

"I worry constantly: Should she have another cookie?" Sager writes. "Should I buy the organic peanut butter or the Skippy that's on sale? Am I letting her get too fat? Am I making her too thin"

Any woman living in our size-two-is-best society probably has some body image issues. I know I do. Even those of us who don't take those issues to the level of having an eating disorder worry that we'll pass on unhealthy behavior -- staring in mirrors for too long, obsessing over calories -- to our kids. But here's the thing: I say kids. But really I mean daughters.

Even though it's entirely possible (albeit less common) for males to develop eating disorders, we don't seem to worry as much about that happening to our sons. In fact, the very first comment on Sager's essay says: "This is the scariest thing to me about having a daughter (on Friday!). I'm ALREADY hearing the murmurs of my ED when the doctor says, 'Oh, she'll be at least 9 pounds.' I realized that with my son I was happy that he was 9lbs, 6oz, but I felt disappointed that my daughter might start out big."

While we don't want any of our children to be overweight, we consider it a compliment if someone says our baby boy is large. That means he's healthy, strapping, destined for football glory. If someone says it about our baby girl, though, we subconsciously think: Fat. Unattractive. Destined to be a Heavier Version of Bridget Jones, Sans the Love Affair With Colin Firth.

Of course, we all know this is unfair, wrong and inappropriate. And yet it's ingrained in us by society. It's a reflexive response. So what can we do about it?

Really, the same thing Jeanne Sager is doing to deal with her eating disorder's impact on her daughter. Be aware, feed our kids healthy foods and fight the good fight against those bad impulses. And that all starts in the very beginning. When someone says: "Oh your little girl is so pudgy and cute," we have to convince ourselves not to cringe. Instead we should say, "Thank you." We should give our strapping daughters a kiss. And we should be silently grateful that she's got some meat on her bones and a perfectly pleased smile on her face.

Image: Klee McMullen/Babble.com

Top 5 Quickest Ways to Ensure Your Child Will Be Obese

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:52:00 GMT

Childhood obesity is an epidemic, if the studies and media are to be believed. It doesn't take much anecdotal evidence to arrive at a similar conclusion, especially if one has the opportunity to walk through a suburban mall of any kind. Serious chunky chickens walking around -- and some younger than three. Want to join the fun?

Here are five surefire ways to make sure your child gets fat and eventually obese, as soon as possible and hopefully by his or her 6th birthday.

1. Sugar It Up - High fructose corn syrup, that is. It's in everything from crackers to bread to cereal to juice. If you buy only processed foods and prepacked goodies, your kid will get the highest dose of sugar possible with the lowest level of nutrition.

2. Feed Feed Feed - Overfed and undernourished is the name of the game. Less nutrition, more junk. Skip vegetables, protein, and anything from the outside aisles of the grocery store and avoid homemade family meals as much as possible.

3. Baby Couch Potato - Kids like to run and jump and play. The only way to make your life easier is to teach them to reeeelaaaax and calm down. Get them hooked on computer games, television, and call it edutainment. Whatever it is, if they stop moving, they'll stop burning calories and start storing up for the big bellies they'll need later.

4. No Team Sports - Related to #3, please don't enroll your kids in any swim lessons, karate, baby yoga or team sports of any kind. You don't want them learning the enjoyment of participating in anything other than side-by-side video games or movie watching. And team sports are an over-competitive crock anyway.

5. McDonald's - It's fast, it's cheap, it's pushing the latest Disney/Pixar venture. And it has a play area which ,unlike Gymboree, is free. Featuring some of the absolute highest fat, highest sugar, worst food on the planet, McDonald's is the ticket to fattening up your baby fast!

And if absolutely nothing else works, keeping them up late and getting them up early (with loads of sugary treats in between) is a surefire way to guarantee they'll be obese for life.

[Photo Credit: Random Fat Kids]

Phobic Kids Fear Fat

Karen Murphy — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:26:00 GMT

Thin is in, and even kids know it. How could they not? The messages are undeniable, and they're everywhere, even in their own homes. After all, kids are fatter than ever before, right? And there's been a huge outpouring of time, energy, and money into programs to save our fat kids from getting fatter. But there's also the flip side, that all this fat-o-phobia is turning regular-sized kids into mini stick insects.

Adults everywhere are focused not only on looking good but on feeling good, too, but this focus on food consumption, health, and exercise trickles down to the kids who distill it and concentrate it into their own personal anorexia-making mantras. And while dropping 15 or 20 pounds in even a thin Mom or Dad won't make a huge overall difference, weight loss in kids can easily escalate into malnutrition and illness. When my older son was 8 he had a stomach virus that kept him from eating for a few days; a 5-lb loss on most kids wouldn't have been a big deal but on my already stick-thin kid it turned him nearly skeletal (he gained it back easily after he began eating again, but it was a huge wakeup call that let me know that my kids just don't have much latitude for such things). And other regular-sized or thinner kids are rapidly becoming too thin when they try to eat less or even lose weight.

Signs your kid may be obsessed with weight and heading into eating-disorder territory:

1. Avoiding eating with the family.

2. Constantly complaining their stomach hurts or they aren't hungry.

3. Being cold and tired most of the time.

(here's a list of warning signs associated more with teens)

Sadly, most weight-obessed parents don't realize that all kids need is to eat a good amount of quality foods, avoid a lot of junk, and play a lot. Period. Oh, and that their own obession is sending their kids a message.

Photo: www.gospellightbc.com

Love is Blind When it Comes to Fat Kids

Karen Murphy — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:35:00 GMT

Oh yes, we love our kids, we do we do! In fact, we love them so much we are blind, sometimes, to their little pecadillos. For instance, though my kids of course have no annoying habits (nor do yours, of course), I can imagine, upon use of a big dose of imagination, that other people may beg to differ. Oh, that? That's not nose-picking, he's er, rubbing his nose.

See what I mean? Love is blind.

Which means it totally makes sense that the more, uh, shall we say, zaftig among us also fail to see that quality in their own offspring. Doesn't it?

So this: "Researchers in Michigan have found that an amazing 40 percent of parents with obese (not just overweight) children ages 6 to 11 say they think their child is "about the right weight",

and this: "Fewer than 10 percent of parents of younger obese kids said they were very concerned about their child’s weight" make a sort of appalling sense, right?

So parents tend to think their kids are taller and thinner than they actually are. Whoa! Those weight-height charts aren't very good convincers are they?

And I guess this obviously has ramifications on the health of those kids, since parents who see nothing but a bundle of love maybe wouldn't take strides that a parent who sees a fat kid that they love might take. Like cutting back on the cupcakes. Or taking a family walk. Or increasing the fitness of the whole family. That sort of thing.

Embrace the Muffin Top: Extra Pounds May Save Your Life, Not Destroy It

Madeline Holler — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 21:25:00 GMT

Can't shed those last 10 pounds of baby weight? Don't! Being a little fat might actually help you survive illnesses such as pneumonia and emphysema, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overweight people also seemed less likely to die from some types of injuries and infections, according to the study.

Being fat is healthy? That's too good to be true! Indeed, it is. But not that much.

Extra fat still contributes to diabetes and kidney disease. But a new study found that up to 25 extra pounds (yessssss!) doesn't increase the risk of death from heart disease or cancer. But being obese -- that's scoring a BMI of 30 points or higher -- does. So, it's okay to be fat, but not too fat.

This whole fat-is-fine conundrum has doctors baffled. (No word on how self-righteous skinny people are taking the news.) The studies seem to contribute to the once-ignored idea that it is indeed possible to be fit and fat. One obesity expert says this news might also calm what he calls the "obesity epidemic hysteria."

A heart specialist, however, worries that the results might be misinterpreted and misleading. For example, a death certificate might have listed a diabetic's cause of death as diabetes, when actually heart disease contributed to the person's demise. He vows that this CDC report won't be the last word. (Those heart guys are such downers!)

Should we take our eyes of the scale? Rework the BMI chart? Forget about the pounds, embrace size 16 fourth-graders and just work on fitness?

Is It Food or Entertainment? Kid's Foods Crossing Borders of Taste

Karen Murphy — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:02:00 GMT

Oh, what delights have I been missing out on in spurning TV and the cereal aisle at the grocery store? Apparently, a lot of them. Dinosaur eggs that hatch in oatmeal? Gross. Who came up with that one? Fruit snacks that leave a tattoo on the tongue? C'mon, people, weren't you satisfied with Pop Rocks?

So how come food manufacturers think kids need to play with their food? Do you buy this stuff?

Not surprisingly, 89 per cent of the "fun" food products marketed to kids were of poor nutritional quality because of high sugar, fat or sodium, as reported in a study published in the upcoming issue of Obesity Reviews. Which is of course making our kids fatter. And some of this stuff isn't limited to the junk-food aisles: I imagine that the organic frozen chicken nuggets, for instance, aren't much better nutritionally than the non-organic kind. Though at least they're not blue. The proliferation of weirdly-colored foods is a trend I find disturbing. How are kids ever going to want to eat, let alone appreciate, quality "real" foods if all they ever get is oddly-colored junk?

I suppose manufacturers will quit making this stuff if people don't buy it. Good luck on THAT one.

How to Make a Fat Kid Skinny: New Friends

Madeline Holler — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:36:00 GMT

Any adult who has ever lost weight knows it takes vigilance and hard work to keep off the extra pounds. Researchers have found that fat kids, not surprisingly, have the same challenge with maintaining.

As with everyone else, obese kids who do manage to lose weight are at great risk of putting it all back on -- and more. But one approach is showing promise as a strategy for changing overweight and obese kids’ lifestyles for good: new friends.

In a small study, kids who weighed at least 65 percent above their normal-range were given exercise and nutrition counseling and assisted in losing weight. Most did. After the five-months of dieting, a third of the kids were sent out into the big high-calorie world to fend for themselves, and another third continued receiving counseling. Both of these groups eventually put the weight back on.

The other third of the kids had significantly better success at keeping off the pounds. What's the secret? These kids were encouraged to form new friendships, especially with other children who were physically active. They took up sports and joined teams and were better able to keep off the pounds.

So you know how peer pressure can get tempt your kids to try drugs or Vacation Bible School? I guess it can also get your kids to go out for team sports or take up surfing. Time to weed out the heavy-eating lazy bunch from playgroup and get me a camping chair for the soccer field sidelines.

Kids are Fat Because of...Politeness?

Karen Murphy — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:53:00 GMT

Back when we were kids, the "fat kid" was the exception. And unless the "fat kid" was also the "smart kid" or the "funny kid", he was also the kid with no friends. Which is a lot of peer pressure on any kid. And likely it either made those fat kids slim down eventually or go into therapy (or both). Was that a better system, in the end, than the acceptance and political-correctness we have now? In other words, did teasing create healthier kids?

Today, there is safety in numbers. Increasingly sedentary, kids today are fatter than in previous decades, and they have plenty of supersized adult role models to look to. Fatness, despite our constant cultural striving for thinness, has become far closer to the norm than ever. "It’s interesting ... that whereas being overweight was once socially risky, now it’s more or less just one of the norms of student life."

Not that I'm necessarily suggesting that we encourage our kids to get all Lord of the Flies and reduce their fatter members to puddles of blubbering blubber, but what about it, really? If kids (and parents) knew there was a steeper social price to pay for scarfing down a steady diet of Doritos and Twinkies, would they start to think more carefully about lifestyle choices? Could a whole social revolution begin right in the classroom, when just-teased kids go home and demand a change?

Or would that just set kids up for a lifetime of perceived failure and ridicule?

Guilt Source: Your Stress is Making Your Kid Fat

Karen Murphy — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:24:00 GMT

Me: Hello, Guilt Department? Could I have an update on things I'm doing that ruin my kid's life? I seem to have forgotten a few.

Guilt Department: Oh yes, we're always happy to oblige. Are you pregnant? Because there are extra Guilt Points if you are...

Me: No, nothing like that, I'm just checking in. I haven't updated in awhile.

GD: [testily] I see. Well, you know we have a policy of at least a monthly update on guilt-inducing activities. It's all in the agreement you signed.

Me: I know, I know. [brightly] Hey, can I add that to my Guilt Point total?

GD: Well, I'll let it go this time...

Me: Great, thanks! So what have you got for me?

GD: Well, the latest is a new study that claims that parent's stress keeps fat kids fat.

Me: Oh, that's a good one!

GD: That's right: if you're distressed about anything, it seems to impact your kid's symptoms of depression, which then naturally has a negative impact on his quality of life. Perfect, isn't it?

Me: [lost in thought] You mean, if I'm stressed about my job, or an argument I had with my spouse, or just in general about politics or world affairs or whatever, it affects my kid and makes him distressed too? Which means he's less likely to have a healthy lifestyle?

GD: Thats right. You'd be way to immersed in your own selfish depression to give any kind of decent support for your kid.

Me: Wow, that one sounds like so much fun! Can I sign up for it?

GD: Sure, I'll have to fax you the paperwork, but I'll add you to the program. Enjoy your guilt!

Me: Okay, thanks!

Fat Kids Don't Go to College

Karen Murphy — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 19:50:00 GMT

Yikes. I think all of us can relate to the experience of the Fat Kid, ostracized by peers or alone in a corner or overcompensating by being extra smart or extra funny. Some of us were the Fat Kid. And none of us really wants OUR kids to be the Fat Kid.

Now there's a comprehensive new study about to be published that gives even more evidence that it can be hurtful in pervasive ways to be much fatter than one's peers: the study found that "obese students had a worse experience at school than their thinner peers and were less likely to attend college, and that the effects of being overweight hurt girls far more than boys." Wow. Obese girls were half as likely as their thinner peers to attend college, and the likelihood diminished even more when they attended high schools that had few obese students. In other words, standing out from the crowd was found to be detrimental. Boys, on the other hand, were unlikely to be affected in their college plans if they were obese.

The study's evidence seemed to present the idea that our self image is still inextricably tied to our body image. Being different leaves one open to ostracism or ridicule; whose self esteem can handle that comfortably? It's bad enough that there are obvious health issues connected with obesity, and I remember the unwritten assumption from my school days that fat girls usually weren't as smart as other kids, while fat boys maybe could be (it depended). How can a kid possibly succeed with that mind-set being so obvious and pervasive? And what can we do about it?

Kid's Nutrition Education Useless: They Still Eat Junk

Karen Murphy — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:50:00 GMT

Over $1 billion spent this year alone by the U.S. government on nutrition education for kids, and just about all of it will go to ~~waist~~ uh, waste. The Associated Press reviewed 57 scientific studies about the various nutrition programs across the country and found only 4 exhibiting any sort of success. Despite dancing carrots and broccoli, prizes for eating vegetables, and kids who lie about their habits, kids are still eating junk and they're still fat. Obesity rates in kids ages 6-11 is five times what it was in the 1970's, and for kids ages 2-5? Three times what it was back then. I'm still astounded at the thought of an obese toddler: don't they burn zillions of calories simply by existing (whining, mostly)?

So if these federally-funded nutrition programs don't work, how come?

1. Parents. Yeah, blame the 'rents. But how can you expect kids to eat broccoli while the parents are chowing down on Doritos? That hardly seems fair. Plus, prenatally, babies will develop a taste for what mom eats during pregnancy. Which explains my kids' tendencies toward cupcakes, bananas, and pineapple.

2. Poverty. Sad but true: junk food is cheaper and easier to find than the good stuff. Highly urban, low-income areas tend to have fewer grocery stores where fresh food is available. And there aren't a lot of good choices for kids to play outside in inner-city areas either, and sports teams cost money. What's to do, then, besides sit inside and watch TV and have a snack or three?

3. Advertising. Have you ever seen an ad for vegetables? I don't remember many either. 'Nuff said.

But here's some more heartening news, which perhaps will help bring on some real change: "This spring the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced plans to spend $500 million over the next five years to reverse the trend of childhood obesity. It will fund programs that bring supermarkets into poor neighborhoods, studies that measure the weight of children who exercise more at school, meetings of advocates who are seeking to restrict junk food ads." In other words, by cutting back on ads, bringing more "real" food to those who need it, and getting kids to exercise more, there just might be some change to this alarming, and, uh, growing trend of childhood obesity.

Surprise! Soda-Drinking Kids Are Fatter

Karen Murphy — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:49:00 GMT

Yep, I know this is going to come s a surprise to you, but guess what? That's right, preschoolers who drink sugary drinks like sodas and fruit drinks (as opposed to 100% juice, which seems okay) are fatter than kids who don't. Earth-shattering! I know! Yet another Canadian study looked at kids ages 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 and found that the kids who consumed 4-6 sugary drinks per week were more than twice as likely to be overweight by age 4.5.

What I want to know is, how do you get a two-year-old to even drink sodas? The crappy fruit drinks I can understand, but my kids won't touch anything with bubbles in it (so all the champagne is for me, sorry kids). I guess they don't like the feeling on their tongues. And it's not an issue because I don't keep it in the house anyway, but I know tons of kids do drink it. Which is a bummer. 'Cause now they're fatter than they need to be.

So Your Kid is Fat. Now What?

Karen Murphy — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:06:00 GMT

The media is great about telling us all the reasons why our kids are fat, but when it comes to giving parents and kids actual tools to use to help this problem, things fall a little short. Oh sure, there's vague talk about "playing outside more" and "eating better", obvious advice to those who are already leading a fairly healthy lifestyle, but what about the families who aren't? What about the families who truly don't know the Seven Ways to Hide Broccoli So Your Kid Will Eat It, or Things To Do Outside That Aren't Video Games. That's where the new website aimed at kids ages 4-7 comes in. The Great Grub Club promises to be a handy and fun site aimed at giving kids information about being healthy while having fun at the same time.

The new site, the brainchild of the World Cancer Research Fund, is set to launch on May 21 in conjunction with National Cancer Awareness Week (U.K.).The site is aimed at preventing the up to 40% of cancers that could be prevented by diet and exercise. Whoa. (Since the site is for kids, cancer isn't actually mentioned, just lots about a healthy lifestyle).

Although my kids don't do much with computers yet, I'm going to check out this site with them when it becomes available. I figure that I can use all the help I can get in giving them the message about healthy living.

Ear Infections: Are they More Common in Fat Kids?

Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:03:00 GMT

Some researchers in South Korea are saying that they may have discovered a connection between body fat and ear infections. Well, more specifically otitis media with effusion. Wow. That even sounds grosser than a regular old ear infection. I guess they did a study and found that hospitalized children with higher BMI's were more likely to also have ear infections. This was also true with the kids that had higher cholesterol.

Here's my question to the scientists: How come my skinny ass daughter keeps getting ear infections then? Huh? You explain that smarty pants doctors. I can see her ribs. The girl only eats bananas and starch. She may not have any cholesterol for all I know. (Clearly I skipped all biology and health classes in college) So why do both of my children have bony little butts and otitis media with effusion?

Maybe this explains why the American scientists weren't impressed with the study. Or maybe I'm just in a bad mood because I haven't slept through the night once this week.

Kid's TV Chock-Full of Junk Food Ads

Karen Murphy — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:57:00 GMT

In yet another episode from the Tell Us Something We Don't Already Know School of Research Studies, the latest reveals that American kids are beseiged with ads for candy, snacks and sugary cereals while they watch TV. Researchers evaluated advertising during 1,638 hours of TV programming on the top networks watched by children, including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, the Cartoon Network, Disney, MTV and Nickelodeon, and found that eight- to twelve-year olds were inundated with more than twenty-one food ads daily, or more than 7600 a year. That's a LOT of highly-suggestible information filtering through those brains, the equivalent of FIFTY HOURS of ads for junk food in a year. Two- to seven-year-olds saw "only" about twelve food ads a day (I guess it's not as profitable to sell to the little ones, since they make fewer decisions about what they eat), totalling about 4400 a year, which is still way too many.

More than $10 billion a year is spent to market foods and beverages to children. And we wonder why our kids are getting fatter?

Possible solutions:

1. Eliminate TV from your house (at least for the kids)(and try not to wince when they call you a hypocrite, join me in this?).

2. Tivo everything so you can eliminate just the ads.

3. Watch only PBS (which comes with its own brands of ads, but at least they're more benign).

4. (cough) Change the way TV looks and the kinds of ads that are present there (how about ads touting the family- and health-friendly lifestyle Rachael's family has embarked upon?).

What have you done about this or plan to do, or is ad-watching an issue for you?

[By the way, the ad pictured is for Coke and is a riff on the video game Grand Theft Auto, often tagged as one of the most violent out there. So here we are combining violent video games with junk food advertising. Wonderful!]

Tater Tots Not Vegetables: Parents Take a Stand Against Crap School Lunches

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:21:00 GMT

Kids these days are obese, watch too much television, and would rather shoot each other than eat a vegetable. School lunch menus aren't helping matters, what with the chocolate milk, tater tots, and chicken nuggets more common than anything resembling fruit or vegetables. Parents in Salem, Oregon have had enough and have signed a petition demanding changes to school lunch menus in their district.

The parents are taking issue in particular with the district's cost-saving effort to use pre-packaged rather than fresh foods for lunches. Lunchables anyone? On the other hand, the district superintendent nails it when he asks what other costs he's supposed to cut if not food costs? Teacher salaries? Supplies? I feel for the guy.

And yes, nutrition for kids is important. But I'd rather get up five minutes earlier and make my kids a lunch and let their school district spend the money on other things. Famous last words though, eh? My kids aren't starting school until the Fall.

More About Fat Kids: Now They Don't Sleep Enough

Karen Murphy — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:13:00 GMT

I know, I know. It's yet another study about why kids are fat these days. [sigh] I'm beginning to wonder if anybody really knows? Is it fast-food commercials, watching TV itself, NOT watching TV, school lunches, what, what, WHAT???!

Theory du jour: sleep. Actually, I can relate to this one. I'm appalled at the amount of sleep most American kids get these days, so it's no wonder they're falling asleep at their desks and causing their parents to be fined for missing parent-teacher conferences. They just aren't sleeping enough. And while I can't quite manage the 7 o'clock bedtime espoused in books like this one, I do pretty well. And my kids look like walking stick insects.

Apparently, this study found a significant relationship between sleep, Body Mass Index (BMI), and overweight status in children aged 3 to 18. Even adding one hour sleep a night to a child's routine made a big difference in "weight status". The study was held over a five-year period whichhelped determine the issue of whether sleep actually affects weight or whether children who already are overweight are simply poor sleepers.

Junk Food Ads Contribute to Childhood Obesity. In Other News, Pope is Catholic.

JasonAvant — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:00:00 GMT

The third California Childhood Obesity Conference kicked off on Tuesday, the 23rd, and experts agree that marketing plays a big (and insidious) role in shaping kids' dietary habits. I was going to hold off on writing about this particular article until after the PR guys from McDonald's, Kellogg's, et al. put out statements questioning the validity of statements made by those speakers while defending their products ("But we also sell yogurt!"). There's just something exhilarating about people who are so nefariously intent on denying reality; putting a delusionary spin on matters of life and death is so vile and sad you just have to laugh.

And yes, childhood obesity is a matter of life and death. The study highlighted in the O.C. Register article indicates that 1 in 4 Orange County children are overweight; we all know that young children who are obese have a much higher chance of developing serious and potentially life-shortening health problems.

What's worth repeating is that like Joe Camel before him, Ronald McDonald wants your kids to become addicts; put on the Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, or any Saturday morning cartoon show and you'll be inundated with fast food and sugar-laden cereal ads. None of which talk about the downside of eating that shit (Mayor McGreasetrap or Tony the Triple-bypass Tiger, anyone?).

Look, I enjoy the occasional big-ass bowl of Cap'n Crunch as much as the next guy. But I'm a grownup. The article raises an excellent point - young children can't differentiate between the program and the commercial. One expert recommends sitting down with your kids and talking about the differences between the two (good luck with that if your kid likes to watch old Transformers cartoons). In my house, we've devised another solution. The DVR. We don't let the kid watch "live" TV; we record the shows, then when he watches them, we fast forward through the commercials (bonus: we get to control what shows he watches, and how long he gets to spend watching them. Plus with the DVR, I can now record 24 while watching Heroes. Thus my life is fulfilled.) Our cable company charges an additional $10 a month; chump change compared to what we'd end up spending on insulin.

Dear Johnny's Mom: Your Kid Is Fat. Signed, The School

Karen Murphy — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:00:00 GMT

My older son, who just turned 11, is 5'4". That's tall for his age, way tall. He also weighs somewhere between 80-100 lbs. He knows these statistics not just because kids know these things (which they generally don't), but because he was measured today by a nurse at his school. While I take a moment to ponder the necessity of this, especially since my son attends a private Waldorf (okay, stone me now) school, not a public school at all and not as such (I thought) under the jurisdiction of the state, let's examine the purported reason for such an invasion of a family's privacy.

According to this post at White Trash Mom, kids in many states including mine are being weighed and measured by their schools in order to determine their Body Mass Index (BMI; calculate yours here), a one-size-fits-all, slightly-better-than-the-old-weight-tables method of determining Who Is Fat and Who Is Not, which are being used by the school which then is sending a letter home to the parents to tell them if their child is "at-risk" for becoming overweight, or, worse, is already overweight.

Excuse me, but kids already know Who Is Fat. Especially the Kids Who Are Fat. Trust me, they know. So is sending a letter home to the parents for "at-risk" children going to make a difference, other than to contribute to an already unnecessary and unhealthy cultural obsession with appearance? Is this new practice, as White Trash Mom suggests, going to foster a sudden increase in eating disorders among children? Yes, there are way too many kids who are overeight or bordering on overweight out there as it is, but is a written admonishment really going to make a difference? How about, instead, some life-changing strategies of nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle that will serve the entire family for years to come?