Strollerderby : overweight children

Unpopular and Fat: A Scientific Fact

Madeline Holler — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:43:00 GMT

Which came first, the social isolation or the excess pounds?

A new study looking to, I don't know, dredge up the deeply buried insecurities of grown women and/or convince parents to homeschool their kids has found that the less popular a girl perceives herself to be the more weight she'll gain during the teenage years. Conjuring images, no doubt, of the lonely sophomore eating a pint of ice-cream in a darkened kitchen while her cellphone never rings. Ugh!

The study: researchers recorded a pack of 15-year-olds' BMIs and had them determine which rung on the picture of 10-rung ladder they might be standing. A few years later, they calculated the grown girl-now-woman's BMI. Those who rated themselves along the bottom half of the ladder were 69 percent more likely to gain an excess of 11 pounds (there were allowances made for expected weight gain for the still-growing group of girls).

But here's what I find pretty interesting:

The researchers put the girls into two groups: the 4,264 who said they were on rung 5 or above, and the 182 who said they were on rung 4 or below. The weight gain link was based on those two groups.

That's a pretty small group who ranked themselves so low, isn't it? What I'd like to know is whether the lower your rank yourself the more you gained or more likely you were to gain, that kind of thing. And does the 182 number represent the expected percentage to be clinically depressed or whatever? I mean, is popularity the key here?

Of course, there is more work to be done.

Clea McNeely of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health called the study strong. She said she wanted to know more about the 4 percent of girls who rated themselves below average in popularity, particularly whether they already were gaining weight faster before they rated themselves as unpopular.

Now, what I'd really like to know is whether anyone who ranked herself at the top of the ladder wound up super obese. Because I'm bitter like that.

Disney Small World Ride Sinking Under Weight of Fat People

Madeline Holler — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 17:37:00 GMT

The original Disneyland in Anaheim, California, will be putting one of its oldest and most famous rides on hiatus in January. Since the It’s a Small World boat ride keeps sinking under the increasing weight of the theme park’s visitors, engineers have to dredge a deeper flume and build more bouyant boats to keep the ride flowing.

The rebuilt course might also spare more hefty guests the painful embarrassment of being pulled from a stuck boat and led out the emergency exit. Already, workers at the ride have to board fewer riders when super-fatties are next in line, much to the irritation of those who have to wait even longer to get on.

The ride was built in 1963 when the average-size American adult male was 175 pounds and the average-size female was 135 pounds. I think now that's the average size of fifth-graders. In any case, riders regularly tip the scales at more than 200 pounds each so some tricky planning is involved.

The ride is an open boat made to accommodate a few rows of passengers. The boat floats down a narrow river-like flume, while passengers are bombarded with the cloying “It’s a Small World After All” tune, making getting stuck extra upsetting.

When It's a Small World reopens, it will be able to transport several hundred more pounds of capacity. Park officials may shut down and reconfigure other rides, like the Pinocchio, Alice In Wonderland and Pirates of The Caribbean rides – all of which have stalled or become annoyingly slow from the weight of their passengers.

The world really isn't so small, huh? But Disney is still fun for the whole fat family!

Everything Makes Kids Obese... Wait!

Kelly Mills — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:03:00 GMT

Seems like every day a new study comes out about how such-and-such is contributing to childhood obesity, so it's news when you find something that actually doesn't make children overweight. And it looks like 100 percent juice isn't a risky beverage for the wee ones. Quick kids, suck up the o.j. before the next study comes out!

A study of 3,618 kids found that drinking 100 percent juice was not linked to the risk of childhood obesity or becoming overweight. In fact, the kids in the study who drank the most juice had three times less risk of becoming overweight, and actually had healthier diets overall. Researchers also found that 57 percent of the kids in the study didn't drink any juice.

Once my child gets wind of this, it's all over for me as an authority figure (a tenuous position as it is, to be honest.) I'm the kind of freak who thinks juice almost counts as dessert, and offers up whole fruit as an alternative to sucking down grape sugar-water. One of the most noticeable results of this policy is that whenever we go to a birthday party, my child slams down four juice boxes as fast as she can. Then hides a couple boxes in her party favor bag. It's like I'm training her for college drinking.

Maybe I'll see if I can get her to switch over to coffee.

Everything Makes Kids Fat

Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah — Sun, 06 May 2007 18:14:00 GMT

With the release of a new study linking fathers' parenting styles to childhood obesity it has become official - everything makes your kids fat:

TV commercials for food make your kids eat too much, and ads for junk food are even worse.

Eating in large groups makes kids fat. You would think with how bad most school cafeterias smell this wouldn't be a problem.

McDonalds makes kids fat.

Bill Clinton says that lack of exercise is the problem. Wow. Brilliant. No wonder we elected him President.

Huh. To think I was taught that you could show your kids how to eat and live healthy by example. So I guess I shouldn't feel bad when my kids see me eat Doritos for breakfast. It is clearly inevitable. Your kids are going to be fat especially if they are American. There is no reason to take any personal responsibility. (Too bad there is no font for sarcasm.)