Really fat kids...

[AE1PT]

Every afternoon at 3PM, when I do not have a meeting or phone calls--I drive down to the elementary school and pick up my grandson, a second grader.

Over the course of the past semester I have taken serious note of something. Most of the kids in his class--and other grades that I have seen--are moderately to grossly obese. Looking at his entire class at an assembly last week, only one-third of the class could be classified as normal weight or thin.

The parents who pick up their fat treasures are without exception obese themselves. I hear about the shocking increase in juvenile diabetes and even cardiovascular issues--and have no problem understanding why. These kids are fed processed garbage, don't lead active lifestyles, and have little choice over their nutrition options. The school menu is a caloric joke--I can only imagine the mass quantities they eat at home. Here we are in early summer with beautiful weather, and kids are to be found nowhere in my little town outside--and the weather is beautiful. They likely are huddled in the house slavering over some electronic marvel whilst jamming their mouths full of soda and processed corn shit. Very strange.

I fear that we are fostering several generations now that not only will not succeed economically as well as their parents--they will not live as long either... :(

[WX7P]

You just noticed this?

I remember thinking the same thing when my daughter was in second grade...she's 27 now.

The video games and TV are the obvious culprit. In addition, parents have gotten incredibly paranoid about their kids being snatched, so the kids never go outside, unless the parents were home.

I was living in Sonoma County, CA in 1993 during the whole Polly Klass/Richard Allen Davis mess. Mass paranoia! They brought in grief counselors to the elementary schools all over County even though the kidnapping was in Petaluma, which is in the South of the county. Then, the papers "advised" that kids be constantly supervised outside, which was stupid, because the Klass kid was snatched from her home.

Everybody started driving little Johnny to school and back again. No "playing outside" etc. Plus you have the added voodoo of a bunch of adult influenced traumatized kids who don't WANT to go outside. It's still going on there.

Needless to say, I didn't play, and neither did a core of other parents. So, those kids were the ones my daughter hung around with, instead of the overprotected non-active little dears.

[AE1PT]

No, I have been aware of the juvenile obesity problem for a long time--it's just that there are so many more of them now. The population is growing, so to speak, and the fit kids are becoming the exception to the rule.

[PA5COR]

It's not as bad here, but i can see a change here as well.
Luckily most parents set times for playing the electronc wizzes and kick them out to play like real kids like we used to do, like climbing trees, fall into the water and all that "funny"stuff.

Healthinsurers reward non smoking and good behaviour with keeping your weight in check with rebates on the healthcare insurance, give coupons for fitness centers,etc.
Schools have active programs to get the kids moving gymnastics mandatory ad more of it.
But even here the Mc Dreck and KFC and pizza junk arrived years back, i never go there sinc the last years...
I rathr cook and know what is in my food...

[KG4NEL]

It's a little unsettling walking in to a place and realizing I'm probably in the low quartile of BF percentage in the room most of the time...and I'm not even really where I'd like to be yet. But then again, the last time we had catered food brought in to the office, they went through about 2 gallons of sweet tea in an afternoon. No thanks, I'll stick to my black coffee.

Healthinsurers reward non smoking and good behaviour with keeping your weight in check with rebates on the healthcare insurance, give coupons for fitness centers,etc.

It's probably going to start a holy war, but sedentary people are going to have to start being charged more. I'd prefer to see another metric used instead of weight (BF% would be better, IMO), but something is better than nothing.

[n2ize]

I was very overweight for quite a number of years. Doctors warned me to lose weight but I kept putting it off. On top of all that I had borderline diabetes and untreated anxiety disorder. To deal with the anxiety I kept a bottle of vodka on hand. If I felt my anxiety getting out of control I would pour myself a glass or two.

Then something happened to me round Christmastime. I started feeling lousy and weak. I could hardly walk up hills, steps or even moderate distances. I started getting swelling in my ankles, legs, feet, knees and my anxiety was getting put of control to the point that even a drink wouldn't calm me down. So I started increasing my intake of alcohol to fight the anxiety. Then, one evening right after christmas I was showing and noticed a hard lump under the skin in the lower part of my stomach. I thought I had cancer.

I got to the doctor in early January right after the new year. My blood sugar levels were way up, my weight was through the roof, I looked fat and horrid, my blood pressure was quite high, my liver enzymes were high, my vision was blurry. The doctor immediiatly put me on a anti--diabetic medication and a hiigh blood pressure medicine and a diuretic. He also gave me an anti-depressant and a mild tranquilizer to deal with the anxiety and put me on a very strict diet. I immediately filled the medications and started on them. I threw away whatever booze I had left. The hard lump I thought was cancer was edema (fluid retention).

Flash ahead to today, June 2013. I lost 100 lbs and am still loosing. I look 100% better. I feel like I did back when i was a kid. My anxiety is under control. I can take long walks up steep hills and I no longer get out of breath or tired. My lungs are working great and my oxygen transfer has improved dramatically. My blood pressure is low and my heart rate is way down. The swelling and edema is gone. My liver enzymes are back down to normal. I don't touch alcohol. And I am continuing to lose weight. I feel like a different person, I am more productive and generally feel better at everything I do.

But what amazes me now is how fat so many people are. Recently I have seen people whom I haven't seen in several years and I can't believe how fat everyone has gotten. I still need to lose 50-70 lbs but I look skinny as a rail compared to a lot of people I know.It wasn't until I straightened out and lost weight that I started realizing how much people eat and how fat they are. And I think, just 6 months ago I was like that. One thing for sure, I don;t ever want to go back there again.

I notice it also runs in families. If the parents are heavy then kids often are too and you'll also see them chowing down too much and too often.

[N2NH]

I think the reason why late Boomers do as well as they do is because of President Kennedy's School Fitness program. Boomer had the problems of living with above ground atomic testing which has affected their health, yet are still more active than any other generation. Heck, there are some who are try to do exercises that injure them. But they are still trying.

During the 60’s when I was in elementary school, President Kennedy took over a federal physical fitness program that was started and failed by Eisenhower, and he reorganized a new council to oversee and market a new physical fitness program for all Americans. During 1961-1962 school years, the president developed a physical fitness pilot project for the schools. A core group of almost a quarter of a million schoolchildren took part in the Council-sponsored pilot projects in six states. The physical fitness program was structured into the daily curriculum of school study.

Linkination.

We need something like this again. Eating right isn't enough.

[AE1PT]

I remember all too well when the Kennedy programs came along. They pushed out our recess--in which we ran, jumped, and played to our own rhythms--and replaced it with calisthenics, structured sport activities, and running around tracks in the gym. I thought it sucked, but then again I was one of only three "husky" boys in my entire elementary school. There was one very fat girl--and she was gobsmack ugly too. I think that she became a lesbian and went to work for Caterpillar Tractor, over in East Peoria. There were perhaps 300 kids in grades 1-6. Four fatties. We also regularly hid under our desks to save ourselves from atomic bombs, but that is not germane to the discussion. On the other hand, maybe it is--because I believe that the Cold War played a strong role in making Americans fat, lazy fuckers.

Once upon various times in history, mild to moderate obesity was seen as a sign of affluence, health and wealth. Those better off ate more than the rabble--hence could pack on a pound or two. Plumpers were once the most desirable of women--and various painters immortalized them. Hard work and poverty does not a fat ass make. This leads me to those burbling drones who repeat the "eat right and be healthy" nonsense. Fine business if you are somewhat affluent in society. Mr. Khrushchev liked stocky, plump women. He said they were built like tractors and worked as hard. Or was that worked hard and built tractors? Anyway, Dick Nixon disagreed with him...

Now because some of you are asking yourselves why this idiot does not get to the point, I will. America became all about consumption as a result of excess capacity from the second world war, and used that capacity as the greatest propaganda tool the world has ever known. More of everything. And bigger too. This included our food--and a paradigm shift in how food was delivered to us and prepared. Packaged, processed, and almost predigested. All the better to sit in front of our shiny new televisions and watch others consume!

Betty Crocker and Chef Boyardee helped generic Beaver moms everywhere dish out caloric nightmares worthy of a meal for any hard working farmer--but for a population that was increasingly sedentary as office work and mechanization in factories began to take the hard work out of work. And the labor saving convenience of those appliances that Dick Nixon thought were more nifty than tractors packed a pound or ten on good old mom too. In 30 years we went from Mr. Hoover trying to find enough chickens to stuff into hungry families pots, to smoking pot and joining Weight Watchers. Go figure, and hand me that bag of Cheetos.

It is said that poor people have poor ways. Indeed that is true, and food is a reflection of that. Lower income families rely on more starches and carbohydrates than those of greater income. Beans, potatoes, rice, flour--are cheap. Fatty cuts of meat are flavorful and cheap. Both go a long way in making a tasty, cheap, and ultimately unhealthy meal. Eat better? Quality vegetables and meat cuts are more expensive--and depending upon family size are for a large part out of the economic reach of many. With certain acquired tastes--these quality meals everyone jabbers about are not as great a gustatory delight as the traditional fat fried in fat meals. Meanwhile, the Russians have found alternative uses for potatoes to make life with fat, tractor building women more tolerable.

I have more to say on this, but the Cheetos have my fingers sticking to the keys, and I need to refill my glass of Arizona sweet tea.

[W2NAP]

glad im not fat

[n2ize]

glad im not fat

Be glad you are not fat. Thin is better than fat. Problem is that we Americans overeat. Constant hunger and overeating are usually signs of underlying illness, i.e. diabetes, low blood sugar, and other underlying problems.As soon as I got my blood sugar in check I stopped feeling hungry all the time. It is amazing how little food we really need to stay alive and healthy. We are conditioned to belive we need to eat more. We really do not require much food.