Child Obesity: a Pictorial
You know what’s awesome? Childhood obesity. Just a few short decades ago, this wasn’t an issue. Like, at all. You’ll be relieved to know we’ve solved that problem. Hey, we’re America. We innovate.
The rate of childhood obesity has doubled since 1980. The rate of adolescent obesity has tripled since the year St. Helens blew her top. Now that’s the kind of growth spurt I like to see!
Of course, you can’t fatten up five-year-olds without junk food. But for maximum results, they have to be able to play with the food, too. Hey, Jesuits: you could learn a thing or two from the crap food producers of America. Give a tot a Happy Meal, and I’ll give you an obese, diseased, miserable human being for life. And that miserable human being will spend a lot of money on health care. Because children turn into adults. Sweet!
Of course, this kind of innovative growth requires brilliant and inconsistent advertising that says one thing and one thing only: as long as we pretend to give a sh*t, it’s all good.
You might also want to consider “special” food for children that is separate from food for grown-ups. This special food is, almost without exception, made of cheap sugars, refined grains, and chemicals – and entirely devoid of nutrition. Brilliant, right? Well, almost…
This “special” food should be marketed effectively. You can have the worst products in the world, but if you don’t know how to market them exclusively to children, you’re in trouble. Fortunately, children are susceptible to manipulation because they trust us adults and lack critical thinking skills. They actually think we care! Wow, are they in for a surprise in about five years. For now, advergaming rocks. And thank heavens for the internet!
Also, in order to destroy the health and happiness of a generation, make sure that the majority of restaurant menu offerings explicitly created for, and directed at, children are comprised of deep-fried, refined garbage. Popcorn shrimp. Chicken nuggets. French fries. “Meat” fingers.
Remember, however, that it takes a village. Schools should sling toxic junk at gullible children just to pay the bills. Children currently get nearly one-third of their calories from sweetened beverages, but with your help, we can do better.
Unfortunately, a few states are working hard to combat childhood obesity. I don’t think we have to say which ones.
However, despite a few setbacks like California and bleeding-heart liberals, the obesity growth spurt just gets better! Check it out: we now have clothing to accommodate obese babies.
My boyfriends two kids have this kind of eating disorder….they can only eat the kinds of food on a ‘kids’ menu. We went to one restaurant that had as a kid item- peanut butter and jelly sandwich with french fries.
When did kids start arguments with their parents about what they will and will not eat? I never remember any kids doing this in the ’50’s. We ate what our mothers made for us, mostly.
One morning they ordered an oreo cookie milkshake for breakfast.
So, is this due to corporate advertising? How did this happen to our society?
I’m more interested in the psychology and cultural factors behind this epidemic and what this may say about us as a race of people.
1. WHY don’t the fatties recognize what they are doing to themselves? Don’t they have mirrors in their houses? Why don’t they recognize what they look like? Why aren’t they able to motivate themselves to eat less? Why don’t they seem to care?
2. In a culture like ours that glorifies the celebrity in all forms of media, few celebrities are overweight. So it seems that celebrities don’t have the influence that many think they do.
3. Woman used to want to keep themselves thin (albeit using unhealthy methods like virtual starvation and at least until they settled into marriage) as they felt that was what men were looking for in a partner. Now they don’t seem to care anymore. Are men of all ages growing more willing to accept fat woman than previously? If not, then the action of letting oneself go would seem to be self-destructive, reducing the probability of meeting someone and reproducing – which is said to be our most primary drive after self-preservation.
Maybe there IS something in all the pesticides that are used and the chemicals that are added to our food that is affecting our basic chemistry?
These are only a very few questions and observations. I am sure that people with much more writing talent than myself have been/are examining these questions in great detail. I would like to see some links if you can find any.
Shano,
Thanks for your comment. I took an interesting course a few years back about the influence of advertising on children. This is a huge area for debate and there’s a whole lot of research that’s been done. Essentially, studies have proven that television – both shows and commercials – can have an effect (obviously, or why would advertisers advertise?). However, this is such a complicated issue because the effect will vary based upon the child’s environment, parental involvement, peer influence, personality, etc. We want to be able to point a finger at one thing and lay blame. It’s just not that easy, unfortunately. I think in general we’re barking up the wrong tree when we want to blame or find the “cause” of a big social problem. In a society where you could expect to see this problem, you could expect to see the problem show up everywhere – in advertising, in food production, in parental responsibility, in education. And we do see it everywhere. Problems of this magnitude and nature indicate, to me, that we are all complicit and responsible. Government tinkering or regulation of one part of the problem won’t do jack to solve it. And that’s why it grows worse.
Jojo, interesting, though your first point is insensitive. Overweight people know they are overweight, and there are many reasons (education, access, psychology, self-esteem, wealth, etc.) “they” don’t change. I don’t go in for politically correct tip-toeing, but there’s no need to launch the fatty grenade.
I appreciate your comments and thoughts. I agree that the overall psychological and sociological questions need to be looked at more closely.
As far as women not caring anymore? I actually think it’s become a worse problem than it was even 10 years ago. I know plenty of size 4, 2, and zero women (yes!) who are perpetually on a diet. It does seem that there is more general acceptance of different body types – aka the J. Lo phenomenon. But I’m not aware of women not caring anymore. I think if anything we’re becoming even more aware and obsessive thanks to things like airbrushing. My local mani-pedi joint now offers not only eyelash tinting, but eyelash extensions. Pretty sure Moms never had to think about that.
Well, I have stopped eating/buying anything with corn syrup-high fructose corn syrup, etc.
And believe me, this choice knocks out the majority of products in any major supermarket. Government provides huge subsidies for farmers (mostly big agri-business) to grow corn for this food system.
Why not level the field by subsidising fruits and vegetables? Incentives for organic or sustainable farming that does not rely on petrolium based fertilizers?
Instead we have these for profit companies who think nothing of cheapening our food supply with low cost, but not healthy alternatives. Hershey just found out that Americans are getting fed up when they tried to put through substitute cheap oils for cocoa butter in chocolate products. Huge outcry on that one!
People in Europe refuse to eat our meat products because of steriod, antibiotic and hormone contamination. We should demand clean food and end the encouragement of cheap junk foods at least.
Am completely in the slow food movement now because of the obvious terrible health effects of the American diet. Look at the studies of the French and Japanese peoples. They become sicker when they live here and eat the typical diet. And even though the French eat a diet high in fats, they are much healthier and live longer than Americans.
Big Agri/ Food Corporations make us sick with cheap food. Then Big Pharma has to try and develop a ‘pill’ to make us all feel better. A vicious circle, but big profits for both.
Although you just completely disgusted me with that post, I still appreciate how entertaining and utterly TRUE it was. Although California is making an attempt, their idea of “healthy” is absurd. At my high school, they discontinued “colas” in favor of “juices,” flavored milks, and gatorade which have no fewer sugars than what they replaced… not to mention the candy bars they still sell, or the processed crap they lump onto a cardboard tray for lunches. Thank you for all your posts, I enjoy reading them every day.
Thanks, Scott! Your comments are appreciated.
And, yes, about “healthy”: who gets to decide? That’s a big problem, too.
Well Sara,
I forgot who said it, but the quote was: if your grandmother would have a hard time recognising something as “food”, then you probably should not eat it.
Eat fresh, eat local as much as possible, and eat a wide variety of foods from all sources minimally processed. I would go further and say eat foods in season, because they are freshest and the best quality, meaning they are packed with nutrition.
We evolved as humans eating this way.
There is a reason certain foods “go together”. Eggs and fruit juice? The enzymes and vitamins in the fruit help metabolise the protiens and vitamins in the egg.
Just look at the classic recipes in any culture. There is a reason Mexican food combines avocado, limes and salt. Or beans, squash and corn..creates a complete protein meal. Mango chutny eaten with meat in Indian culture, cranberry sauce with turkey, duck with orange sauce in France, etc.
This needs to be reintroduced into American culture. Not some pipe dream of a pill that will make you lose weight, or a fake fat that runs through your system undigested. Or any of the other highly processed “diet” foods Americans spend a fortune on each year.
The simple basics of good nutrition, please, thats what is healthy.
what ever happened to kids getting excersice and playing outside? Now they eat packaged junk food and sit at a computer or play video games.
Obese baby clothes?!?!!? Isn’t that child abuse!?!?! Why aren’t Child Protective Services hanging out at the cash registers and arresting these parents?!?!?! That is horrid.
How about this data point?
Obese girls less likely to attend college
Mon, 2007-07-23 06:39 — BJS
Obese girls are half as likely to attend college as non-obese girls, according to a new study from The University of Texas at Austin.
The study also shows obese girls are even less likely to enter college if they attend a high school where obesity is relatively uncommon. The findings appear in the July issue of the journal Sociology of Education.
The study tracked nearly 11,000 American adolescents, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
“Obesity has been identified as a serious public health issue, but these results indicate the harmful effects extend far beyond physical health,” said Robert Crosnoe, author of the study and a sociologist at the university.
Full article:
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/obese-girls-less-likely-attend-college-13758.html
thanks..
thank you..
Sorry all,
Here you go:
There have been ideas of implementing legislations that will prevent people from overeating. Such are generally described with terms like ‘fat tax’ and loosing health care benefits, while other researchers proposed genetically altered foods to taste less, smaller portions than the ones available today at grocery shops, and higher taxes for foods with higher concentration of fats.
I should mention that I am not in favor of the above suppositions and try to highlight other aspects of human nature that might assist individuals.
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Interesting read! I think the best way to start promoting healthy eating in children is removing sweets and sodas from schools! Five to ten (depending on if the children are eating both breakfast and lunch) are eaten at school every week. Children will hopefully pick up healthier eating habits this way for the rest of their lives, also! You can find some additional interesting reading over at the Dietary Supplement Information Bureau page on childhood obesity.
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i have fat kids.