Question About Fatness

[Yuri De Lima]

With it's city infested with McDonalds, Wendy's, Burger Kings and many other fast food places; America is one of the fattest country in the world. Out of every 10 people in the US, an average of 6 of them are fat. Out of 100 more than half admit to barely or never doing any kind of exercise. Teenagers and even adults, who are fat or suffer from obesity, will have problems dealing with life, not only social problems, friends making fun of them, but also health issues.

So early in their childhood (10 years or less), if a parents should see that their child has an obesity problem; perhaps a slow metabolism problem, where the child might not eat a lot but their body doesn't burn calories from the food they eat, fast enough, so the fat keeps getting stored in various parts of their body.

A parent(s) is supposed to care, guide and protect their children. In such situation, should the parent be responsible to place their child in a diet in order to get them to be better able to choose what kind of food to eat and how often, in order to keep their body health?

[wataugachicken]

I think the parent's job is more to choose proper foods and engage the child in exercise so that such a problem doesn't happen. If, for some reason, the child does begin to reach an unhealthy weight, the parent should definitely increase the efforts to provide healthy food and activities, but should never tell the child that he or she is overweight or being put onto a diet. that'll just make everything more difficult. however, i would be concerned about putting any overweight child on a diet without going to a doctor first. it seems like kids tend to grow in cycles. . . the kid who was chubby last year in school grew 4 inches over the summer and now looks just right. if the kid has a slow metabolism problem, he or she needs to eat breakfast and exercise more.

[wataugachicken]

Come to think of it, I need to eat breakfast and exercise more. . . .

[legendaryfrog]

oh yeah, I definitely think parents should get more involved with their child's health.

Even though kids do tend to grow in cycles, like watuga mentioned, its never too early to teach them good exercise and eating habits.

[mudskippers]

I think the parent's job is more to choose proper foods and engage the child in exercise so that such a problem doesn't happen. If, for some reason, the child does begin to reach an unhealthy weight, the parent should definitely increase the efforts to provide healthy food and activities, but should never tell the child that he or she is overweight or being put onto a diet. that'll just make everything more difficult. however, i would be concerned about putting any overweight child on a diet without going to a doctor first. it seems like kids tend to grow in cycles. . . the kid who was chubby last year in school grew 4 inches over the summer and now looks just right. if the kid has a slow metabolism problem, he or she needs to eat breakfast and exercise more.
:iagree: I totaly 100% agree

The child shouldn't even reach the point of obiesty, It is the Parent who instills good healthy eating habbits for their child, and should no way punish the child in any way for becoming overweight, even it if is just telling the child that they need to go on a diet. Diet is a harsh word for anyone to hear, let alone a child. If infact the child does become overweight, then the whole family should accomidate eating healthier and interacting in more activity together.

[clown-lover]

I think the parent's job is more to choose proper foods and engage the child in exercise so that such a problem doesn't happen. If, for some reason, the child does begin to reach an unhealthy weight, the parent should definitely increase the efforts to provide healthy food and activities, but should never tell the child that he or she is overweight or being put onto a diet. that'll just make everything more difficult. however, i would be concerned about putting any overweight child on a diet without going to a doctor first. it seems like kids tend to grow in cycles. . . the kid who was chubby last year in school grew 4 inches over the summer and now looks just right. if the kid has a slow metabolism problem, he or she needs to eat breakfast and exercise more.

I think the first statement is key.. Choosing the proper foods. Fast food isn't it, not the pizza, not the chicken, not the burgers.. That and portion control.

[kimmisc]

Parents should raise their children on healthy diets and encourage active lifestyles so that when they become adults, they know how to eat right and are accustomed to a healthy diet. It's hard to make the switch to healthy eating when you've grown up on burgers, fries, and Doritos daily. I don't know that this would be considered "dieting."

[TropicalNorth]

I agree with the above comments.
My opinion:
I think 'education' and 'example' are important, the parents should provide the example and the kids will most likely follow. And I also think kids need to be taught whats good food and bad (sometimes) food is, it probably seems obvious to adults but I know some kids probably don't even know what a cucumber is. Also with exercise, I hate running etc but I love fishing, camping, sailing, hiking. So I think they have to find out what the kid likes doing, base the exercise around that and then they'll see exercise can be fun.

[Lady G]

If parents introduce a healthy "diet" from the get go and do not over feed "junk" foods..then a diet should not be needed.

[ostrangeone89]

My parents have never provided the exact healthiest meals for me etc. But placing your child on a diet? No the point of diet is to lose weight, if you introduce leahty foods and you yourself show examples to your kid of yourself eating healthy foods things should be fine! I myself am overweight but I was made fun of when I was younger but I got tougher and not many kids teased me, I had many friends and none of them have teased me or talked behind my back about. I've never really had a problem being teased, I make friends easily and believe me I have noo social problems! I am the most social person you will find! But then again I am bit of rough person, but I'm really friend at the same time so people don't really mess with me but my schools have been great and in high school it was the best because everybody knows each other and we're all friends etc.

[ILOVEBETTAS]

I agree that a parent should watch their child's health. It disgusts me when parents let their kids eat like that and don't seem to care when they get obese, not the obesity itself but the lack of care of the child's health.

[Cory Lover]

Yeah, agreed.

I'm far from fat...because my parents have taught me to eat healthy.

CL

[ILOVEBETTAS]

Same here... I eat very healthy... although I occasionally eat badly (like right now, I think I ate too many sausages lol) but I have a ridiculous metabolism.

[mozart]

Once a child is obese, they absolutely should be placed on a diet with tremendous emphasis on education about healthy eating. Of course , prevention is the best medicine. Obesity is a medical diagnosis--it needs to be treated like any other disease, before it leads to 5 more (which it will).

[jpappy789]

I that starting a healty diet with exercise early on is the key.

[msjinkzd]

I try and teach my children about nutrition and why its important and not just why junk food is bad. They are allowed one "sugar" each day, be it liquid or solid. They are not supposed to watch more than one hour of television as long as the sun is out and we do family exercise after dinner three times a week. They have freedom to eat whatever they like if we are at a party, this way they don't feel like they are being deprived anything. We believe that teaching them the importance of good nutrition is similar to that of teaching them to respect each other, you lead by example. I do not consider any of us to be on a diet, just concious of what we eat.

[J double R]

absolutely not. a healthy REGULAR diet (not an invasive diet) and healthy active lifestyle will prevent MOST people from getting too large, overweight, fat, whatever you like to call it. there are a select few people who cannot control it, even with extreme diet and exercise (i'm related to one), but most people shouldnt ever have to go on a hardcore die,t because they should have eaten healthier and been more active to begin with.

it's kinda funny that these days, living an active lifestyle and having a healthy diet is considered "being on a diet", instead of being the norm.

[msjinkzd]

it's kinda funny that these days, living an active lifestyle and having a healthy diet is considered "being on a diet", instead of being the norm.
:iagree:

[mozart]

Not sure what an invasive diet is, but once a child is obese from lack of prevention, the whole family needs a dietary change, unless the kid has been tortured with food. Prevention is always the best medicine, but when that fails, you need treatment (which is dietary modification=diet)!

[KnaveTO]

Children should never be placed on a diet unless recomended by a pediatrician. Diets are designed for unusually high weight loss over a short period of time and are very hard on the system In a child it is even more so. As children grow and mature they use up a lot of their fat cells as it transforms to muscle.This is a natural progression.

However with regards to obesiety sometimes there are genetic dispositions towards it (my fathers side of the family has it), and in those cases children should be put on a proper dietary regime to prevent the excess weight gain. Furthermore too often people think they are obese when they are not. Over the years science has changed the 'rules' about wight and size. What used to be considered endomorphic in size sometimes is now considered mesomorphic. Parents are not the best judge of this and thus why I say they should not arbitrarily put their children on a diet. Excercise and proper diet are the responsibility of the parent. Encouraging of such should be foremost in every parents child raising regeme.

[J double R]

Not sure what an invasive diet is, but once a child is obese from lack of prevention, the whole family needs a dietary change, unless the kid has been tortured with food. Prevention is always the best medicine, but when that fails, you need treatment (which is dietary modification=diet)!

when i say invasive diet, i mean one that would normally be LESS than the healthy caloric intake of a child/person that is not obese.

i am not against invasive diets, but i think that invasive diets show a failure on someone's part to improve the quality of the nutrition.. because obesity really isnt an overnight thing. intervention is possible, and necessary, which is why i support healthy meals in schools. :)

[Malbri]

lol my parents are like "Eat whatever the heck ya want, as long as I dont have to cook, and if you are cooking something yummy, you give me some"
And im not fat.....

[J double R]

lol my parents are like "Eat whatever the heck ya want, as long as I dont have to cook, and if you are cooking something yummy, you give me some"
And im not fat.....

some people (including myself) and a lot of children as well, have faster metabolisms that allow them to use all the excess caloric intake. this in no way means that eating anything is good for you.. and when you reach adulthood, your metabolism goes through a MAJOR change, and usually slows down quite a bit. :) don't get used to eating whatever you like whenever you like... it took me 50 extra pounds and a near discharge from the military to learn my lesson.