May 20 2008
Obesity and Childrens
Washington Post has a feature this week about obese children, or, pejoratively, “fat kids.”
I think this feature has been remarkably well done thus far, and it’s pretty interesting. Check out your nutritional knowledge on their quiz. I got a 65%, which isn’t great, but I guess I can be glad I don’t have kids yet.
I think, if most of us older people, look back on our schooling, we can think of one or two fat kids in our classes. I would be that kid.
While the feature is interesting, I strongly advise against reading reader comments. Washington Post columnists are real big on the forums and discussions, and I think we all know how I feel about internet “discussions.” There’s a whole lot of “what’s to be done with this Homer Simpson?” and much less concern for the actual individuals involved.
Which is patronizing. and demeaning to the level of complexity involved with diet, exercise and all-around being a kid. If your level of insight into the situation is “put down the twinkie and go out to play.” I have a few friends for you to meet. Lady Knuckles.
That being said, sometimes I wish someone had pulled me aside as a fat kid and told me a few things:
- It will be much easier for you to change your habits and lose weight now than it will be later in life.
- Your weight affects your health. Seriously. Sure, my doctors told me I should lose weight, but they didn’t tell me if I didn’t, it would cause me problems.
- Eating well is more complicated than not eating chocolate or drinking soda. This is mostly directed at my family doctor who insisted I would lose weight if I ate less candy and soda - even after I told him, But I don’t eat candy or soda. Just ice cream and danishes. Eating well is also more complicated than replacing fat with olestra or replacing sugar with sugar alcohols or chemical sweeteners. While you may lose weight doing that, you won’t be getting any more nutrients into your body.
- You can make lifestyle changes slowly, every little step to a healthier you is a good one.
- Your emotional problems are directly related to your eating habits. And vice versa. I personally don’t understand why more of my counselor/therapist people didn’t tell me as much, or try to push me towards eating better or working out.
There is no way for “us” to fix this problem in a single stroke. It will require solutions and work on a number of fronts. The feature succeeds in pointing out that every one responsible for kids - parents, schools, communities, the kids themselves - has to take on the problem in order to be successful in changing habits.
Dr.A was always so weird — Mom would take me/bro to the doc together and Dr.A would say how it was good that I apparently didn’t eat candy bars (huh?) and tell me to tell bro not to eat them. I would always give him a weird look and say that NONE of us ate candy bars. Because we didn’t really (save like, Halloween/Easter).
I have had to FIGHT with doctors in the past 10 years to try to find ways to deal with weight. Why? Because they check my cholesterol and thyroid and blood sugar and blood pressure and ask me about my activity levels… and discover that I am HEALTHY against those measures. Just not the weight (which came on fast when I went on birth control in college). And weight doesn’t make its effects known immediately. It takes time and YEARS of putting stress on the system before it screws things up too bad (at least when you are young).
I still have to fight with them, since despite working with nutritionists and doctors and everything, nothing makes enough of a difference.
Anyway, my point is mostly that I don’t think that doctors have much training in HOW to help or what to say, especially when the problem is not always “eating candy bars.”
Dr. A was weird about that. It just doesn’t seem helpful to me. I think doctors who were trained earlier probably don’t know the right way to deal with overweight children, which is a shame since they see a lot more these days. When I worked at the Dr’s office last Fall, they had a nutritionist in two days a week to see people. She seemed nice and knowledgeable. I think more places may have to follow that trend.
That said, I think you’re a special case in terms of weight and health. I don’t think most overweight people have good cholesterol, activity levels, etc. and because there’s such a stigma attached to being overweight, I think most people will argue with their doctors. Like when you go to the dentist and he asks you how much you brush. I know people who follow all the dentist’s directions and still have weak teeth, but for most people that’s probably not true. It isn’t a lie, sometimes people believe they’re better off than they are. I always thought I ate pretty well (presumably because I didn’t eat candy bars or soda), but being where I am now, I can see that wasn’t true.
oh well, just thoughts.