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Should an 11-Year-Old Go on a Diet?
The mother of an 11-year-old asked CNN’s online nutrition expert whether it’s OK to put her active 11-year-old daughter on a diet. The daughter, who plays sports year round, is all for it.
That’s just weird.
The mother describes the daughter as muscular — “she only looks only about 20 pounds over.” And Mom’s ready to cut out sweetened drinks and white bread and sugary snacks. But is that enough, she wants to know? Is it too much?
The doctor doesn’t exactly tell the mom “no.” But I think she should. Let me explain:
The doctor tells the mom that, in addition to not allowing the processed grains and sugared up snacks, she should also limit TV time, up the fiber and add veggies, veggies, veggies to the girl’s meals. All those tips are fine — but here’s what I hate about how the mother and doctor are talking about the girl: (1) no one questions the basis on which the mother has declared the daughter 50 pounds overweight, and (2) they’re laying all the lifestyle changes at the girl’s feet. Rather than telling the mom to stop bringing sugary snacks and sweetened drinks into the house, they’re talking about limiting these things for the daughter only.
And you really don’t want to go calling out one person in the family for being fat.
Also? the year-round sports, let’s talk about that. I think it’s great that she’s in sports — it’s good to be active, sounds like the daughter enjoys it. But are these the kind of sports teams where a snack is served after ev.er.y practice? Does something resembling a meal get served after every game? I’m stunned at the volume (and lacking in quality) food and drinks that get passed around to very young children during out-of-school sports programs. I’ve heard it gets even worse as they get older. Even in my daughters’ parks and rec dance classes, the teacher hands out animal crackers at the end of each lesson. Oh and swim lessons this summer? The teacher gives out a dum-dum lollipop — for a half-hour of blowing bubbles and floating on backs!
These are sweet gestures and of course doing sports makes you work up an appetite. But I would certainly prefer to satiate my kids’ hunger with, oh, dinner. What’s wrong with a growling belly?
I asked my husband, who played all those sports as a kid, Pop Warner, Little League, etc., whether his mom had to sign up to bring snacks. Never. The teams went out for pizza at the end of the season. But after practice? After games? They had to suffer until dinnertime.
So about this supposedly 50 pounds overweight 11-year-old and whether she should go on a diet. Short answer is no. This isn’t the responsibility of the girl alone and starting her on a diet sets her apart from her family. If she’s truly that overweight, she’s eating too much on a daily basis and a lot of it at home or after sports. I wish the doctor would have suggested changing those environments — talk to the coach about dropping the snacks. No more money to go out for ice-cream after practice.
The only diet an 11-year-old should be on is three healthy meals a day that look just like what her parents and siblings are eating. A diet is a short-term fix that could have lasting negative consequences. Maintaining a healthy body is a long-term lifestyle adjustment.
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12 Comments
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Weight Lose Guide » Should an 11-Year-Old Go on a Diet? - Babble (blog) commented on Jul 23 10 at 5:25 pm[...] Babble (blog) [...]
Should I put my 11-year-old on a diet? – CNN | Weight-Loss-HQ.com commented on Jul 24 10 at 2:54 pm[...] Should an 11-Year-Old Go on a Diet? [...]
Autism Parents Want People to Understand Tantrums | Strollerderby commented on Jul 26 10 at 5:24 pm[...] of standard-sized clothing. And now, these expanded sizes aren’t just available for school-aged kids. In the UK, a large retail store recently began selling an entire line of plus-sized clothing for [...]
Plus-Sized Clothing for Toddlers? | Strollerderby commented on Jul 27 10 at 12:25 pmKikiriki commented on Jul 23 10 at 7:58 pmAbsolutely everything you just said is spot on. SPOT ON.
Linda commented on Jul 23 10 at 8:41 pmYup. Limiting (or eliminating) white bread and sugary drinks and snakcs isn’t “going on a diet.” It’s just the way you’re supposed to eat. And the whole family should be doing it, regardless of their individual weights. I wanted to add that my kids do year round swim team and karate and there are no snacks offered after the pratices. How odd to think that there would be. Also, the kid is 11. Mom still controls the bulk of her meals, so if the child is as active as she says, and is still 50 lbs overweight (that’s an awful lot for an 11 year old, if it’s true), the mom needs to get her act together nutritionally and stop feeding her family crap. Again, not “going on a diet”, but feeding the family properly.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Jul 24 10 at 5:27 amEverything you said, and can’t reiterate Linda’s last point enough.
JZ commented on Jul 24 10 at 7:24 pmPoor girl. Cant you just hear her in 20 years “my mom made me go on my first diet at 11.” Making her go on a diet is just asking for emotional issues later on and not to mention increases the chance of an eating disorder.
JEssica commented on Jul 26 10 at 1:19 pmAs a doctor you should never give medical advice to mother on her kids weight. I knew one mother who thought her 12 year old 80 pound daughter was 20 lbs too heavy so she only allowed her grapes and water.
Nancy Hall commented on Jul 26 10 at 6:14 pmWhen I played soccer as a child, we had oranges and water after games. Perfectly refreshing. I don’t know what coaches are thinking, passing out candies.
yesplease commented on Jul 29 10 at 8:06 pmThis really hit home. I was the fat kid in our family, despite being the most active. Although we usually had healthy dinners, Cheetos, Doritos, Slim Jims and Twinkies were always available. I was told that I just needed to exercise willpower and avoid these things. I was 8 years old. To this day, I feel like the odd one out in my family, and don’t enjoy eating in front of them.
NY Phoenix commented on Jun 08 11 at 9:32 amI think that’s something she needs to take up with her child’s doctor, NOT a news outlet or anything else to do with the media which tends to project negatively on any body image that doesn’t fit their “ideal” (according to the BMI, brad pitt is morbidly obese!)
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