The scales of justice are certainly flawed when kids are taken away from parents for being overweight.

When should authorities step in to remove a person’s children from them?

Typically, it’s in abuse situations, but the idea of what constitutes abuse varies from person to person. Many people apparently feel that having an overweight child may be grounds for removal.

A Scottish couple may lose custody of their four youngest children, ages 1-11, for being obese. If removed, the children will either be ‘fostered without contact’ or adopted. Continue reading »

Tweet

7

Pin It

Most people want it their way, not the healthy way, at fast food restaurants

The other day I took my toddler to McDonald’s for lunch (I know! I’m a bad mother!). She got Chicken McNuggets, apple slices (with no caramel sauce) and chocolate milk. While she ate her apples, I checked the package — zero grams of fiber. It was still a better choice than French fries, but there was actually nothing nutritional in the slices themselves (there was a big fat zero next to every other nutritional data line, too, except for sugar).

But I wasn’t taking her to McDonald’s to be healthy. She eschews French fries because she just doesn’t like them. We don’t go to McDonald’s or any other fast food restaurant often and, frankly, if she wanted fries and a burger, I’d be A-OK with that (in fact, I’d be amused, since except for the occasional chicken nugget, she is a self-imposed vegetarian).

Still, I guess it’s good to hear that 19 restaurant chains plan on adding healthier options to their kids’ meal menus. But if you’re taking your kids out to these chains — like Burger King, Chili’s Friendly’s or IHOP — more than occasionally, wouldn’t you be better off eating at home and using the money you would have spent eating out on buying healthier food to serve your kids at the kitchen table? Why would anyone depend on a fast food chain for seriously nutritional options — since when is it anyone’s job but yours to act responsibly, like parents are supposed to act? Continue reading »

Tweet

18

Pin It

Dinnertime! Yes, that's dinner.

I’m pretty much the gatekeeper of all things edible in our house. I’ve got my reasons. Mainly (at least I tell myself), it’s because I do most of the cooking, so I know what we need, what we run out of, what we’ll eat and what will just rot in the bottom of the fridge. Also, our house is small — teeny tiny. Very little shelf space, no pantry, apartment-size fridge. So I know what we can (actually, can’t) accommodate.

I’m also the gatekeeper, I’m afraid, because I like being able to influence (read: dictate) what my kids eat. I don’t say that lightly or with pride. It’s just, I was raised in an a home with an exorbitant amount of food freedom and I used that freedom for all it was worth. I think it might be for that reason, even more than the tiny kitchen, that I give myself veto power on what comes in the house and when it will get consumed.

We’re kind of the opposite of Margot Magowan’s family.

Continue reading »

Tweet

13

Pin It

Dads make a big difference in healthy eating

Who makes the mealtime decisions in your house? According to new research, moms are on average more strict about food, while dads tend to be the more influential wild card. Whether they take food seriously, or throw in for Big Macs and other fun time treats, is what sets the nutritional tone in the house.

A study in The Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior tells us that dads play a bigger role than moms when it comes to how often their kids eat at fast food restaurants — which is then linked to more weight gain in those children.

Good time dad, bad time mom? Do we really have that paradigm when it comes to the family table — with mom laying down the nutritional law and dad sneaking off to treat the kids to fries?  Continue reading »

Tweet

2

Pin It

Lightbulb! We should tax parents for having fat kids.

Illinois State Senator Shane Cultra offered up this idea for solving the childhood obesity epidemic: take state tax deductions away from parents whose kids are fat.

Many, many problems with this proposal, besides the fact that it’s insane. I mean, if it’s supposed to be an incentive, how can you get your kid skinny in a single tax year?

Also, where on the tax form would you even record your child’s Body Mass Index — next to their social security number? Continue reading »

Tweet

10

Pin It

We can't all be skinny pregnant women! A diabetes pill may some day be prescribed for obese pregnant women.

As more studies conclude that weight-gain is programmed before birth, researchers are now attempting to see whether they can change a person’s health destiny before they are even born.

Going a step further, one drug manufacturer is launching a trial to see if obesity risk for kids can be reversed by giving pregnant moms a pill — actually, lots of pills. Up to three a day during pregnancy. Continue reading »

Tweet

6

Pin It

Public service or public shaming?

When public officials in Georgia decided to feature obese kids in their Stop Childhood Obesity campaign, they say they were just trying to get kids to listen. Kids warning other kids about the cause and effect of getting fat? What could be more effective?

But ever since Bobby, Tamika, Tina and Carlos showed up on TV and billboards — talking about a love of donuts, living with diabetes and getting made fun of by other kids — parents, health officials and child advocates have seethed with outrage, calling the 30-second spots unfair and counterproductive.

They also put the blame squarely on round kids. Continue reading »

Tweet

19

Pin It