and how parents affect what a child eats...
Last night we went to Gabriel's final school concert; it's the first time I've ever gotten a good look at the school population and I've got to say, I'm disgusted. A good 75% of the children that I saw were overweight or obese; there was a boy in front of us who was still in elementary school who had broader shoulders than me and was sweating the whole time he sat in front of us. I could hear him wheezing, it was awful. There were a lot of children in the program who were SO big I had a hard time believing they were only 7 or 8.
I'm not one to point fingers and place blame BUT where the hell are the parents while these kids are getting so fat? I'm a fat adult; I've made my own choices and have no one to be upset with except myself. *I* am responsible for my own body, no one else. I'm not fat because of advertising from fast food places, I'm not fat from food additives, HFCS didn't make me fat; I did it to myself by making poor food choices and not being as active as I should have been.
I recently read a stat somewhere (here, actually) that said 40% of McDonald's sales are from Happy Meals. FORTY PERCENT.
Now, just for a second, think about that. People are blaming McDonald s for making their children fat...most children don't have jobs and I don't know of any child being allowed to go to McDonald's by themselves, so who is buying the happy meals? To be sure, you can get "healthier" options when you get a happy meal; a plain hamburger, apples, and skim milk aren't THAT bad...but really, who wants that when you can have nuggets, fries, and chocolate milk??
Going even further back, let's talk about a mothers' responsibility for her childs' diet (no offense men, but you can't feed a fetus...haha) even while in utero. Numerous studies are coming out pointing more and more to children being predisposed to obesity and poor food choices because of how they were "nourished" in the womb.
Rather than keep going on and on and beating this dead horse, I'd like to urge parents to be more conscientious of how they are affecting their children when it comes to food. Here are some more links to articles and helpful hints when it comes to helping your child become the best they can be:
Great Article on mom's and grandma's(!!) affecting a childs' diet
Healthy eating tips for kiddos
Health benefits of a healthy diet for children
Helping an overweight child stay healthy
Easy ways to keep your kiddos active this summer
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