Big threat to American future!.. Childhood obesity epidemic..

I post this here because this.. IS US POLITICAL MADNESS. It eludes me how this problem has gotten so far when the simple solution would have been to FORCE schools to stop serving crap and allowing vending machines on school site.. Sure, this wouldn't completely fix the problem but it would go a damn way to fixing it. Especially if your government/1 in 3 parents had done something BEFORE 1 in 3 American children got fat.

This is crazy. Absolute madness.

50% of overweight children remain overweight as adults.. FIFTY PERCENT.. 1 in 3 children are overweight or obese.. when does it stop? When do the government bring the hammer down on schools like we did in the UK? When do parents stop feeding their kids absolute trash and letting them have whatever they want, even to the detriment of their health??..

1 in 5 infants drink soda..
really?..

I wish the US government wasn't so quick to bend over for corporate fat cats. Obesity is RAPING America!! And much of the world for that matter.. Obesity is also an epidemic over here in the UK and many parts of Europe.

Child obesity is one of the biggest threats to our children's futures. Anorexia is also a big concern for girls..

Corporations shovel killer crap down our babies throats.. and parents and the government allow it?!?

I used to be fat. Then I got off my computer and went outside, walked around, socialized. Now I work out at home and am very healthy.. YOU can do it to!!

If you want health/training/exercising advice off me just U2U me.. I'm good and I don't require 3 one off payments of $29.99!!

For you, your kid, your mum your friend whoever.

For free you say? YES. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE FAT. YOUR KIDS DON'T NEED TO BE FAT. YOUR GOVERNMENT ONLY ALLOWS THIS ABUSE OF SCHOOL CHILDREN BECAUSE THEY ARE IN THE POCKETS OF CORPORATIONS..

UGH.

I applaud all of you brilliant Americans who do not allow this madness on you or your children. Well done guys!!

More shocking obesity statistics at this infographic.

reply to post by TechUnique


A good start would be for Americans to STOP eating anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup!!! Not kidding, I went to the grocery store to buy some bread (was just too lazy to make my own that day) I could not find one major bread company that had 0 HFCS in their bread!!! People need to get their nutrition figured out before they start to work out, otherwise it is all for nothing.......I could go on and on about nutrition, but unfortunately most people get sick, go to their doctor, and ingest a bunch of poison manufactured by Big Pharm! Problem solved right? WRONG! People need to be aware of the fact that just because something is advertised as food, doesn't necessarily mean it is good for you......

I can remember when Jamie Oliver (a UK celeb chef) visited some place in the USA and tried to change the system to get people eating more healthy it was a nightmare of paperwork and peoples attitudes as even the local radio DJ was against him till the took him to the local funeral home and showed him the casket sizes and also mentioned that its his listeners and advertising revenue thats dying early and then he took notice

But when pizza is a vegetable according to the law its going to be a uphill battle to spread the healthy eating message

reply to post by seeker1963

High fructose corn syrup should be ILLEGAL. Same with Aspartame.. its an atrocity that the US government allows this sponsored poisoning to go on. Atrocious but hardly surprising..

I personally think that the problem is that healthy eating isn't appetizing to the average American. It has become a nation where almost everyone is literally addicted to their food. To switch to healthy eating would cause depression and many withdrawal symptoms.

Plus, there are so many conflicting diet plans that no one really knows what to do.

Some people aren't happy unless their bodies are perfect. Some people don't care at all about their bodies.

The rest of us in the middle can moderate our healthy/unhealthy consumption and if that means the average American is chubby, oh well.

Blame mom and dad.

There is NOTHING that says you can't pack a healthy lunch for your child.

There's NOTHING that says you have to give your child soda money.

IT'S THE PARENTS RESPONSIBILITY. NOT THE GOVERNMENTS!

reply to post by TechUnique


Great post!

I think people need to be educated: Parents, grandparents... educate them all! When I had my children, the grandparents thought it was just hysterical to give an infant soda or cake frosting, etc. and then laugh at the delight on their faces. WTF??? I didn't let them give it to my children and warned them before I gave birth that I better never catch one of them feeding my kids junk. I'm sure some of it went on behind my back, but I just don't understand why adults think it's so funny to feed a kid trash! I always said my husband's (now ex husband's) mother would be waiting on me to give birth so she could feed the kid a spoon full of mashed potatoes as soon as its head popped out. Granted, that's a big exaggeration, but I think it's people like this who get children addicted to junk very very early in life. I think it's especially a problem in the South. I don't understand people...

Originally posted by beezzer
Blame mom and dad.

There is NOTHING that says you can't pack a healthy lunch for your child.

There's NOTHING that says you have to give your child soda money.

IT'S THE PARENTS RESPONSIBILITY. NOT THE GOVERNMENTS!

Not just that, but businesses don't have to sell unhealthy foods. Supermarkets don't have to offer them. They simply do it because people keep buying it. If Americans would simply switch to purchasing healthy foods on average, then the entire market would shift in favor of healthy food.

It's sad, sad how many of you still try to look for the "cause" of obesity in certain foods, like soda, HFCS etc.

The cause of your obesity is NOT your Soda or your occasional fries. This is the cause, it has been for CENTURIES already and no new "diet" or "miracle pill" will change this fact:

A) LACK OF EXERCISE
B) BAD NUTRITION HABITS

Many Americans and increasingly also people in other countries, EXCUSE ME, don't move their a$$es any further than from their door to their car, driving to work, sitting 8 hours, driving home. You DRIVE to the store around the next corner, you go to a fricking drive-thru to buy and eat your food, you go to drive-thru banking because it would be too much to go to the bank/ATM on your feet.

Your hobbies are computer games and watching stuff on TV. Your work means sitting down all day.

People literally do not make more than 20 steps a day.

Is this rocket science? HARDLY.

Now pay me a lot of money for having revealed the big secret how to lose weight. Lol.

Originally posted by flexy123
B) BAD NUTRITION HABITS

That's food. Granted, it's not a single food or chemical that's doing it, and exercise is definitely half the equation. It still boils down to half the problem being people eating junk.

Originally posted by beezzer
Blame mom and dad.

There is NOTHING that says you can't pack a healthy lunch for your child.

There's NOTHING that says you have to give your child soda money.

IT'S THE PARENTS RESPONSIBILITY. NOT THE GOVERNMENTS!

I agree that the parents are largely to blame but schools, the government AND corporations also have a big responsibility..

Its just that no-one is living up to the responsibility and most people are just bending over and taking it.

reply to post by flexy123


Agreed! All this going on about "well I can't be overweight, I only drink three gallons of diet all-natural soda a week" drives me crazy. You wanna lose weight and get healthy? Here's a tip. Put down the fork! You've got nobody to blame but yourself for bad eating habits.

For starters dont drink cola like water. Cola was a once in a while thing for me at a fastfood. It was at home sometimes, but never on a regular basis.

And children dont play outside anymore due to videogames. Time used to be kids played outside with toyguns, thats gone too.

My grandfather used to say the best exercise in the world is pushing yourself away from the table.

What shocks me is how many people eat in their car. Breakfast in their car, lunch in their car, dinner in their car, even the kids too. It is because of the double income lifestyle. With two parents working all day, nobody wants to cook a healthy meal and sit down to a dinner when they get home. How can they even find the time?

My bet is, if the family went back to a one parent income, one stay at home parent, the children would be a lot healther (mom and dad too). We sacrifice a lot so I can stay at home, but there is a healthy breakfast every morning, a healthy lunch packed for everyone and a healthy dinner that we all sit down too. When my husband comes home all he has to do it eat dinner, and then we can go out and play with the kids. Exercise, communication and family.

This is how you cure obesity, scale down your needs, so one parent can stay at home. IMHO

reply to post by minettejo


Not gonna work. Women want their feminism, but they are not willing to support a stay at home dad.