Childhood Obesity and Eating Disorders

[Benita Mussolina]

In the U.S. 15% of children and teens are considered overweight or obese.
An additional 15% of kids and teens are considered "at risk" for becoming overweight, (Whatever that means).

Now this might be shocking and only more indicative of the Obesity Crisis in America, and you may be thinking "We need to put those kids on a diet immediately!" But now I point you to these statistics.

- Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives.
- Girls who diet frequently are 12 times as likely to binge on food as girls who don’t diet
- 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner
- 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat
- 46% of 9-11 year-olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets, and 82% of their families are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets
- 91% of women recently surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting, 22% dieted “often” or “always”
- 95% of all dieters will regain their lost weight in 1-5 years
- 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to partial or full-syndrome eating disorders
- 25% of American men and 45% of American women are on a diet on any given day
- Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet-related products each year
- Adolescent girls who diet only moderately are 5 times more likely to develop an eating disorder than those who don’t diet, and those who diet severely are 18 times more likely to develop an eating disorder.

Despite the fact that 15% of kids are overweight or obese, a frightening amount of them are on a diet; even ones who are healthy or even underweight. These diets, as well, don't work and they will most likely fail, leading them to progress to pathological dieting and eating disorders.
This doesn't help the children or even adults, it only helps put money in the fat-cat diet industry.
It also doesn't help that doctors, teachers, and the media are constantly shaming fat kids onto going into diets or venturing in to the world of disordered eating, despite the fact they learned their habits from their parents and are most likely NOT to blame.
It could even be because they're growing. Pre-teens and kids going into puberty gain a little weight hence the 'awkward' stage, but usually will go away once they get into high school and get taller. They don't usually know this, however, and put themselves on a diet instead.


Indeed, America and a growing number of other countries, (Britain and Canada, for example), are only getting fatter and unhealthier. But shaming little kids and buying into the diet industry is not healthy. So I ask, whats the solution? What do you think of these statistics?

[Aethean]

Parents to smack the fuck out of the kids to get off the computer and games and go outside for a little while.

Also, dieting alone will work, but people don't know how to do it properly, or cheat at it. If people just.. eat properly and go to a gym or buy a treadmill/bench press they wont be fat asses >_<

[Benita Mussolina]

If you're a fatty, running isn't going to help. It'll just beat the shit out of your knees and joints.
And most people don't know what 'eating properly' means. Its either McDonalds and KFC, or Atkins, Southbeach, Jenny Craig and Kimkins.
A lot of Americans think diet food full of fake chemical shit is better than whole foods, too.
Edit: By the way, as many as ten percent of women may have some degree of thyroid hormone deficiency which can cause weight gain and difficulty losing weight, among other problems. Sometimes when fat people say they can't lose weight without starving themselves, they aren't making crap up.
Genetics plays more of a role than you might believe, too.

[Aethean]

If your a fatty, running will help in the long run, if you also eat 'properly' (tooooo indepth to explain what properly means) you will lose weight.

[Benita Mussolina]

Again, if you're overweight, putting stress on your joints can lead to huge problems. It doesn't work for everyone.
Cardio will help you in the long run. Running is not the epitome of weight loss exercising. And read my post again, I made edits.

[Aethean]

Ah. If its genetics, doesn't matter what you do, your screwed. But most of the cases of child obesity is parents cant be bothered to make something healthy, so they go to mcdonalds because its cheap and fast and hassle free. They cant be bothered to tell the kid to get off the computer and go outside because its easier for the parent to just sit down and watch tv and let the computer or game supervise them. If someone thinks mcdonalds/kfc is eating right.. maybe you should just let them slowly kill themselves O_o Kiddies need to learn some.. self control =/ And um.. sorry if this is sounding rude or anything, not meaning to be.

[Benita Mussolina]

Ah, its okay. Its not.
I agree that the parents should teach them about eating, but don't get me going on self-control. The self-control exerted by dieters and anorexics is well beyond a person usually has. One is not meant to control yourself for such an extended period.
Rather than discipline when it comes to food, kids should learn to eat when they're hungry. Americans take on external cues as to when to eat. Again, its a learned behavior.

The problem I have is that, as I've said, commercials, news outlets, teachers, other kids, doctors still blame the kid. "They just don't know when to stop eating! Damn those kids and their video games. Those fat kids should either lose weight or deal with the consequences of being harassed."

Before children even know how to read nutritional information, they're told that fat is bad. Then they're told they are fat. Kids think very black and white, good vs. evil and the like, so when they make the connection that they're 'bad', lazy, sloppy, this leads to the statistics I've shown.

I'm kind of rambling. My train of thought is easily derailed.

[AESOP]

The problem with the marketed diet food is that its too expensive. People need to learn that eating healthy actually isn't. Also, people need to go outside more or have some kind of physical activity.

[Benita Mussolina]

^ Agreed.
I didn't realize so many people are afraid to go outside because they're actually scared of sunlight; you know, the UV rays/cancer craze thing.

[AESOP]

Yeah I know, thanks to such brilliant sources as Fox News everyone is afraid to go outside because they will immediately get raped and contract cancer.