Parents 'don't recognise obesity'

[Adam Steer]

Interesting news article from the BBC...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6451015.stm

Parents 'don't recognise obesity'



http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42681000/jpg/_42681939_packedlunch203.jpg Parents need more support to encourage healthy eating

The government is launching a plan to tackle obesity by helping parents recognise the warning signs that their children are overweight. It follows a claim by the Medical Research Council that many people do not know their children are overweight.
The Department of Health has pledged to do more in the next year to support parents in encouraging healthy eating and physical activity.
But critics said the government had not acted quickly enough to tackle obesity.
The government has set a target of halting the yearly rise in rates of obesity in the under-11s by 2010.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif There is no question that the Government has not done enough and what they have done has not been done quickly enough http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


Shadow Health Minister, Andrew Murrison


But Dr Susan Jebb and colleagues from the Human Nutrition Research unit at the MRC found several major barriers were preventing families from adopting healthy lifestyles even though they knew the importance of a healthy diet and exercise.
Their review of the evidence showed people have a poor perception of their own weight status and are even worse at spotting when their child is overweight or obese.
Busy lifestyles, irregular working hours and fears that having a healthy lifestyle is too difficult to achieve also put people off healthy choices.
According to the MRC report, average time spent preparing meals has fallen from two hours to just 20 minutes over the past two decades.
And safety concerns prevent children being allowed to walk to school or play outside.
Battleground
One of the biggest problems facing parents is their child's willingness to accept new foods.
Trying to coax children to eat healthily often takes a backseat to trying to have a pleasant mealtime, said the researchers.
Dr Jebb said 80% of parents recognised that an unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity contributed to obesity.
"But people don't necessarily realise that it applies to their child," she said.
"More than 40% of children over the age of six choose their evening meal on half of all occasions but they lack the skills to choose wisely.
"It's not surprising that parents try to avoid conflict to make a pleasant atmosphere at home but it leads to a lack of exposure and familiarity with different foods."
Launching the Government's Healthy Living Programme, Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said they would be rolling out a series of initiatives to support families, such as 'Top Tips for Top Mums' to help families share ideas for getting children to eat fruit and vegetables.
"We're not short of information but the information hasn't always been leading to behaviour change," she said.
"This is where the theory becomes reality - something that is really meaningful for people."
Andrew Murrison, the shadow health minister, said: "There is no question that the government has not done enough and what they have done has not been done quickly enough.
"When it comes to implementation they have failed so far."
Dr David Haslam, clinical director of the National Obesity Forum, said obesity had been a priority for the government but nothing to date had made the slightest bit of difference because of a lack of concrete ideas.
"At least they're putting measures in place to try and actively do something," he added.

[Coach Gostnell]

Yes, it starts with the parents. If there's only good food in the house that the kids have to chose from, then their choices obviously have to be better. But of course, parents then have to look at their own food choices, starting at the grocery store.

Here's an idea, if the govt. wants to get involved in having kids eat healthy: A tax break for growing a vegetable garden.

My parents were of the generation when poor and not-so-poor people had gardens, maybe a few fruit trees, as a matter of course, and when I was in the young-married-with-little-kids phase, we had a big garden both to supplement the food supply and because we lived a long way from town. My boys would wander through the garden "grazing" on peas, onion tops, bell peppers.... It gave them a better start than I realized - later, they lobbied for, and won, a salad bar in the high school cafeteria as an alternative to burgers, fries, & "mystery meatloaf."

[Adam Steer]

Thomas has a great point. I think we are facing a double epidemic of nutritional ignorance coupled with a generation which gets more "thumb" exercise than anything else. I was recently reading a news piece about the West Indies Cricket team, which in the past was virtually unbeatable. The team has declined considerably since then, and in a search for the answer to this slide, West Indies cricket champs from the past lament the good old days when kids would spend countless hours on the pitch just playing the game for fun. Now the kids go to practice, or to the game, and then speed right home afterwards, presumably to watch TV, play video games or spend time "chatting" on the internet.

[seinna023]

Very true... There really is not enough resources in certain communities. Some people really try to be healhty, but don't know where to look or even to ask if what they're eating is ok. It is a bit disappointing that we have to search hard for healthy ways, but for those who think they're eating fine then they don't search for alternatives b/c for all they know, everything they're eating is fine. This very much reminds me of my family.

Now, regarding healthy foods... All this time I am thinking whole wheat is good for me. How wrong am I? If I am wrong, isn't wheat supposed to be good for everyone?

Annie Sayo

[Coach Gostnell]

Hi Annie,
There's some strong opinions about wheat so the subject is not without controversy, but the facts I know are that wheat - while it may not be bad for everyone - is at least bad for some people. I don't seem to have problems with it, but I try always to use the truly whole grain forms.

I've known people with wheat allergy, gluten allergy, and so on. My own mom couldn't tolerate whole wheat - gave her migraines - although Wonder Bread had no ill effects, at least not that particular ill effect. Some people - like a couple of guys I know in Massachusetts - can't tolerate "modern" wheat, but seem to do OK with an older form of wheat known as Spelt.

At a meeting just last evening, an acquaintance was talking how she was feeling terrible most of the time about a year ago. A health care worker advised her to try eliminating wheat from her diet. She did so and said since then, "I've never felt better in my life." So, that's just anecdotal, but there are no doubt many more such anecdotes out there.

P.S. If you want to read a great, true story about a wheat-caused disaster, I suggest The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Dust Bowl, by Timothy Egan. Great book!

[stevenhogg]

yet the gov't pushes a wheat/corn based diet because it's cheap and available.

Annie,

I would imagine that Thomas was referring to the processed wheat that is commonly referred to and/or provided in a gov't program. Wonder bread may build bodies in 12 ways, but that would be building up paste in your intestines, toxins in your blood, and layers of fat on your body.:eek:


"It's not surprising that parents try to avoid conflict to make a pleasant atmosphere at home but it leads to a lack of exposure and familiarity with different foods."

I couldn't agree more. Parents have taken a backseat, and have become moderators instead of parents. How many moms out there prepare a different meal for almost everyone in the family. My wife is a stay-at-home mom and she doesn't have time to make 6 meals, let alone a working/single mom.

The more we talk to others, our home is the exception rather than the rule. We have one TV, very rarely eat with it on, no cable/satellite, no video games, we eat 3 meals a day together, our children eat homemade WW bread, homemade pies with minimal sugar and WW crust (I luv my wife;)) raw veggies, nuts, seeds, etc. (ages 15, 3.5, & 2 (boys)). We wrestle, read books, goof around and act stupid together, it's a blast.

But all of this doesn't happen by letting the children dictate. My wife and I lead as a team and it's never "do as I say, not as I do". It may be more work in the beginning, but once things are rolling in the right direction, each new addition falls into the program. Don't get me wrong, we have struggles and compromises, I mean when the kid gags you have to give him a break. Parents are “supposed” to know what’s best due to education, experience and common sense, while this may not always be the case, they definitely know more than a 5 year old.

To wrap up this tirade, I’ll bring it back to CST (as best I can). Coach Sonnon teaches us that if you don’t do, you can’t teach – so parents have to adopt a healthy life style to have the right to instruct their children to follow it. We are also taught that there is right way and wrong way to get to a goal, as well as an improper goal. If our goals are to be thin or to have the perfect figure, then we will be sacrificing our health to either reach a good or an inappropriate goal.

While I commend their concern, the problem is so much deeper than that. It comes back to personal responsibility. I personally take responsibility for myself, my family and to share with others what works and what doesn’t, it is up to them to try it or not. We have all seen people destroying themselves one way or another, despite good advice. I doubt Big Brother will do any better. When was the last time a government health/nutrition program brought about a positive change or had it right to begin with?

May we all remember that we lead by example, for our families, friends, and observers – someone’s life my depend upon it.

[Coach Gostnell]

It may be more work in the beginning, but once things are rolling in the right direction, each new addition falls into the program.

That's it in a nutshell, Steven.
So just like in CST, in parenting, initially the RPE & RPD may be high, but as RPT increases, the others improve too! :)

Even with some of those inevitable
struggles and compromises, it must be a blast to be a kid at your house!

[stevenhogg]

That's it in a nutshell, Steven.
So just like in CST, in parenting, initially the RPE & RPD may be high, but as RPT increases, the others improve too! :)

Even with some of those inevitable , it must be a blast to be a kid at your house!

Well put Jeanne.

As for it being a blast for my kids, they might disagree with that sometimes (just like when we put ourselves in the care of a CST trainer/coach):eek:, but when my 15 year old (who's only been living with me the last 2 years) comes back after a week with his mom and says "it's good to be home and eating together as a family" it shows that the RPE & D are well worth it.:)

[KD Jones]

I worked in childcare for a year, once (because I thought it would be an important experience... figure that out), and I come from a family that has made a transition from a Montana ranching/farming community through varying degress of family states of social/family stratification - by which I mean less and less meaningful contact and involvement...

It seems to me that as families and societies grow more apart on an individual-to-individual basis, the willingness (and skills required) to accept and deal with "negatives" grows very weak. Things are inferred, glossed over, forgotten, simply because we don't know enough about each other and we don't have time to deal with the repurcussions, and we tell ourselves that what time we have together should be of some certain "quality."

And I believe I've seen the direct effects of this on children. Parents take the easy way out in terms of food, activity and deeper investment.

I've seen parents become blind to all kinds of issues, from obesity, to behavioral/biological issues, and at the far end, in one case, of what appeared to everyone else to be fetal alcohol syndrom (in this case it was a step-mother denying a probability that most others saw clearly, at least as a VERY strong likelihood).

People get scared of the nature of their lives, and then they become scared of what it would take to deal with the effects.

I think, in the end, the only solution is what we're doing here... trying to be conscious, trying to do the right thing. That's the only way a "society" ever really changes, anyway. (But if the gov't wants to spend a few less dollars on courtyard statuaries and various other porkbarrel nonsense and and embark on a PR campaign that MIGHT have ANY effect at all - like the anti-smoking campaigns eventually did - then that's all good with me.)

[Coach Gostnell]

And I believe I've seen the direct effects of this on children. Parents take the easy way out in terms of food, activity and deeper investment.

It's interesting that it seems like the more information is available, the more the above seems to happen, although there may be no correlation.

KD, I worked with abused kids for a year, which is why I made the leap into working with elders - for me, something about a person actually having a choice even if they don't want it & don't exercise it, makes the work bearable (even fun in a twisted way at times). Kids don't have most of those choices.

And of course I see the result of 40, 50, 60 years of a mis-functioning family - it's the Big Picture, you could say.

But anyway, my folks were "uninformed" perhaps. No books, no experts, no Dr. Phil, just all - in their minds - common sense. We had rules, 3 squares a day, strict bedtimes, chores (which we did badly)and other than church, school & later, scouts, no scheduled activities. We chafed under the rules, felt abused, restricted, repressed, put upon yet loved. I couldn't stand anything made with Cream of Mushroom soup & my brother really did gag on spinach. We felt adults were a different species, were sure that we would never grow up to be like they were and yet knew somehow, it was all - or mostly - for our own good.

This is not to extol some Golden Age of Parenting but I just can't figure out WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED!? My mom & dad were not perfect by a long shot, but they took the job seriously and there was no confusion of roles: They were Parents, not moderators, or glorified chauffers. (We were Kids: Short, evil, plotting creatures, second-class citizens in a race of giants, living in our own world but one where any neighbor. teacher or relative could rat us out, be believed, and we'd suffer the consequences.)

I don't see many Parents out there anymore - spending 6 years at a martial arts school that caters to kids brings that home in a big way.

It's established that among higher Primates, parenting skills must be learned. How did these skills get lost? (I mostly blame the post-WW II drive to suburbia & shopping malls, etc. all fueled by the auto industry, but I'm open to other suggestions.) Where's the trail and can we find a way to reconstruct it in a way and in time to meet the challenges of the day?


I think, in the end, the only solution is what we're doing here... trying to be conscious, trying to do the right thing. That's the only way a "society" ever really changes, anyway.

Yeah, I think that's it, KD. "Baby Steps."

[James Boelter]

Two things I'd like to add to the discussion.

1) I've seen several food and nutrition writers argue that the best way to get kids to try out and to incoporate new (healthier) foods into their diet is to have them help with the cooking. Alton Brown ("Good Eats") centers several of his innovative cooking show around the idea of getting kids in on the action. Cooking with your children excites their curiosity and helps them take pride of ownership in what they eat. Hey, it worked for me...I'm almost 50 and learning how to cook at age 49 did more for my healthy eating habits than anything else.

2) When I cook for other people, or entertain, I find myself irrationally worried that somehow, someway, my guests are going to go away hungry from the table and it will be MY FAULT. It takes considerable internal calming to keep from cooking twice as much as needed ("just in case") or shoveling extra portions onto their plates. I just don't want people going hungry when I'm feeding them.

It's pretty easy to extrapolate from my experience as a cook with no children to a parents' worries for the brood under their wing. I can see how a person could overfeed a child in attempt to allay hunger and to provide support and comfort. It's a problem I don't have to deal with, but it definitely comes from the "better" part of me.

[Coach Gostnell]

James,
Seems like I've heard that also - that involving the child in meal prep makes them more adventurous. Plus they're learning skills they can use as adults, and not only about food.



I can see how a person could overfeed a child in attempt to allay hunger and to provide support and comfort.

I dunno - when we had three teenage boys in the house, I remember shopping for groceries they COULDN'T eat, or at least not easily: Oranges instead of bananas because they're harder to peel; nuts in the shell; nothing prepared, mainly "raw materials" like vegies, potatoes, eggs, beans & rice, anything to slow 'em down... :) (Since they didn't have cars & the closest fast food was 20 miles away, this actually worked much of the time!)