Last week I blogged about how some people exclusively blame parents for their children being overweight. But who do you blame once someone is an adult? Why, that person, of course. Because they’re just lazy.
This was one of the prevalent themes in some of the responses to the JAMA study and related articles. I had to stop reading them because they infuriated me. I knew people thought that way, but somehow seeing their vitriolic words in print, with so much support, hit me viscerally.
I remember too well feeling that negative energy directed at me when I was heavy, that if I just moved my fat ass then I could lose the weight. What no one who isn’t in that position pauses to consider is the sheer amount of effort it takes to move your body, ass or otherwise, when you’re overweight. I would really love to see some of the people who talk about laziness strap on 50 or 100 pounds and walk around with it, day after day after day, go up stairs, pick things up, carry small children, etc.
This is work, but it’s unrecognized because our bodies do grow accustomed to it and slowly adjust as we gain weight, at least for the most part. But that doesn’t negate the fact that it can take an incredible amount of strength. Of course that doesn’t mean that people who are heavy shouldn’t exercise – I think they just deserve a little more credit and sympathy about the exercise they get that’s built-in.
More than that, though, I learned something rather interesting in a recent lecture at IIN. It was presented by Marion Nestle, a professor of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York University. She was looking at the fact that weight gain really started to be a problem in the 1980’s, but she pointed out that studies have shown that activity levels haven’t changed significantly since then.
Let me repeat: as a nation we have been gaining weight, but our activity levels haven’t changed.
How, then, is sheer laziness to blame? People are moving as much as they did in the 1950’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’s, and most of them weren’t particularly obese.
Additionally, I have known many, many a thin person who moves much less than I did even when I was overweight. How, then, do you explain the difference between us? Dr. Nestle pointed out a number of factors. We have: 700 more calories available per person per day; a “gorge yourself” society; farm subsidies; increased portion size; greater proximity and availability to food; increased pressure on food companies to make a profit (i.e., their goal is not to create healthy foods); and deregulation in advertising.
I might be missing something, but the point is that none of this has to do with movement or laziness. And in fact, telling people who are overweight that they are lazy could have the unintended consequence of making them that way. After all, you tell someone something long enough, even if it’s not true, and they’ll start to believe it.
For those who like to blame laziness, I therefore ask you to reconsider, and also to reconsider the negative, hurtful impact of those words before you share them.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Are Parents to Blame?
It’s part of human nature to look for patterns, trying to tease out what triggered a particular event. We like to think that the world has some order, that every effect has a cause. In most cases, it’s probably quite true. The problem comes in when the cause is so much bigger and more complicated than we can (or want to) comprehend, but we pass judgment based on the small part we can see because we want to blame someone.
Take the obesity epidemic. On the one hand, it’s easy to say that people are overweight because they’re consuming too many calories. But why are they eating so much? A recent study by JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) looked at obesity in children, and decided that in many cases the reason is the parents.
It is easy, after all, to point the finger at them. They’re the ones who bring food into the house, who let their kids overeat, and who model eating habits (poor or otherwise). And if they let their children gain excessive amounts of weight (the extreme example is of a 14-year-old boy in South Carolina who got up to 550 pounds), they obviously don’t care about their children’s health. So take the child away, and everything gets better. Simple. Right?
Except it’s not. I won’t argue that parents play a role, sometimes a significant one, in their children’s weight problems. But I don’t think it’s fair to place the blame squarely on them, for a number of reasons, though I’ll focus on two.
One, unless the family is completely isolated – the parents homeschool the kids, don’t expose them to advertisements of any sort (internet, TV, movies, magazines, etc.), prevent them from attending any social events with any kids who aren’t equally isolated, don’t celebrate any holidays with a focus on food, etc. – the children will have access to food without their parents’ knowledge and will be tempted to eat that food for many reasons other than hunger.
It is not, after all, the parents’ fault that our culture has access to so many easy calories. Consider government subsidies of corn, creating an abundance of HFCS, instead of subsidizing a variety of fruits and vegetables, making them affordable for all income levels. Parents cannot control the marketing and advertising of highly processed foods, all the glitz and glamour, nor can they avoid all the social emphasis placed on eating.
The other reason is that in many cases, I don’t think parents are aware of what they’re doing that’s causing the problem. It’s often not nearly so obvious as having lots of food around, or allowing the child to eat, or not worrying about their weight. Parents may not know how to provide better choices. They may also not realize that the emphasis on weight can contribute, or off-hand comments can start the child down the path of turning to food – for comfort, out of rebelliousness, as a distraction from the pain of that comment, etc. I think in most cases the parents are concerned about their children’s weight, but perhaps need better education on how to address that in a way that will make sense to their children.
So before anyone plays the blame game, I hope they pause to consider that the answer is rarely simple, and that destroying families out of a knee-jerk reaction is perhaps not the best solution.
Take the obesity epidemic. On the one hand, it’s easy to say that people are overweight because they’re consuming too many calories. But why are they eating so much? A recent study by JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) looked at obesity in children, and decided that in many cases the reason is the parents.
It is easy, after all, to point the finger at them. They’re the ones who bring food into the house, who let their kids overeat, and who model eating habits (poor or otherwise). And if they let their children gain excessive amounts of weight (the extreme example is of a 14-year-old boy in South Carolina who got up to 550 pounds), they obviously don’t care about their children’s health. So take the child away, and everything gets better. Simple. Right?
Except it’s not. I won’t argue that parents play a role, sometimes a significant one, in their children’s weight problems. But I don’t think it’s fair to place the blame squarely on them, for a number of reasons, though I’ll focus on two.
One, unless the family is completely isolated – the parents homeschool the kids, don’t expose them to advertisements of any sort (internet, TV, movies, magazines, etc.), prevent them from attending any social events with any kids who aren’t equally isolated, don’t celebrate any holidays with a focus on food, etc. – the children will have access to food without their parents’ knowledge and will be tempted to eat that food for many reasons other than hunger.
It is not, after all, the parents’ fault that our culture has access to so many easy calories. Consider government subsidies of corn, creating an abundance of HFCS, instead of subsidizing a variety of fruits and vegetables, making them affordable for all income levels. Parents cannot control the marketing and advertising of highly processed foods, all the glitz and glamour, nor can they avoid all the social emphasis placed on eating.
The other reason is that in many cases, I don’t think parents are aware of what they’re doing that’s causing the problem. It’s often not nearly so obvious as having lots of food around, or allowing the child to eat, or not worrying about their weight. Parents may not know how to provide better choices. They may also not realize that the emphasis on weight can contribute, or off-hand comments can start the child down the path of turning to food – for comfort, out of rebelliousness, as a distraction from the pain of that comment, etc. I think in most cases the parents are concerned about their children’s weight, but perhaps need better education on how to address that in a way that will make sense to their children.
So before anyone plays the blame game, I hope they pause to consider that the answer is rarely simple, and that destroying families out of a knee-jerk reaction is perhaps not the best solution.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Cooking Matters
Last week I finally had a chance to volunteer with Cooking Matters, a program developed by the Good Shepherd Food Bank. It’s designed to help teach people how to make healthier food choices and especially how to do it on a budget. Some of the classes are for adults, some are for teens, and some, like the one I volunteered with, are for kids.
The class was held at a local Boys & Girls Club, composed of three boys and five girls. Going into it, I didn’t quite know what to expect, but I was impressed.
Many times, I feel like adults don’t give kids enough credit for being not only willing to eat healthy foods but to choose them given the opportunity. For instance, last week we talked about what some good choices are if you’re going out to eat, especially at a fast food place. Some of the things they suggested were:
- lots of veggies on pizza
- getting a salad
- drinking water or milk instead of soda
- ordering a regular hamburger instead of a super-sized cheeseburger
When asked what they had the last time they went out to eat, one boy said he had chosen a chicken salad. They understand that whole grains are better because they have more fiber, and we talked about the fact that you want to be careful of saturated fat because of your heart.
Then came the cooking! Each class has a demonstration of some recipes, and the kids are sent home with a bag of ingredients to make one of the dishes for their families. We made:
- Mac & cheese with whole wheat pasta, some cheddar cheese, low fat milk, and low fat cottage cheese. No one balked at the whole wheat pasta, or complained about the taste (at least that I heard). This was also the recipe they got to take home.
- Chicken fingers, which were just chicken tenders dipped in egg, then flour, then breadcrumbs, before cooking at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes. They came out great, and probably healthier than store-bought.
- Mozzarella sticks, very similar to the chicken preparation except skipping the flour. The sticks got a bit amorphous during baking (also at 400 for 8 minutes), but the kids liked them anyway, along with the tomato sauce for dipping.
What most impressed me was how willing and in fact eager the kids were to do the cooking. I was working with the group doing mozzarella sticks. Everyone wanted to break an egg, or beat it, and one boy demonstrated perfect technique for whisking an egg with a fork. They loved getting hands-on by dipping the mozzarella in the egg, then rolling it in the breadcrumbs. They were good about taking turns, and even with helping clean up when asked.
I was pleased by this because such early habits are a huge help in developing a life-long interest in cooking and healthy eating. I know that many kids get to college without having any idea of how to do anything beyond make toast or maybe scrambled eggs. Part of the problem, I think, is that too often we don’t encourage our kids enough, or may deliberately keep them out of the process.
As one of the girls told me, she likes to cook, but, “My grandmother doesn’t let me in the kitchen.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“I think she’s afraid I’ll burn down the house or something.”
In my experience growing up, I was largely limited in the kitchen for a time because of the potential mess. And I won’t argue that kids are likely messier than adults might be. I will also confess that I’ve felt the same way at times, or gotten too easily upset with someone (kid or adult) doing something the “wrong way” – i.e., differently than how I do it.
But working with these kids reminded me that it’s okay and actually good to get them involved. If they’re messy, encourage them to help clean up. If they’re doing something differently, just watch at first and see if it will come out okay, and offer help or suggestions only when necessary. Who knows – maybe you’ll learn something. Like the fact that cooking should be fun!
And I did have fun. I just relaxed and went with it and enjoyed the kids. Now I hope to remember some of that in my own kitchen. I am also grateful for the reminder that kids will learn and listen and get excited about cooking and food if you treat them with respect and intelligence. I can hardly think of a better overall lesson, and I am so impressed with the program for highlighting that. Because, truly, cooking matters.
The class was held at a local Boys & Girls Club, composed of three boys and five girls. Going into it, I didn’t quite know what to expect, but I was impressed.
Many times, I feel like adults don’t give kids enough credit for being not only willing to eat healthy foods but to choose them given the opportunity. For instance, last week we talked about what some good choices are if you’re going out to eat, especially at a fast food place. Some of the things they suggested were:
- lots of veggies on pizza
- getting a salad
- drinking water or milk instead of soda
- ordering a regular hamburger instead of a super-sized cheeseburger
When asked what they had the last time they went out to eat, one boy said he had chosen a chicken salad. They understand that whole grains are better because they have more fiber, and we talked about the fact that you want to be careful of saturated fat because of your heart.
Then came the cooking! Each class has a demonstration of some recipes, and the kids are sent home with a bag of ingredients to make one of the dishes for their families. We made:
- Mac & cheese with whole wheat pasta, some cheddar cheese, low fat milk, and low fat cottage cheese. No one balked at the whole wheat pasta, or complained about the taste (at least that I heard). This was also the recipe they got to take home.
- Chicken fingers, which were just chicken tenders dipped in egg, then flour, then breadcrumbs, before cooking at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes. They came out great, and probably healthier than store-bought.
- Mozzarella sticks, very similar to the chicken preparation except skipping the flour. The sticks got a bit amorphous during baking (also at 400 for 8 minutes), but the kids liked them anyway, along with the tomato sauce for dipping.
What most impressed me was how willing and in fact eager the kids were to do the cooking. I was working with the group doing mozzarella sticks. Everyone wanted to break an egg, or beat it, and one boy demonstrated perfect technique for whisking an egg with a fork. They loved getting hands-on by dipping the mozzarella in the egg, then rolling it in the breadcrumbs. They were good about taking turns, and even with helping clean up when asked.
I was pleased by this because such early habits are a huge help in developing a life-long interest in cooking and healthy eating. I know that many kids get to college without having any idea of how to do anything beyond make toast or maybe scrambled eggs. Part of the problem, I think, is that too often we don’t encourage our kids enough, or may deliberately keep them out of the process.
As one of the girls told me, she likes to cook, but, “My grandmother doesn’t let me in the kitchen.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“I think she’s afraid I’ll burn down the house or something.”
In my experience growing up, I was largely limited in the kitchen for a time because of the potential mess. And I won’t argue that kids are likely messier than adults might be. I will also confess that I’ve felt the same way at times, or gotten too easily upset with someone (kid or adult) doing something the “wrong way” – i.e., differently than how I do it.
But working with these kids reminded me that it’s okay and actually good to get them involved. If they’re messy, encourage them to help clean up. If they’re doing something differently, just watch at first and see if it will come out okay, and offer help or suggestions only when necessary. Who knows – maybe you’ll learn something. Like the fact that cooking should be fun!
And I did have fun. I just relaxed and went with it and enjoyed the kids. Now I hope to remember some of that in my own kitchen. I am also grateful for the reminder that kids will learn and listen and get excited about cooking and food if you treat them with respect and intelligence. I can hardly think of a better overall lesson, and I am so impressed with the program for highlighting that. Because, truly, cooking matters.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
In Need of Comfort
In last week’s “Am I Hungry?” class, we talked some about comfort foods, since it’s been my experience that when we’re stressed, or lonely, or depressed, these are often what we want to eat. You’re probably familiar with that kind of food –usually high in fat, carbohydrates, and/or sugar.
In the example that I shared with the class, about six months into my process of losing weight, I was often stressed. Work was hectic, and the fact that my dad was seriously involved with someone just a little over a year after my mom’s death was very hard for me.
One day when work had been particularly difficult, I got on the bus to go home and immediately started craving chicken fingers and curly fries. That was my favorite order at the convenience store at the end of my street, which was also where the bus would drop me off.
But – I knew the only reason I wanted those foods was because of the stress. I also knew that I had every right to feel that way. Not wanting to let my emotions have that much control over my eating, I managed to walk away from the store.
Once home, while eating my planned supper I realized that my craving came from that fact that I was in need of comfort from something. Food was the first thing that came to mind because it was the easiest and most familiar way to address that need, but I wanted to find another option.
Then it struck me. Pulling Ghostbusters off my shelf, I popped it in, sat on my couch with my cat Salem on my lap and cross stitch at hand, and settled in for an evening of laughter. The fact that I had seen the movie so many times that I could practically quote it verbatim was exactly what I needed.
I wrote in my journal that it was my “comfort viewing” instead of “comfort eating”.
When I shared this with my class, one of the women said, “That’s it – I sometimes want to eat because I want comfort from something.”
It reminded me of a comment I heard in my health counselor training. If everyone went home to someone who enveloped them in a warm hug and asked, “How are you?”, and they really wanted to know the answer, would we have so many people with eating problems? Possibly not.
Not all (or perhaps even most) of us have that, but sometimes we are all in need of comfort. Perhaps, though, we can all learn to find it in something other than food.
In the example that I shared with the class, about six months into my process of losing weight, I was often stressed. Work was hectic, and the fact that my dad was seriously involved with someone just a little over a year after my mom’s death was very hard for me.
One day when work had been particularly difficult, I got on the bus to go home and immediately started craving chicken fingers and curly fries. That was my favorite order at the convenience store at the end of my street, which was also where the bus would drop me off.
But – I knew the only reason I wanted those foods was because of the stress. I also knew that I had every right to feel that way. Not wanting to let my emotions have that much control over my eating, I managed to walk away from the store.
Once home, while eating my planned supper I realized that my craving came from that fact that I was in need of comfort from something. Food was the first thing that came to mind because it was the easiest and most familiar way to address that need, but I wanted to find another option.
Then it struck me. Pulling Ghostbusters off my shelf, I popped it in, sat on my couch with my cat Salem on my lap and cross stitch at hand, and settled in for an evening of laughter. The fact that I had seen the movie so many times that I could practically quote it verbatim was exactly what I needed.
I wrote in my journal that it was my “comfort viewing” instead of “comfort eating”.
When I shared this with my class, one of the women said, “That’s it – I sometimes want to eat because I want comfort from something.”
It reminded me of a comment I heard in my health counselor training. If everyone went home to someone who enveloped them in a warm hug and asked, “How are you?”, and they really wanted to know the answer, would we have so many people with eating problems? Possibly not.
Not all (or perhaps even most) of us have that, but sometimes we are all in need of comfort. Perhaps, though, we can all learn to find it in something other than food.
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