Don't Get Me Started
by Linda Sharp
Lunchtime In The School CaFATeria
It’s noon at school and fifth graders Johnny, Sara, Tommy, Lindsey and Taylor are sitting down to eat in the lunchroom.
Johnny and Taylor open their SpongeBob lunchboxes and each remove a prepackaged Lunchable.
Sara sets her tray down from the lunch line, today’s picks being chocolate cake, pizza and chocolate cake.
Tommy opens a brown bag and removes a sandwich, bag of chips and can of soda.
Lindsey, opens a similar brownbag and removes yogurt, a bag of grapes, string cheese and a bottle of water.
Not surprisingly, every student mentioned (except Lindsey) is packing as much extra heft in their jeans as in their lunch choices.
Exaggeration? No, an actual scene from my child’s cafeteria, but one that plays out everyday in every lunchroom, in every town, everywhere.
When I was growing up there averaged about one chubby kid per classroom. “The Fat Kid”. The kid who got picked on, teased and chosen last for team games in gym class. These days, that average is up to five. And just like when I was in school, no child wants to be the fat kid. It is foisted upon them by the parents who are feeding them and allowing them to eschew exercise for more sedentary pursuits.
With child obesity rising just as fast as adult obesity - the latest report issued yesterday predicts that 1 in 5 will become obese - it is not hard to see that the apple does not fall far from the tree, or in this case the Twinkie does not fall far from the Ho-Ho.
And who am I to cast the first Ding Dong? I’ll tell you.
I was the chubby child in grade school. I was raised on too much food and too little activity. It has taken me many years to fight back from that plump place in my yearbook’s history, so I know from where I eat . . . er, speak.
Dr. Dennis Bier knows from where he practices. As a pediatrician affiliated with the Baylor College of Medicine, he states, "About one child in five weighs too much. Simply put, children are consuming far too many calories and burning far too few. The two most important actions that parents can take to help their children lead healthy lives are not to eat too much and engage in regular physical activity. Although we have heard the expression a million times, it is still the best advice. Second, parents should encourage their kids to eat a wide variety of foods from all the food groups and remember 'there are no 'good' foods or 'bad' foods, but there are good diets and bad diets.'"
Sad, but true, we are raising a generation of couch potatoes. Truth be told, given the lumps around their middles, we are actually raising mashed potatoes. Where ten years ago a child was cool for excelling in team sports, swimming or even skate boarding, today’s kids rate their coolness factor by how far they can get in the latest PlayStation or Xbox game and how many friends they can IM on the computer at one time.
They need to get moving.
Lee Haney, Chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and a former eight time world champion body builder, stresses, "We need to stop talking about 'couch potatoes' and kids watching too much TV or spending too much time on line and make regular physical activity a top health and education goal. It makes no sense for us to emphasize better SAT scores if our kids are getting set up now for problems with obesity, heart disease, diabetes or cancer later in life. Our number one objective should be to find ways to get kids active and fit."
Some 17 percent of U.S. youngsters already are obese, and millions more are overweight. Obesity can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, sleep problems and other disorders.
So how to take those first steps and make those first changes? Set the example. Practice what you preach. Believe it or not, your children do want to look up to you and will pay attention. But if you are hollering at them to get out and play while you are sitting in front of the computer eating cheese doodles and drinking Coke, your message is one of hypocrisy - and while most kids can’t spell it, they can certainly smell it.
Nutrition Tips
— Plan balanced meals and shop for them. Make health, not convenience, the goal. This means fresh fruits and vegetables, not a cart full of Macaroni & Cheese boxes.
— If you don’t buy it, you can’t eat/drink it. Stop buying sodas and sugary drinks full of empty calories. Replace whole milk with 2% or skim. Cut way back on the number of sweet and salty treats you bring into the house.
— NO MORE LUNCHABLES. Yes, they are a convenient time saver, but that is all they offer. The sodium and fat content alone make them an unwise choice for the lunchbox. Think yogurts, string cheese, bagels, etc.
— Make the first after school treat a big glass of water. Children, across the board, do not drink enough water during the day and thirst often masquerades as hunger.
Exercise Tips
— Make physical activity a family affair. Go for a walk after dinner each night. Play games in the backyard. A good game of soccer or keepaway will get everyone’s heart rates up.
— Find an activity your child is interested in and sign them up. Local Parks & Recreation Departments offer hundreds of inexpensive options for young kids from swimming to gymnastics to rock climbing.
— Make an exercise chart and post it where everyone can check in. You will be surprised how having a support system will encourage everyone to keep moving!
— Turn off the TV, game systems and computers. Limit the number of hours allowed for TV watching each week and stick to it. The same for the Gamecube and computer. Remember what kids did before these things? Kids rode bikes, played hide-n-seek, enjoyed being outside!
Let’s face it, technology has brought us a long way, baby. But just because we have more, does not mean we have to weigh more. Don’t expect miracles to happen overnight though. No one likes change and it will take a while for tastes and attitudes to adjust to a new, healthier lifestyle.
But if you don’t believe the thin, 40 year old me, take it from the chubby 10 year old me who ate Twinkies, Pop Tarts and Crisco straight from the can. (I’m not kidding.) She still lives inside my heart and can still feel the barbs, jeers and jokes she endured every day as she ate lunch in the caFATeria.
Set the example for your kids, they will thank you for it.
An internationally
read author, columnist, event speaker, and media guest,
Linda Sharp makes people
laugh and think from Maine to Malaysia. Enjoy
her book Stretchmarks On My Sanity and add her daily blog, Don't Get Me
Started, to your online favorites! Look for her new book, Femail:
A Comic Collision In Cyberspace this winter! Give her a Google – you'll be glad you did.
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