Is Being Over-Weight A Sin?

Conservativation

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According to cons source 1 in 6 children are obese in the USA. I don't think things are any better in England. However I'm not sure this is mainly due to restaurants. There should be healthier options for children and I think over here they have really taken to that. However people don't eat out 7 days a week do they? I know when I was a child eating out was a treat and we only ever got to go on birthdays. It's more important what they feed their children at home. If they give them chicken nuggets and chips every day at home they are the problem.

Blaming 3rd parties, restaurants and schools etc for obesity in my opinion actually contributes to the obesity problem, as a mindset. it avoids owning the matter. Sure Im all for having better choices, however I cannot go along with foisting obesity fault on 3rd parties, much the same as inumerable behavioral choices we seem to blame on 3rd parties in this country as we drift farther from personal responsibility.

Even some of the comments Ive read here seem to me to be deflecting responsibility from what , at least the CDC thinks, is a big problem. Instead of talking about all the exceptions as to why this isnt their fault, that isnt really obesity, this obese person is healthier than this healthy weight person, healthy folks make idolatry and exercise sometimes, etc etc. its high time to just tell it like it is. We do not worry about hurting the feelings of substance abusers as we speak frankly about what makes it tick, how to defeat it, etc. Imagine if each time substance abuse came up, the conversation truly was mostly about what is not substance abuse but is incorrectly being lumped in. Society seems to have passed the part about accountability on the topic of weight.
 
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JaneFW

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LOL.

I was not blaming restaurants for children being obese. All I said was that restaurants need to have healthier options. Period. I also said, and will repeat that, imo, restaurants are "training" children that they are only "worth" crap food. I continue to hold the belief that they could do better with children's menus.

Sailor, we used to eat out a lot. Not so much now, because I put a stop to it, but we ate out 2-3 times a week. My kids are not obese even in the slightest. Not even fat or overweight. They are pretty skinny to be honest, and the middle boy recently said that he thinks he is underweight. He's not. He's just very active with sports and has very little fat at all on his body. But he's not skin and bone.

It's definitely a parental issue in the first place. Obese parents = obese kids. I see it all the time, especially here in one of the fattest states in the US. The work starts at home, and that's where we have always worked hardest in educating our kids - making them aware of what is in food, and how it affects them. All of our kids know how to read a packet/box/can. You (generic you) would be surprised how many people think that the information on the box - even if they glance at it - shows calories and fat grams for the whole container, and not a portion - whether it's a cup, an ounce or however many grams. We have just talked about these things sitting around the table, while we are eating, or in a restaurant, or wherever. They have curious minds and soak up information, and that is good for them and their future health. Not all parents do this and not all kids are interested, but I believe it's the one way to ensure that kids don't just hear "don't eat that" but "if you eat that .. this is what you are taking into your body .. and this is what could happen."

Also, you have to model eating healthily. Like I have said, we don't have a deep fat fryer. We don't encourage fried or fast foods. I almost always put a bowl of salad on the table and a healthy dressing. We put fruit on the table with the food - washed, chopped, ready to pick up and eat. We have seen that fruit disappears very fast when we do this, and nobody is much interested in candy when they are full from good food and fruit.

But it does come back to money a lot of the time, and knowledge. Knowledge is certainly power. I am often surprised about how little adults my age know about food. I still know people who think that severely limiting calories will make them slim. It won't. It will slow down the metabolism and put the body into starvation mode. A big DUH on that one. But you would be surprised how many people don't know this. Also, people who use meal replacements are making a big mistake. That's a big shake full of sugar, I mean they average about 30g of sugar the last time I looked. That's craziness. It's just going to make a person crave sugar and feel unsatisfied, and I don't know how many people I have talked to who have ended up having a shake AND something else. Way to go adding calories instead of subtracting. :(

Anyway, I won't go on, because I can - all day long - talking about this stuff. ^_^
 
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R

Romanseight2005

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LOL.

I was not blaming restaurants for children being obese. All I said was that restaurants need to have healthier options. Period. I also said, and will repeat that, imo, restaurants are "training" children that they are only "worth" crap food. I continue to hold the belief that they could do better with children's menus.

Sailor, we used to eat out a lot. Not so much now, because I put a stop to it, but we ate out 2-3 times a week. My kids are not obese even in the slightest. Not even fat or overweight. They are pretty skinny to be honest, and the middle boy recently said that he thinks he is underweight. He's not. He's just very active with sports and has very little fat at all on his body. But he's not skin and bone.

It's definitely a parental issue in the first place. Obese parents = obese kids. I see it all the time, especially here in one of the fattest states in the US. The work starts at home, and that's where we have always worked hardest in educating our kids - making them aware of what is in food, and how it affects them. All of our kids know how to read a packet/box/can. You (generic you) would be surprised how many people think that the information on the box - even if they glance at it - shows calories and fat grams for the whole container, and not a portion - whether it's a cup, an ounce or however many grams. We have just talked about these things sitting around the table, while we are eating, or in a restaurant, or wherever. They have curious minds and soak up information, and that is good for them and their future health. Not all parents do this and not all kids are interested, but I believe it's the one way to ensure that kids don't just hear "don't eat that" but "if you eat that .. this is what you are taking into your body .. and this is what could happen."

Also, you have to model eating healthily. Like I have said, we don't have a deep fat fryer. We don't encourage fried or fast foods. I almost always put a bowl of salad on the table and a healthy dressing. We put fruit on the table with the food - washed, chopped, ready to pick up and eat. We have seen that fruit disappears very fast when we do this, and nobody is much interested in candy when they are full from good food and fruit.

But it does come back to money a lot of the time, and knowledge. Knowledge is certainly power. I am often surprised about how little adults my age know about food. I still know people who think that severely limiting calories will make them slim. It won't. It will slow down the metabolism and put the body into starvation mode. A big DUH on that one. But you would be surprised how many people don't know this. Also, people who use meal replacements are making a big mistake. That's a big shake full of sugar, I mean they average about 30g of sugar the last time I looked. That's craziness. It's just going to make a person crave sugar and feel unsatisfied, and I don't know how many people I have talked to who have ended up having a shake AND something else. Way to go adding calories instead of subtracting. :(

Anyway, I won't go on, because I can - all day long - talking about this stuff. ^_^


That also shapes children's tastes. It will be harder for them to eat correctly when they grow up, if all they have grown accustomed to is junk.
 
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