So the nutritionists tell us that kids are lazy, they don't play anymore, they have too many distractions from television, computers, the internet, etc...
In fact, they tell us that it's so bad, that Obesity is an EPIDEMIC, especially among children, and that SOMETHING MUST BE DONE NOW...
All of which requires the employment of more nutritionists, more lawmakers and more administrators for programs; with more money to be spent on them, and more largess and patronage to be distributed and.. ok I'll stop now before I get too angry.
So, the result of this, is the schools are trying to take over from the parents in controlling kids activities; because of course the government knows how to take care of your children better than you do. After all, they're smarter than you are; especially in middle america. In fact you probably actually go to church and voted for Bush, you poor misguided ignorant yokels; of COURSE you can't be trusted to take care of your kids.
Oh and don't even get me started on how these people measure "Obesity". The body mass index? Please.
When I was 13, I was 6'2" tall, and weighed 265lbs, with a 36-38" waist, a 20" neck, and a 52" chest. I had 10-12% bodyfat, and as low as 7% when I started heavily working out for football and wrestling, at 14. I was a very big, very strong kid.
Do you know what my BMI was then? 34. Anything over 29 is considered obese, over 25 is "overwight, and 18-25 is considered "normal. I had 7% BODYFAT for gods sake. In order to have been at the HIGHEST edge of "normal", I would have had to have been 195lbs, which would have been basically impossible for my bone and muscle structure; but if I did, I would have had a 28-30" waist; putting me below 4% bodyfat, which can actually KILL YOU if you arent under a doctors care.
According to nutritionists, 145 lbs is considered the bottom edge of normal for a 6'2" tall man. Let me ask you something, if a man was 6'2" tall, wouldnt he be VERY SKINNY, at 165, or even 185? At 145, wouldn't you think he had an eating disorder, or maybe cancer or even AIDS?
In order to be 6'2" and 145 lbs, you would have to have a 28" waist, and a 14-16" neck, again putting you below the 4% bodyfat range.
For women they consider 145 lbs overweight if you're 5'4", but 108lbs is considered "normal; and 165lbs is overweight if you're 5'9", but 125lbs is considered normal; which to me indicates they've never actually SEEN a female over the age of puberty except on television and in magazines. A 5'9" woman, of normal skeletal and muscle build would have to have a 24" waist, 32" hips, and basically no chest, to weigh 125lbs; and that would put her under 7% bodyfat (a very lightly built woman would be different of course).
Under about 14% bodyfat and women stop having their periods (it's called Amenorrhea).
Sure, 6'2" and 145lbs is healthy... in Somalia; and this is the standard they've used to declare an "Obesity Epidemic" in America.
Oh, I won't deny that we are becoming more sedentary, eating more junk than ever before, and we're getting fatter because of it; theres no question about that; but when someone says that 60% of the country is "obese", and 30% are "morbidly obese" (meaning their weight is threatening to kill them), you have to wonder what their motives are. What exactly are they selling?
What it comes down to, is it's all about money and control. They want money from the government, and the authority to control your lives, and the lives of your children.
At my childrens private, catholic school; the state has forced a "child wellness" program on them, dictating not only what the SCHOOL can serve the children for lunch, but what the PARENTS can give their own children to take in to school to eat.
So they are putting our kids on low fat, low sugar, low sodium, low everything diets from the age of 3 on up. Then they are forcing excrcise on them in such a perfunctory and stupid way that it puts the kids off of excercise forever.
Have you ever tried to keep up with a 4 year old, or even an 8 year old, running around throughout their day? Did you know that nutritionists (yes I know, I just trashed them above. Those are what I call the "nutritional politicians" rather than the real doctors and scientists) consider playing with children strenuous excercise? Keping up with kids just running around playing can burn 400 calories an hour for a 170lb man.
What bugs me (other than the states intrustion into parental perogative), is that kids NEED a higher fat, and higher protein diet than adults do, in order to mature properly.
"But kids don't excercise like we did when we were kids"...
Bull, and I'll tell you why.
The problem with "obese" kids, is that we aren't letting kids be kids. If my family restricted and overprotected me the way kids are these days, I'd have been a fat little kid too, instead of just a big little kid.
The fact that I walked more than 5 (sometimes more than 10) miles a day, or biked well over 10 miles a day, and basically ran around constantly is what helped me grow up healthy and strong. Was I excercising? Hell no, I was playing with my friends, and walking to their houses, and walking to the park, and walking to the store.
"But kids are lazy these days" ...
Bull again. Kids havent really changed today, it's the parents who've changed, teaching their kids that playing the way we did isn't safe (More Bull. Your town is almost certainly no more dangerous than it was 20 years ago; in fact it's almost certainly LESS dangerous; you're just more afraid of the danger that's there). Scheduling our childrens every waking second with "enriching" activits they don't want to do. Restricting them from doing the normal things that every kid all throughout time has done.
MOST kids don't really get fat; they burn off enough jsut growing and playing that it's damn near impossible for them to eat more than they need; unless they can't be kids any more. We're making our kids into little adults; with schedules, and "play dates" and all the garbage of adult life; and they're stressed out. It's no wonder they don't want to just play any more, they're trying to relax and deal with stress just like you are.
X Boxes and email aren't making our kids fat; WE ARE.
