Tagged: children

Television Advertising and Childhood Obesity, Part 3



There are two really good reasons to limit screen time for kids (and grownups too). Reason Number One: If you’re facing a monitor, you’re probably sitting still. Reason Number Two: If you aspire to sane eating habits, network television will try your patience and crumble your resolve. TV commercials are slick, persuasive, and dangerous. It used to be simpler, back when network television was the only obstacle to be contended with. Now, product placement is ubiquitous.

A nonprofit group called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, also known as the PCRM, examined ads that are directed specifically toward children and discovered the five most grievously unhealthful meals touted in that market sector. We’re talking junk food here. We’re talking cholesterol bombs, to borrow a term from Susan Levin, PCRM’s director of nutrition education, who also says,
We’re losing the war against childhood obesity, but fast-food chains are still making obscene profits by targeting children with high-fat meals.
We bet you’re anxious to know the top five perpetrators, starting with the worst. The PCRM provides a handy chart, and why are we not surprised to learn that McDonald’s is on top of the heap? Behold the McDonald’s Mighty Kids Meal: double cheeseburger, French fries and chocolate milk. The thing weighs in at 840 calories, 37 grams of fat, and nearly a whole day’s worth of salt.

The runners-up are Wendy’s Kids’ Meal, KFC’s Kids’ Meal, A&W’s Kids’ Meal, and Burger King’s BK Kids. Last year, the Institute of Medicine enumerated a set of nutritional standards for kids’ lunches, and not one of these abominations would pass.

The billboard pictured on this page, by the way, comes from a group called Champions for Change, whose agenda is short and sweet: making changes in kitchens, homes, schools and neighborhoods. It believes in more fruits and vegetables, more activity (which means less television), and more voices raised for healthy changes.

Aside from inspiring kids to demand stuff they never would have thought of otherwise, and aside from providing some truly horrendous role models, advertising is just plain full of baloney. Small children and many older children are simply not equipped to evaluate claims and recognize snake oil. Michele Simon, author of Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back, says,
If a child cannot comprehend the ad’s persuasive intent, it is immoral to advertise anything to that child.
Alternet’s Jill Richardson believes that if advertising can’t be escaped, it can be turned to our advantage. She says that some families have a rule that “the family must discuss and deconstruct each TV commercial as they watch TV.” This sounds promising — why not make a game out of it? Children actually do have pretty good lie detectors, once you point them in the right direction, and you might be surprised at the results. Richardson also offers an interesting historical note:
Until 2008, it wasn’t unheard of for children’s report cards to sport the Golden Arches, offering a free Happy Meal to elementary school children with good grades. McDonald’s ended the program when it received negative press attention.
See? We can make a difference. This kind of thing can be stopped. And when it does occur — when a child shows up with a report card embellished with golden arches — maybe that’s a heaven-sent opportunity to take that child out for a nice walk and have a talk about concepts like trust and deception.
Your responses and feedback are welcome!

More on the Early Adopters of the Food Addiction Paradigm



Food addiction is misunderstood but real, says Cheryl Williams, in a piece called “Food Addiction: Similarities and Differences to Drug and Alcohol Addiction.” As so many others have noted, one of the differences is that we need food to live, but not drugs or alcohol. (Dr. Pretlow always points out another difference that is especially important in the area of childhood obesity — drugs and alcohol are harder for children to get hold of.)

Williams stresses that food addiction is easier to hide, and, if the person is not able to hide it, at the very least, it’s more socially acceptable. Of course, that depends on your definition of society. There are plenty of enclaves where it’s more acceptable to be a lush or a crackhead than to be a fatty. To members of the church-knitting society, overweight is definitely more acceptable than drunkenness or shooting up. But in grade school, where alcohol and hard drugs aren’t much of an option yet, being fat puts a kid at the top of the Social Pariah list.

Williams points out that obesity and food addiction are not synonymous. There are non-addicted obese people, and non-obese food addicts. But when real food addiction shows up, it needs to be taken seriously. Of course, in some ways, all addictions are the same. Williams says,
Everyone who has an addiction is trying to fill a void. Sometimes that void comes from a past trauma. For me, my food addiction stemmed from the trauma of childhood sexual abuse. The food numbed the pain, and became a friend that I believed was safe and could not hurt me. In an unconscious way, I believe that the weight also served as a barrier to keep people away from me. After all, if nobody got near me… then nobody could hurt me.
Not surprisingly, Williams has written a novel on the themes of body image and self-esteem in teenage girls. She is on a mission, and part of that mission is to promote healthy ways of losing weight. She knows all about vicious cycles, and the tendency of an obesity problem to affect all other areas of life. Williams urges people to seek help, starting with a support group.

One such group is Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, or FA, an international organization for people who suffer from food obsession and uncontrollable eating. The goal is to recover from the food-addiction disease, stop treating food like a drug of abuse, and replace the addiction with a fulfilling life. This program is based in every respect on traditional Alcoholics Anonymous principles.

Overeaters Anonymous also follows the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of AA. There are many faith-based efforts, like the one that inspires a blogger known as Marvin, who says,
Food addiction is one of the most difficult addictions to overcome. In my opinion, there’s not enough emphasis placed on the dangers of food addiction… With food being an integral part of living we’re less likely to perceive the possibility of even having an addiction to food in the first place.
Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Eat for Success, Part 3



Problems, mysteries, conflicts, confusion — is that all there is to the childhood obesity discussion? Absolutely not! While there is no silver bullet, what we do have are a lot of good answers that have worked for a lot of people. The amazing thing is that so many food addicts are willing to share their stories. We can learn from them.

We need to get over any expectation of a one-size-fits-all answer. Different people are unhealthily overweight for a number of reasons. Some individuals are morbidly obese for a combination of reasons. Not all solutions work for everybody. Some solutions work for some people, and, if it works for them, it might work for you or me. A motivated person will try at least a few potential solutions, and we should have an array of them to choose from.

Speaking of motivation, let’s hear from a young person quoted in Dr. Pretlow’s presentation, “What’s Really Causing the Childhood Obesity Epidemic? What Kids Say.” In Slide #58, a 17-year-old describes her method of imagining something gross while eating one of her problem foods. What kind of motivation does that take? In Poll #87 of the Weigh2Rock public opinion series, a 15-year-old girl, who independently discovered this kind of DIY aversion therapy, says,
I’ve been able to stop most of the cravings by associating them with horrible foods. For example if I crave pizza I start thinking of pizza with hair from a beauty salon and spit and other nasty things until I picture it and pretend to eat it with the nasty things still there. It really works!
The key just might be: Start anywhere. Maybe some little “tip” that seems ineffectual or even silly could be the turning point. Any sincere change of lifestyle doesn’t even need to show results in order to make a difference. The point is, by choosing one thread from the complicated ball of twine and starting there, the unraveling can begin. Or, to switch metaphors, a baby step can initiate a domino effect. A small success can encourage a person and provide enough positive energy to lead to another experiment.

One can start by following this advice: Drink more water. It’s a simple action, and we might as well give it a try before the water shortage sets in. A company that is now selling bottled “Wat-aah” in many schools speaks of its great sense of mission, namely, to “lead the fight against childhood obesity [hyperlink is ours] by making water the #1 choice for hydration among kids.” In fact, part of the package is a program called Healthy Hydration:
It is a 20-minute long presentation held in schools and aims to teach children about the benefits of drinking water, the importance of understanding beverage ingredients, the dangers of over-consuming drinks laden with sugar, and other relevant topics. The program’s fun visuals and interactive, yet informative approach have captivated not only the students, but school administrators as well.
There are many reasons why drinking plenty of water is good for you, primarily because it doesn’t contain sugar. So far, so good, but… The title of this press release is, “WAT-AAH!, the First Functional Bottled Water Aimed at Kids, is Now Available in Schools Nationwide” — and there is something creepy about that “aimed at” part. Plus, what in the world is “functional” bottled water?

Okay, the people behind “Wat-aah” are well-intentioned and probably helpful to the overall situation. But why do kids at school need to buy water? Where are the drinking fountains? Why not carry a bottle and refill it from the tap? Where is the cafeteria water dispenser? Amazingly, it turns out that in many schools, the students can’t get plain old drinking water!

Whitney Blair Wyckoff recently reported for National Public Radio that in 40% — that’s nearly half — of California schools drinking water is not available to the children! Giving administrators the benefit of the doubt, Wyckoff first theorizes that they just don’t know any better, not being conscious of the importance of good hydration to health. She writes,
Additionally, there seems to be some confusion over whether offering free water conflicts with the National School Lunch Program regulations — or even beverage contracts. For example, if a school district contracts with a beverage provider, among the items that they’re purchasing through this contract could be bottled water. There seems to be concern that if they were to offer free water at the same time they’re purchasing bottled water that this might conflict with their contract.
California has a legislation pending, in an attempt to improve this situation. But where has everybody been up until now? How did it even get to this point? And in how many of the other 49 states is anybody even thinking about this crucial issue?

Your responses and feedback are welcome!