I dont have kids of my own. I am 23 and cannot affort one. But we're not talking skinny or a bit overweight kids. We are talking kids who weigh 120%+ what they should or have a BMI over 30.
The reason I asked was because, when I was 23 I didn't have kids, and I didn't have any sympathy for people who did.
But your point isn't any less valid:
They, not their kids, not some ******* government agency, need to promote
their kid's health.
Breastfeeding is supposed to really help with promoting healthy eating habits in kids. When babies are bottle fed, they often get more than they should. People love fat babies, and then cannot understand why their kids are still chubby when they are 2 and 3 years old. At this stage, it is very much about the parents giving the kids a poor diet, overfeeding them, making them join the clean plate club, and feeding them stuff that is packed with high fructose corn syrup.
Apparently High Fructose corn syrup adds quite a lot of calories to one's diet. One of the reasons we are getting so fat, is because everything has this ingredient in it. It also causes people to naturally crave more sugary or starchy foods..
On a side note, there are many people who do not believe that overeating in itself is some sort of lifestyle choice and that there is no genetic issue going on. While there may or may not be a genetic issue, there most certainly is a biological issue that is at play in overeating, for many people.
There is a chemical that is released when (skinny) people eat a regular meal, letting the brain know that it is full. Many (fat) people do not get this chemical released- maybe because they are genetically disadvantaged and do not have as much of that chemical as others do, or perhaps there is some other explanation to why some people have more of it than others.. I refuse to speculate on that.. But the point is, when your brain is not told it is full, it is still telling you it is hungry. This causes a big problem, especially for dieters, because they feel hungry all the time, and psychologically feel as though they are starving. Why else would so many people be always "yo-yo" dieting? It is because they get so hungry and fed up with "starving themselves", psychologically, that they end up going back to eating.
Instead of treating obesity as if it is some kind of lifestyle choice that people make, I would like to see more research put into finding cures for the underlying causes of overeating. Obesity is a health condition, it is not a particular "class" of Citizens.. and I am tired of the mindset that heavier people are of lower status than skinny ones.
Also, too much emphasis is placed on height/weight, and not enough it placed on overall health/ muscle mass. I have met loads of people who weigh quite a lot less than I do, and wear much larger clothes than I do. I am the same size as I was in high school, but I weigh 40 pounds more now than I did then. I was just a very WEAK person.. even though I had an "average" to "slender" body type, and exercised every day.. Now I have far more muscle mass, and it is much easier for me to lose weight if I need to..
I once did an online body mass index based on height and weight, and gender, and it told me I was bordering on being morbidly obese, LMAO!! Another one said I was morbidly obese. I am SO not morbidly obese. What a joke!!! So, in my opinion, some of these polls are a bit off, and there needs to be more attention placed on overall health, especially heart health and aerobic exercise.
I have a fat little neighbor who I walk with every day. She is a teenager, is the same height as me, and weighs only about 20 pounds more than I do.. but she is in plus sized jeans. She is definitely morbidly obese, because she has very little muscle mass, and her whole weight is based on fat, rather than muscle. I have also seen men who are 200 pounds and that height, that look really great, and are extremely fit.. So I'm just saying- it is not all about the actual number of pounds someone weighs.. We have to keep things in perspective and be reasonable.