If you read the ongoing discussions, you'd realize that diabetes is not directly related to what you eat.
I was raised on home cooked food. Fast food was a treat we had once or twice a year. when I turned 25, I became a victim of diabetes.
You can have sugar problems because of obesity, pregnancy, or age, but that's different than your pancreas breaking down. Food doesn't cause that; at least that we know of.
Kids being forced to eat what they have no desire to eat only amplifies the problem. They will carry candy bars for lunch instead of salads. They will wait until the end of the day to hit McDonald's on the way home with friends. Believe it or not, you can't force people into eating what they don't want to eat.
What kind of food one eats is less the problem than exercise. I'm a landlord and I've seen this first hand. When the weather turns nice in spring, my younger tenants stay inside. They don't open up the windows. They don't go outside to interact with neighbors or my other tenants. Their entertainment is entirely within their four walls.
My older tenants are much different. We gather outside to BS or just enjoy the weather. We wash or vacuum out our cars. My tenants with pets bring them outside and walk them around. Our windows are open and we spend much of our day outside. My younger tenants? The only time you see them is when they walk from their apartment to their cars.
We don't have a food problem--we have an exercise problem.
Type 2 diabetes is DIRECTLY related to obesity. Type 1 diabetes is not. Read the article.
Diabetes rates skyrocket in kids and teens
You do not need to exercise to maintain your weight, or even lose weight. 97% of your weight is related to what you're putting in your mouth. Albeit--that exercise is great, and kids need a lot more than what they're getting today.
If you really remember the 1950's adults did not exercise--yet they were thin.
An average 10 year old today is 10-15 pounds heavier than a 10 year old coming out of the 1950's. Which means when they're 20--they're going to be 20-25 pounds heavier that their counterpart from the 1950's, when they're 30 they're going to be 40 -45 pounds heavier than their counterpart in the 1950's etc. etc. etc.
Type 2 diabetes is directly related to blood insulin levels, aka sugar. You get a short burst of energy--then you're fatigued and hungry again--and then you will overeat to satitate the hunger you got from the sugar. A simple can of Coke is 8 teaspoons of sugar, and large Coke at McDonalds is a whopping 33 teaspoons of sugar. Drink one, and it won't be long before you're ordering 2 double bacon cheeseburgers to feed the sugar you just drank. Sugar is stored in our
fat cells.
Back in the 1950's you didn't have bakery's in the stores--if you wanted cake you waited until the next birthday party and or you had to make your own. We didn't have all these sugary choices and white processed foods available to us at our fingertips.
It's very simple:
What's is going to keep you fuller with longer lasting energy? An 8 oz. top sirloin steak or 8 oz's of sugar.
Michelle Obama was trying to change school menu's to more protein as is found in the steak, and less sugary white processed foods, by substituting the white processed with whole grains and more vegetables. There is nothing wrong with that, and it was a great idea that is now gone--because we have a Senator from Kansas, aka the agriculture secretary that is more concerned about lunch room profits.
