Follow the link to this article about childhood obesity and some background on the statistics, and how the medical and drug industry benefits from the epidemic language and inflating the numbers. Be sure to check out the photo of Bianca, the adorable little girl on the cover who is labeled as overweight. The article is a great intro to some tough topics. Yes, there is a problem, but many normal, healthy kids are being mislabeled – with potentially damaging consequences. Kids labeled as "overweight" or "obese" feel flawed in every way, are LESS likely to exercise, and more likely to diet which leads to weight GAIN. (I summarized about 3 different studies in that sentence...) Labeling healthy children as obese or overweight is malpractice as far as I'm concerned. First do no harm!
The photo above is-according to BMI alone- an "overweight" 3 year old, who if she gained 1 pound would be categorized as "obese." Just think about these images of this little girl, and Bianca when you hear the next hysterical diatribe about "obesity."
I'm with you. Those charts can be so misleading or fear/complex inducing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, some times it's weird. When I was about 8 years old, the school physician wrote a note on my chart saying "overweight, on her way to being obese". And she told me I was fat... I was not, and I'm not obese, but it hurt a lot !
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