Relevant Musings: Children on Diets?

FatKidWhy All Children should be on Diets: Response to Backlash over The Heavy by Dara-Lynn Weiss

Listened to radio show this morn where people were freaking out, aghast that a mother (Dara-Lynn Weiss) put her 7-year old daughter on a diet & then wrote book about it (The Heavy).  Over and over parents vehemently defended the position that we shouldn’t restrict our children’s eating.  Really???

When did ‘diet’ become a four letter word?  I was never good at math by the way.  What about ‘proper diet’ or ‘healthy diet’?  Diet does not mean starvation!  It should mean healthy nutrition.  Ever go into McDonald’s and see a morbidly obese person scarfing down a portion sufficient for 3?  Most people have and a lot think something like “and they probably wonder why they’re fat.”  Somehow, these are the same parents that would just as soon push clergy in front of traffic for suggesting that they should restrict what their child eats.

Newsflash: The habits you model and teach your children are likely to be maintained into adulthood, including and especially dietary habits.  If you teach them it’s OK to overeat hamburgers and ice cream at every meal as children, why would you expect them to ‘spontaneously’ adopt healthy eating habits as they advance into adulthood?

Wanna hear something else scary?   Once someone is obese for a while, the body adapts and that becomes the body weight that their biology will defend as necessary for survival.  Physiologically speaking, the body then literally reacts as if the person is starving to death when they try to return to a healthy body weight.  This one of the main reasons why diets typically don’t work and we say ‘don’t just diet.’  Unfortunately, surgery has become the only long term effective option once someone (even a child) is obese for an extended period of time.  Point is, don’t contribute to your kids getting to the point where surgery is the only option they have of being healthy.  Please!!

12 thoughts on “Relevant Musings: Children on Diets?

  1. thanks for this article. i hate seeing parents just go for quick junk to feed their kids. lazy parenting i call it. “I can’t be bothered to cook up a healthy meal for my child so i’ll just give them these cholesterol-laden chips!”. Poor kids :(((

  2. hi im 10 years old and the last time i weigh myself i was 108.8 i need help im going camping later in the school year and there’s swimming i dont wana be make fun of because of how big my belly is and thighs help please

    • Hanene,
      I totally feel for you! That’s a lot of pressure for a 10-year old to have to worry about. I would assume that one of your parents/guardians is in charge of food for the family- talk to him/her, express your concerns and see if they would be willing to help you find delicious foods that still taste good. We want to keep the belly happy while shrinking it a little! Never too early to start learning about what you’re eating so I commend you for reading this and hope it helps!

  3. When are fully-grown up adults going to realise that kids are the vulnerable victims of the Screen Industries and that it is bloody awful being a parent these days? And then do something about it? Before weaning kids off the choco-milk screen teats, hadn´t adults first do likewise? We must be the most docile, idle, passive non-livers in all of History !

    • Elhem,
      You definitely do not want to be starving yourself! Doesn’t work so well. Read our posts- it’s really all about being able to make the foods you love to eat healthy for you without making them less fun to eat. Make that your goal and you’ll see the difference!

  4. diet is good…The diet alone won’t make you loose the weight you want to. You need the exercise as well. try going for a walk after dinner. I do and it really helps. =D

  5. very informative…makes me think more on study a product more than just grabbing what will be easier on my time shedule….I dont eat fast foods..or fried foods but I am guilty of making mac and cheese and hot dogs …stuff like that cause the kids were hungry and they wanted food now…so I thank you for this article

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