Three times the fat, five times the denial

“Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors.” - John F Kennedy

Ladies and gentlemen, the few of you who read this don't normally flinch at politically incorrect opinions, but just in case you decide to show this to someone else, I would like to give a warning prior to beginning my ramble: The things I am planning to say here will be HARSH AND OFFENSIVE mostly due to the fact that I speak of controversial topics without sugarcoating, apologizing, or leaving out views considered taboo by the general public. If you do not agree with me, please challenge my opinion, but back it up with reasonable facts rather than saying "omg u r teh bitch, shut up ur probably an anorexic or something". I LIKE learning from my mistakes (should I make them). And now, on with the show.

North America, you and your kids are fat. *dodges some airborne rotten vegetables*

Aherm. Today's topic is childhood obesity. I specifically target children in this rant, because if successfully stopped in the wee ones, the adult obesity rates with follow in decline. According to statistics, the past 25-year period has seen a tripling of obesity rates among children and youth all over North America. What are the causes? I'll tell you many. Let's start off from what the government has to say:
"Weight gain results from a chronic energy imbalance as well as other factors, which include:
-Economic status
-education
-genetics
-social factors
-built environment
-culture and media"
All of the above are true, but they don't really elaborate on most of these. They comment mostly on economic status of the children in question, claiming that "The problem is magnified among poorer families, who may have difficulty providing healthy food choices and physical activity opportunities for their children". I disagree. As far as food is concerned, it is much easier to purchase raw ingredients with a small budget. Basic items such as rice, potatoes, vegetables and spices last a long time and provide many healthy meals in a variety of combinations. As it turns out (who'da thunk it?) home-cooked food (not home-style takeout but stuff you make yourself in your own kitchen) is a lot cheaper and a lot healthier, so get off the McDonald's, away with microwave dinners, and get cooking. As far as physical activity is concerned, I don't remember having to be a member of the financial elite to go for a romp in the park with your friends. Just because you can't afford to sign your kids up for a soccer team shouldn't mean that they have to restrict themselves to watching you watch soaps all day long.

Note how the rest of the causes are left unexplained by the article. Allow me.

Education: Valid point. Kids need to know that eating garbage will make them unhealthy. Yes ma'am, your child is fat. Education is important for both the children and the parents. This comes as a shock to most people, because even though they deny it, they do not consider that it's their job too, as parents, to be aware of and follow through with a healthy lifestyle in order to raise physically normal kids. That doesn't mean you have to run to yoga classes, become a vegetarian, and follow all the latest diet trends as well as purchase a treadmill. This just means that if you're going to the grocery store, put some cookables in the shopping cart, and leave the car at home if there's a plaza anywhere within a kilometer radius of you. At the least. We all need to be taught to distinguish bad from good and how to make choices. Otherwise we'll eat whatever the TV says is good, and trust me, as long as it gets paid enough TV will say anything is good. "Who knew that your old cellphone could be such a wonderful on-the-go snack? with only a bit of ketchup I have a ready meal in no-time! MMM-MMM!" Retarded? My point exactly.

Genetics: Nothing we can do there. If you have the predisposition to become overweight, that's actually not your fault. The one thing you can do for yourself, however, is not become obese by allowing this inherited trait to become an excuse for an unhealthy lifestyle. "Bigger" shouldn't mean "can't fit through door".

Social Factors: If you have fat friends, you are more likely to become or remain fat, due to lifestyle observation. With exceptions of course, the majority of people have a mass mentality: ie. if others are doing it that must mean that it's good/ok. Let's put it this way - if you have a group of friends who are consistently spending their time on non physically challenging activities while consuming mostly pizza, pop, and other junk, how likely are you to say no? This is especially relevant if the adults that surround the children in question do nothing to make this behaviour appear negative to the kids.

Built environment: This has a lot to do with how we get around. In more compact cities such as Dublin, Ireland, and most other cities in Europe, one is probably a lot better off on foot or taking the public transit to get around, unless they are going on an inter-city trip. North America, however, is built on the assumption that we all have at least one vehicle. (Good on everyone who supports public transit as a green method of getting around, but the structure of our communities make that very VERY hard to sustain. More on that later.) Taking my hometown and its neighbouring communities as an example - if you live in or close to downtown Toronto, you most likely take the TTC (The local transit system) to get around. I live about an hour north of downtown, which made it quite a pain to travel to work every day when I used to work there. If I lived in Richmond Hill, say, or Maple (both are a part of the Greater Toronto Area but are suburbs, and thus far from the center), chances are I would be working in Toronto, which would mean I need a car. Suburbs do have their own little plazas with grocery and other kinds of stores, but you should consider yourself lucky if you live near one. Otherwise you need a car. Basically we're all commuters, most of us have vehicles, and who wants to walk when your car can take you there faster, even if your destination is close by? We'll drive to the nearest McDonald's, and hey - we don't even have to get out of the car. We just order in the drive-thru window, and keep sitting as we munch away on the god-knows-what we call food.

Culture and Media: Here's a good one! Kids, as I am sure you all know, have a great sense of how to tell apart real advice from marketing campaigns. I sincerely hope you understand that I am being sarcastic. How can kids keep away from fast food, say, when they are rewarded for making a purchase with a toy? How can one not want that delicious-looking sandwich that spins slowly on the screen, while the man we don't really get to see tells us how delicious it is, confirming our initial reaction? It's not only food, it's other things too. The TV doesn't automatically turn itself off at 2 pm for "do whatever else you want except watch TV" time. It keeps going, and there's an endless number of channels offering 24/7 broadcasts of anything you can possibly want. Each and every impulse targeting the me-here-now (the constant stimulation of pleasure and immediate gratification receptors). This makes lazy kids which grow into lazy adults.

Ahh, back to being otherwise opinionated. After a very long explanation of government-outlined causes (with a bit of digression), I would like to add certain things to the list. The biggest and the baddest one of all would be the "someone else will do it" concept. Our society relies heavily on this mentality. From good old playground days we are taught that we are not allowed to do something about it (whatever the mysterious it may be), but we must tell the teacher, otherwise we get punished. We grow up, and when the teachers are long in the past, we look for other people to complain to, whether it be the government, or a lesser authority, never really taking any steps to fix the problem ourselves. "MY kids are fat. What are you going to do about it?!" cry the multitudes of parents out there who don't bother to realize that it was within their grasp to prevent that, but they didn't acknowledge the opportunity when it was there. Newsflash - the majority of what happens around us is, you heard me, our responsibility. It is up to us to make sure our kids grow up healthy mentally and physically, which leads me onto the next point.

Obesity as an eating disorder. Don't think I underestimate that. I am fully aware that eating disorders do not only consist of the kinds where you diminish in size. Binge eating is a very common way for people to deal with negative emotions (ie anger, sadness or fear), just like binge drinking and other substance abuse. It, once again, triggers the pleasure receptor, because eating tasty things can make you feel good, whether through association (I remember eating this at grandma's, oh she was so nice. oh this turkey is so good. oh grandma. sigh.), or just because it's tasty and it's there, and it's something you think you can control (I can't make other good things happen to me, but this food is good and i have the choice to put it in my mouth or leave it there. Why would I say no). Before trying to fix the mistake we made (whether in our child or in ourselves) we need to consider whether or not the obesity is caused by unhealthy external habits, and/or whether it's coming from within. There's no point in treating binge eating with a diet, because that will only help the issue manifest itself as another eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia nervosa.

NOW - let's look into what the government, to whom we're all crying out to for help, is proposing as a solution.

"The answer to rising childhood obesity rates lies beyond the scope of influence of any individual Canadian, any government or sector to address on its own"

I see. So what you're saying is that it's our job to work together and save everyone all at once through a long process but we can do it guys?
That could work. In a Utopian society. But unfortunately, those don't even work in literature. What we should focus on, instead is the individual ability of a person to change themselves. If everyone starts there, then it's a pretty damn good start. It's all in the individual, believe it or not. If the mayor came to my school and told my class that X and Y is good and A and B (which is what we are doing currently) is bad so stop, I wouldn't. I'm a kid and I don't care what they have to say. They're not around to yell at me when I don't follow their rules. My mom and dad are. But my mom and dad are special as is. They actually took the time to explain why X and Y are good and what makes them better than the A and B that I'm doing. Plus, they were always good role models. Not everyone is blessed with parents like that, but every child deserves it. We owe it to our kids to take on the responsibility of adulthood, to set a good example so that they can learn through observation, and can't catch us in our hypocrisy when we tell them than being a couch potato is a horrible thing and that they should go play when all daddy does is watch TV.

The government also has decided to encourage and promote healthy eating. Great. Awesome. A poster. To me, that sounds like codswallop, but for some people it's useful, I suppose. The only problem is that marketing campaigns for actually unhealthy foods can cater to the recommendations, and thus appear to be ok for consumption. If they really wanted to make a healthy choice they would ban fast food, or hand out monthly coupons which would limit the amount of fast food one can consume (the coupons being the only acceptable currency in fast food restaurants). If it is banned altogether and someone wants a burger, they're damn well are going to be forced to make one, and that will at least be healthier than purchasing a Baconator.
Providing accessible mental health alternatives for people who suffer from eating disorders would be nice as well. The diet trends in magazines also should go the way of the dinosaurs. It's not the thin image that's getting in the way as much as the advertised methods of achieving the skinny bod. Beauty isn't what you appear to be, it's what you are. But they'll never do that, because it will hurt the economy. Good job, government.

Finally, something that I do agree with, is an editorial in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) that cited some approaches to solving childhood obesity:
1. Increasing physical activity through unstructured activity as well as access to play equipment

I can't stress enough how important unstructured play is to everyone. It stimulates absolutely everything including the mind, developing imagination, conflict resolution and social skills, muscles (as kids run around and tumble on the playground or in the park), and most importantly, self-driven proactive behavour.

2. Parents acting as positive role models of an active lifestyle for their children.

You gotta see it to believe it.

3. Limiting TV and Computer/Video Game time to less than 2 hours a day, to reduce sedentary behaviour.

I once babysat a five or six year old who preferred her portable game system to playing with a ball. That is not normal.

4. Changing the entire family's lifestyle.

This is definitely the most difficult part, but it is tied in with the parent as a positive role model: if the family can't lead a good lifestyle, their children aren't likely to either.