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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 3/27/2007 9:47:26 AM | Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents: committee
OTTAWA (CP) - A report from the Commons health committee says because of child obesity, Canadian kids will, for the first time in recorded history, live shorter lives than their parents.
The report, entitled "Healthy Weight for Healthy Kids," contains staggering numbers, including the fact that 26 per cent of Canadians between the ages of two and 17 are obese. On reserves, 55 per cent of First Nations children in that age group are considered grossly overweight.
The report says obesity outranks smoking and drinking in its impact on health and costs related to health-care.
Committee chairman Bob Merrifield, Conservative M-P for the Alberta riding of Yellowhead, says a survey by the Canadian Medical Association found that only nine per cent of parents identified their children as being overweight or obese.
He says the trend must be reversed by making sure kids eat healthier, low-fat foods and by getting them out there and moving | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 3/27/2007 8:07:36 PM | I see it now when I go out to POF events. The young women all average 50 pounds heavier than they were 20 years ago when I was single the first time. When I look at the pictures I took of singles events I attended back then and then look a the same ages of people now at the same types of events I'm shocked. When I look at my high school yearbooks the average kids walking down the street from the same school today would have been considered blimpo's and whales. The biggest guy in High School was 240 pounds and he was a real porker. He's now one of the teachers at the same school and he's a skinny dwarf in comparison. Today many teenage girls are that size if not 100 pounds more.
Very Sad Times Indeed | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 3/27/2007 10:20:04 PM | The average kids that you mentioned are still whales, they just are in denial about it.
On the bright side, if the fat kids do have children of their own, they'll drive their kids to be more fit so that they dont get the same diabetes and other health problems that they will probably have by then. | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 3/28/2007 6:09:58 AM | | Some parents are too lazy to cook healthy meals for their kids . I see some people at work they go and get some fast foods after work when they are too Tired to cook, Sorry man but if im tired theres many recepies available for a fast healthy meals | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 3/28/2007 7:51:09 AM | Not only that, when you do cook, who says you have to prepare enough for just one meal?
I often deliberately make leftovers for this reason. I end up only cooking maybe four times a week. Granted, it can get a bit monotonous at times, but many of the people who live off of Burgers and Fries eat little else anyway. | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 3/28/2007 8:14:47 AM | When I grew up, we went out for dinner on Mothers day, and after we all passed into the next grade...other than that we always ate Mom's cooking, baking, and snacks...now adays kids eat out all the time, they eat the wrong things, with little nutritional value....
I read an article stating that those of us who are nearing 50 are the "Process Kids", because we grew up with the first of the "Bad" process foods like Valveeta Cheese, Frozen dinners, and "Quick Foods" ...now adays, it's worse, the kids are growing up consuming gross "Fast Foods", with super sized everything....It's super sizing the kids! | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 3/28/2007 8:28:06 AM | nedly...men are fat tooo I see alot of bigger men these days then 20 years ago...big butts on men how lovely....very few men are fit its not just about females...lol
Parents need to feed children fresh foods not frozen or fast food crap
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 3/28/2007 9:15:36 AM |
On the bright side, if the fat kids do have children of their own, they'll drive their kids to be more fit so that they dont get the same diabetes and other health problems that they will probably have by then.
Nooo. Fallacious logic. Fat parents (and some more normally proportioned ones) have a tendency not to recognize when their children are overweight. They tend NOT to critically compare them with other children.
My parents did not allow my sibs and I to drink soda pop or coffee, except for special occasions (parties, coffee when we were on vacation, but not until older teens). No alcohol, no cigarettes, no drugs - absolutely not tolerated. We ate out very rarely, and while I liked the taste of a burger, I don't think I ate at more than 2 fast food places before I was in my mid-20s. I still don't like them and I don't drink coffee or pop either.
Parents habituate their kids to foods by exposure and typical kid mimicry of adult behaviors. Obese parents tend to influence their kids eating, exercise and sleep habits. Even average weight parents who are largely sedentary will influence their kids NOT to exercise - it won't be an easily acquired habit. Because processed food is kept cheap and loaded with fats (to promote consumption preference) or sugars, its addictive and costs less than wholesome foods that must also be prepared. | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 3/28/2007 1:59:31 PM | True - I was just thinking more long term....say when the kids are in their 20's and they have to bury their parents cause they died from health related complications. Nothing sobers up people more than death....
And if watching the forklift struggle to lower their morbidly obese parents into the grave doesn't cause them to think about changing their lifestyles, well, nothing else will.
*****
Personally, I think people eat fast food because its fast and easy - and unless society places a real effort on reconstituting family dinner hour, the chubby kids are just gonna get fatter. | |
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e-wok
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Joined: 9/25/2006
Msg: 13 | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 3/31/2007 8:09:18 PM | Yes, we keep hearing these stats ...... and yes, fast foods are the name of the games these days ....... unhealthy fast foods, that is .... but, there are more and more healthier fast foods too ....... what I call half healthy ....... if we demand more health, then that is what we will get ........ health is still possible when we are busy ...... as other posters have already said .....
Even though these are the stats touted, I have to say that at the school where I teach, obese is not the norm........ we have a lot of physical activities and sports which many students are involved in ........ many intramurals during lunch ......... you have to keep them busy ...... off the computer (and I am an IT person saying this ........) ....... into as much phsycial activity as possible ...... and into more healthier foods .....
the kids take after their adult models .......... parents and teachers play a key role ......... the pressure is on............ | |
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e-wok
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Joined: 9/25/2006
Msg: 15 | |
| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 3/31/2007 8:31:27 PM | The government is now moving in to secure the children of
parents who inflict this kind of child abuse on their children.
A recent case in...I believe Mexico, Family and Child Services
went in and took a 210 pound child into protective custody. This will
soon be routine....it needs to be done sooner rather than later.
In that case, the child had no medical problems.....he was just
eating and eating. The parents did not have the skills how
to say no to a pre-teen. | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 3/31/2007 9:11:53 PM | | When I grew up, the options in the smaller towns, or even the larger cities were more limited. We ate at home alot. But when I was a teen, I ate tons of crap. i was always thin and never had a problem with weight. But I can see the problem a teen would have with fast food on every TV ad, and one on every corner. But it should be the responsible parent to help with young and teenage kids weight problems. Bur when they are stuffing their face, kinda hard to tell them not to. As of yet, nobody has to pass a test or get a liscense to have kids....so its kinda hard to monitor if they are seing to the dietary needs of their kids. | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 4/2/2007 7:17:10 PM | I haven't read all the comments but I wanted to say:
Media is partly to balm as well as lack of education and poverty.
1- Media- Children are bombarded with messages to eat unhealthy food on TV. Yes it is a parents responsibility to teach the health way to eat but kids are highly impressionable and in day care, school and camps they are fed cheap unhealthy snacks.
2- Lack of education. - Many families don’t fully understand what is unhealthy to eat. Foods are advertised as health and people assume advertisements are correct.
3- Poverty- It is cheaper to eat low nutrition, high fat foods than it is to eat high quality healthy foods.
That said there are a lot of variables and people responsible for the misinformation that is out there. If we don’t band together as a society and take the money and time to re-educate people we will have a limited future with excess disease. | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 4/7/2007 2:34:45 PM | Talk about a touchy subject.
I doubt anyone would have trouble saying "Hey I think you kid is likely going to get banged up doing _____" just an example of a child endangering themselves.
But how many people here even feel comfortable saying, "Wow you kid is way overweight"?
Awwww, because it might make someone feel bad we can't say it? Bull point it out, don't sugar coat it but just don't make it "personal". "What a lardass" is bound to fall on defensive deaf ears, "That kid needs more exercise" might do better.
And lets not forget when we were kids it was considerred safe for our parents to kick our butts outside from sun up till the street lights came on with little more than a reminder to be back for lunch and dinner. | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 4/9/2007 9:26:05 PM | The news is worse here in the US. California's obese kiddies range from 28 to as high as 37% (circa 2005), up from 15-21 percent (depending on location) back in 2000.
The fat are getting fatter, very quickly:
Severely obese fastest-growing U.S. overweight group 9 April 2007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who are 100 pounds (45 kg) or more overweight are the fastest-growing group of overweight people in the United States, researchers reported on Monday. They found the proportion of the severely obese was 50 percent higher in 2005 than it had been in 2000 -- a startling rate of growth.
"The proportion of people at the high end of the weight scale continues to increase at a brisk rate despite increased public attention on the risks of obesity and the increased use of drastic weight loss strategies such as bariatric surgery," said Roland Sturm, an economist at Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research institute. "The explosion in the use of bariatric (weight-loss) surgery has made no noticeable dent in the trend of morbid obesity," Sturm added in a statement.
The researchers found that based on self-reported height and weight, which tends to underestimate the weight part, 3 percent of Americans are already severely obese -- defined as having a body mass index of 40 or higher. Body mass index is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by the square of a person's height in meters.
The researchers, whose report will be published later this year in the journal Public Health, found that the proportion of Americans with a BMI of 30 or more increased by 24 percent between 2000 and 2005. The proportion of people with a BMI of 40 or more increased by 50 percent and the proportion of Americans with a BMI of 50 or more increased by 75 percent.
The number of bariatric procedures, which include stomach stapling and stomach bypass surgery, rose to an estimated 200,000 in 2006 from 13,000 in 1998. More than 30 percent of Americans are overweight, with a BMI between 25 and 29, and another 30 percent on top of that are obese, defined as having a BMI of 30 or above.
Thats more than 60% of the American population that are virtually foodaholics.
Overweight people have higher risks of heart disease, diabetes and some cancer, and obesity makes the risks much more imminent. They represent an inordinately high percentage of the total health care cost estimated to top 2 trillion this year. | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 4/9/2007 10:12:36 PM | there have been several good points made already. but i haven't come across most of what i would like to add - at least i don't think so.
1) as a child, i remember playing outside with my brothers and sister and the neighbours' kids. we would run up and down hills, play tag and simply be active for hours both after school and during the entire summer. we couldn't afford summer camps or any of the recreational programs that are offered for children that i am aware of now, but we were so active without being conscious of it. now parents are so worried about their children going out with proper supervision or with children they don't know or out and about in their own neighbourhoods, that children often stay in.
2) then there's the rise of computer games and tv. my son has both the internet, video games systems and satellite tv. but on sunny days - snowy and cold in the winter or hot in the summer, he's outside - building snowmen, riding his bike, playing basketball, swimming at the lake, whatever, but he's outside. fortunately, i can afford for him to attend day sports camps and sports leagues as well. i think part of his being okay with playing sports and being active is that he has always seen me play - since i've been a single parent for most of his life, he was forced to hang out on the sidelines during mom's matches and hang out with my teammates.
3) the lack of physical education in schools. i remember loving gym in elementary school and waiting for that hour 3 times a week. my son is lucky if he gets gym twice a week and then it's only for 30-45 minutes. if there's a special event or something at school, it seems PE is the subject that gets cancelled. and the state of the schoolyard is not conducive to tag or many active things.
4) our schedules and cooking. i know lots of you have mentioned that you ate mom's cooking and seldom ate out. as a single parent who works full time and has no one else to help me with my kid, we do eat out a lot. weekends i do cook meals that we eat as leftovers - and there a plenty of convenience foods that can be healthy. for instance i just made a stir fry in 10 minutes tonight - using bagged chopped fresh veggies and steak strips already cut up from the meat department. all the food retains its nutritional value but i don't have to do any prep other than to heat oil in the pan and throw everything in. however, when i've got work till 4:30, my son's got basketball or v-ball till 5:30, i hit the gym till 6...and we live 20 minutes away from home, it's hard not to pick up something on the way home. mothers don't get to stay home and cook for their kids anymore. we work. that's a reality.
5) the rise of junk food. my son isn't allowed pop except on special occasions. we talk about what's healthy and good fuel for our bodies (and do so his coaches by the way). but there's pre-packaged crap that my son snacks on with his allowance - fruit by the foot, chocolate covered granola bars...etc. and most of the time the fresh fruit in his lunch ends up at the bottom of his knapsack which i find at the end of the week... honestly, with my schedule, sometimes i feel like it's a losing battle. i can't imagine how other single parents feel but i imagine they are in the same boat.
i'm not trying to excuse the crisis and i do think it is a crisis. but let's look at some of the things that can be done. re-introducing strong physical ed programs in schools, having more convenience foods that cut down on prep time but not the loss of nutritional value, having neighbourhoods that children can play in again, forcing children to go out and play instead of letting them watch tv or play video games while there's daylight and sunshine....modeling active behaviour as a family - even if it's just on the weekend and your family is just a family of 2.
that's just my 2 cents... | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 4/9/2007 11:05:38 PM | My parents severely limited our TV viewing. We had chores, we were expected to to do them. We had bikes and skates and we were active outdoors year round, mowing lawn (5 ac) in summer and shoveling the long driveway, plus neighbors, in winter - when we HAD winters, pretty heavy duty ones, in the 60s-70s. I got decent at tennis and enjoyed gymnastics (not necessarily good at it), but because I played in the symphony and marching bands, we weren't allowed to participate in a sport as well - it sure didn't make any of us fat.
No pop, and snacks were darn near nonexistent. Fruit wasn't plentiful, candy was forbidden and we ate homecooked meals, ate out on rare occasion. Cakes and deserts were rare as well. Food was boring and we were NOT taken to the supermarkets, ever. So we never had any choice. You got what you got, and were glad for it.
Kids have what we call 'fast brains' today. They have short attention spans and their days are loaded with visually and aurally (sound) busy activity - until just before bedtime. This has two effects: it increases stress hormone and decreases serotonin. The former causes insulin and blood sugar irregularities and the latter saiety (hunger cessation) problems. There is also sleep quality disruption, and this adds to stress hormone induced slowing in energy metabolism during the daytime, especially in the afternoon.
In time, kids become sluggish in the morning, dwadling and often refusing to eat breakfast. In some kids, this is due to impaired stomach acid release (in the chubby ones) and too much acid release (in the thin ones). The latter can result in nausea. Missed breakfast always further screws with blood sugar and energy levels later on in the day.
Make sense? Kids (and often their parents) use food as a drug. And they typically eat while engrossed visually and aurally. Turns out, when you do, your brain tends to be split between processing food process feedback and cognition processes. It looses track of food processing - and what happens is we can (proved in studies) eat as much as twice that we would consume and feel hungry - hunger is 'bypassed'.
You and your child must make time for exercise, daily. That could mean a walk for as little as 30 min each day - spent without yakking, just walking and enjoying the weather and local scenery. Kids can be taught simple visualization and meditation techniques.
You do that, you help them 'tune down' the activity of the brain - a good thing for cognition and memory - and improve breathing capacity and timing. Turns out, that when we are stressed and under-exercised, we tend to hold our breaths and breath very shallowly, automatically. That slows down metabolism further. And at night, this can, in combination with excess weight and insulin induced growth of soft palate tissues, result in sleep apnea.
One last item: Cook large batches of food Saturday and Sunday and store the excess as freezer stored meals. Buy a crook pot, and do your main prep the night before, then just add food and seasonings that morning and let it go 6-8 hours on slow (there are newer crockpot models with timers to keep food warm, but not overcooked, until you get home).
In time, you should have enough frozen dinners to keep you and your child fed during the week, saving hard earned money on eating out and improving diet quality when its combined with fast prep vegetables and salads. As you improve fiber and slow digesting carbs and decrease fats, sugar and fat cravings (snack foods) should decrease. | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 4/10/2007 9:24:01 AM | single malt, both you an sombient are saying things i've been observing for twenty years or more now, and sombient, it's too bad you didn't copy and paste a bit of your message 14 from your 'science' forum on the "next step in our evolution" since i think the genetic mutations that are being bred these days in north america are an example of why i don't believe today's society is all that advanced.
Again, if people don't want to believe that today's parents are actually breeding mutants then i can only give two examples, one from personal observations as being an in-field person for nearly 20 years, in the sickenss and accident business dealing with pretty much anyone in Ontario that had the ability to get sick or hurt. And the tremendous and ever-increasing diversity of chidrens sickness claims thru the decade of the nineties was very troubling and very scary to me.
Around 1995 i made a decision to make the study of "maintaining sound physical and mental health" one of my foremost interests. Meeting lots of folks that sell seeds to the farmers in the springtime, I have to tell you that these are very intelligent people, and one such fellow up in northwestern ontario near the manitoba and state of Minnesota border referred me to a book called "The Cure for All Disease" by a lady named Linda Clarke. I've referenced this book so many times now in threads that some folks may think it's the only book i've ever read.
The story behind the book is almost as fascinating as the book itself, as there are rumours that Ms. Clarke has had an underground contract placed on her head by the food multinationals, as her book is really an expose of the grocery items that most of us north americans pick up everyday at our supermarkets. Studying biophysics and cell physiology, she dissects every product on your grocery shelves and explains the genetic mutation processes that occur in the body with, for example, every two scoops of those delicious flakes of bran from cereals. She tells you the real story behind cold cuts, plastic wrapped bread and a whole host of very scary things.
She also has found, and i quote" In every case of the mysterious disease of diabetes, you find the not-so-mysterious parasite Eurytrema, and the fairly common pollutant 'wood alcohol'. Every case! And never in healthy people. Similarly in cancer, HIV, Alzheimers, endometriosis, to name a few, you can find specific parasites and/or pollutants at work"
I forgot to mention she also analyzes a lot of household products like cleaners, synthetic rugs, synthetic clothing, drapes etc.
The personal observation is much like sombients, singlemalts' and a number of other posters to this thread. When i was a kid, the only thing keeping us in bed was the mumps, the measles, the flu, chicken pox, or unfinshed homework. This sadly is anything but the case today as the sickness business is a big one, and getting bigger and worse with each passing day. Now i walk my dog two or three hours a day in the bush, and a chum of mine and i constructed a man-made cave where we chop wood, have a fire, a cup of tea and a good gab while our dogs play together for hours. Whenever my chum tries to bring one of his ritalin-filled grandsons out to the bush for some freshair it's usually about a half hour before the kid is begging him to go home to play Xbox, or nintendo or whatever the heck it is. Heck when we were kids, you couldn't get us home for supper, and never mind having to be in when the street lights came on. that to us was always just a signal that in about a half an hour dear old dad would be appearing out of nowher and letting us know "We got ten seconds" to pack it up and get going home.
It's sad really what I've seen going on out there, but no one, or hardly no one, seems to want to listen to any answers.
ps. if you do read the book, you may feel like my friend felt when he found out too late he had prsotrate cancer. The deadly genetic mutation that occurs when you cross and combine the foods of bacon, eggs, and orange juice should shock some people into action. If that doesn't do it, then I'm just not too sure anymore what will.
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 4/10/2007 9:42:14 AM | just a quick aferthought about my friend the seed seller up near Fort frances. He invented or created a little gizmo that measures the radiation levels in your home. as we walked thru his house, you should see that little thing go nuts when you put it in front of an "on" microwave, a colour tv and a refrigerator. Ahhh, the conveniences of modern living.
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 4/14/2007 8:51:04 AM | I just viewed a repoprt on fast food, and its dangers,...compaired to others,...
The artical was about which food is the worst for you,...and they compaired Oriental Food to McDonalds,...
It seems like Oriental Buffets are the worst place to eat, due to the sodium, and calorie content,...the message being given was that Oriental Buffets have more sodium in just a bite of food,...that a compleat meal from McDonalds,.......causeing water retention, and weight gain.
You know,...it isnt just what you eat,.....its the ammount of intake,....we have become a "Super Size" me generation in the fast food world,....if we were to eat only at McDonalds, but moderatly,..and then walk for a half hour afterwards,...we would lose weight,....just like if we were eating anything else.
The worst thing,...contributing to weight gain,.....is the lack of exersize,...on a regular basis. | |
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| Current generation of Cdn kids to live shorter lives than parents
Posted: 4/14/2007 9:50:38 AM |
He says the trend must be reversed by making sure kids eat healthier, low-fat foods and by getting them out there and moving
This is where misinformation can be harmful.
In an effort to help, reducing fats for CHILDREN is not either a good idea or helpful. We give small children whole-milk instead of skim or 1% for a reason. Growing at that rate they need and utilize the fat. The dietary culprit is more often sugary foods/drinks (aka the empty calories) combine with the in activity.
Yes something should be done, but let's make a rational choice based on the advice of people that actually have knowledge of the issues instead of well meanning but ill informed politicians or activists. | |
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