I was horrified when I read a few days ago about the AAP giving the OK, or better yet, recommending, that overweight children as young as eight could be given medicine to help lower their cholesterol.
Is this really what our world has come to, where the answer to everything is simply a pill? Eat too much, here’s a pill. Feeling depressed, here’s another pill. Can’t sit still in class, here’s another pill.
While I know there are people out there legitimately needing medication for various conditions, I think it says something about our medical community to fix the childhood obesity issue with a pill. What message is this sending to our kids? What happened to people (or parents) being responsible for their actions. You eat a lot of food—nasty fast food—you will get fat. You sit around and watch TV and play video games, hey, guess what, you’ll get fat too.
I also was surprised when the AAP recently set new guidelines saying children under the age of 2 could drink nonfat or lowfat milk instead of the previously recommended whole milk, mainly since kids were already getting the necessary fat from other places.
The whole reasoning behind whole milk is because the full fat helps the brain grow and develop. We did a lot of lowfat milk for my kids because that was what we had at home and because they ate alot.... and I mean ALOT of full fat yogurt and cheese. So I figured they were covered, which they were it turns out. But I think it's kind of gross that they're telling parents to cut back on that if their children are overweight and that is what they should cut back on. Shouldn't the answer to be to stop feeding two-year olds chicken nuggets, pizza, chips or other "bad" fats and load them up instead on cheese and yogurt and other "good" fats.
I'm done ranting now.....
7.15.2008
Is Medication Really the Answer?
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3 comments:
My kids are really picky eaters and my oldest is just a big boy and always has been - so I worry about bad eating habits... I can't avoid the kid friendly food since they refuse to eat much of anythign else - but luckily they like cheese and milk best. So that can't be too bad right? (at least that's what I tell myself...)
I totally agree with you! People are just too happy to take the easy road. They should be teaching people how to feed their children proper food from a very young age. Giving your child "junk food" should not be an option.
I totally agree with you Linda. I think though that things are not always so black and white. There are more programs, even government funded ones, than there ever have been before to educate parents and others about healthy eating and the health risks of being overweight, particularly as children. Obesity has been named an epidemic in our country and much is already being done in an effort to help this. Not only is this epidemic killing people, but it is costing atrocious amounts of money and time within our health care systems and effecting numerous other people in ripple effects. In the meantime, many Americans and numerous children are currently facing extreme health issues due to their present state of obesity and it is imperative that they get immediate medical attention if they wish to retain their lives. It is an important topic to bring up though as it continues to educate parents to take the responsibility in their own lives and their children's lives to learn about and provide a healthy diet and regular exercise.
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