A while back I posted a blog called You Feed Your Kids What talking about the general crap that people feed their children.  In response I got a lot of great comments and feedback from people saying they’d been inspired to try to feed their children better.  Of course, there where those who were less impressed suggesting that we shouldn’t “deprive” our kids.  Today I’m not even going to address that statement as I’ll likely rant on for several pages.

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Instead, I want to answer the commonly asked question I was asked after that post: “What do you feed your daughter?”  After our shopping trip today I thought I’d share a short video of my the foods we choose to feed our daugther.  I don’t share this to put others down or to claim that we’re flawless, but to show the types of foods our children should be eating in the hopes of averting a life of obesity and illness.

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Is our little girl deprived?  I would say no.

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What do you think?  

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PS: If this article struck a chord with you or you know someone who needs to see this…please share.

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DISCLAIMER

Someone once told me that if you win one thousand battles you still have a thousand enemies, whereas if you change one thousand minds you have a thousand allies.  A almost always try to write with this in mind.  But when it comes to children, nutrition, and obesity I get pretty fired up and I sometimes can’t control the things I say or write.  Today I do intend to present some factual information in an attempt to change some minds.  However, this is an area where I’m just itching to explode so consider yourself warned.

As I’ve mentioned before, I think that rather than being distinct entities, obesity and being absolutely shredded are simply different points on the same continuum.  Interestingly, it seems those who only have 5 pounds to lose face many of the same types of barriers as those with 100 pounds to lose (although heavier people tend to have more).  Moreover, my interest in childhood obesity is related to the fact that children generally grow into adults and carry with them the habits and behaviours they have learned in their formative years.

 
Given these beliefs, you can see why it might upset me (read: piss me right off) when parents don’t make the effort to give their children wholesome foods and limit their consumption of various packaged non-foods.  This post is for all of those who are parents, know parents, are thinking of one day that they might be parents, or have ever heard of parents .  Before I really get into it though, here are a few points I’d like to rehash from a previous post.

- The only group in North America in which obesity rates are still climbing is 6-9 year olds.

 - 90% of obese kids have a lipid abnormility (high cholesterol or triglycerides) and 50% have hyperinsulinemia.

- The best predictor for adult obesity is childhood obesity.

- 20% of obese children are likely to have a heart attack and 15% will have Diabetes by age 38.

Are you following me?  More children are becoming obese, many are having trouble with their lipids and produce too much insulin, they’ll probably carry this into adulthood, and are likely to have a heart attack and/or Diabetes by the time they’re 38.  That’s a pretty rude awakening.

So why aren’t people doing anything about this? 

Unfortunately, studies have now shown that many parents are unable to accurately determine when a child is obese.  In fact, in some studies as few as 18% of parents thought their children had weight problems when they were clinically obese.  (Without having seen any studies, I’d be willing to bet that many adults fail to identify themselves as obese either).  In any case, you might expect your physician to alert you to your child’s obesity problem, but further studies have demonstrated that physicians fail as often as parents to identify weight problems in children.  So not only are kids at risk, but parents and physicians (yes, the same parents and physicians who are charged with making important decisions for the welfare of these children) don’t even know it.

 
If you’re still following me you’ll understand why it made me completely enraged when I recently heard that a doctor told his patient to “not deprive her child of sugary snacks and junk food because that might prevent the child from gaining weight”.  What makes it even worse is that this woman is now using this recommendation to justify feeding her child candy, chicken nuggets, and hot dogs.

Guess what this is Doc?

While the above photo looks like yummy strawberry soft-serve ice cream, it is actually mechanically separated chicken.  After the primary cuts of meat are taken from the chicken the carcass is passed through a high pressure sieve to recover the lovely substance you see above.  This is what is often used to make chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and pressed into those little blocks behind the deli counter from which we slice off cold cuts for our kids.  Basically, your kids are eating lips and assholes.  Still think this is a good idea doc?

But don’t worry.  Kids won’t be eating this stuff if you buy them all beef hot dogs because the nervous system tissue of cattle was getting into the meat and the fear of mad cow disease has stopped companies from processing beef this way.  Beef dogs are probably really healthy now.  I’m sure chicken nervous systems are fine too.  Either one must be full of the nutrients children need for growth.

But they won’t eat anything else…

Then, of course, on the other end there are parents who say ”I have to feed my child this because my kid won’t eat anything but chicken nuggets and Twinkies”.  Really?  Does your 3 year old do the shopping in your house?  And how exactly did he or she gain a taste for these “foods” if you weren’t bringing them into the house in the first place? 

I have an idea!  Instead of addressing your shortcomings as a parent and making the executive decision as a parent to provide different foods in an attempt to make your child healthy you could just let your toddler dictate their intake.  After all, it isn’t the job for the parent to provide guidance when a child when the child objects or creates a fuss.  I also think three year olds should be allowed to vote and preschoolers should be allowed to drive.  After all, they must have the intellectual capacity to make these types of decisions since they are obviously able to make good choices about something as important as their own health.

Oh, by the way, here is a picture of the 37 ingredients that go into making a Twinkie.

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m being sarcastic and I’m flat out fed up with parents feeding their children shit because their kids “don’t like anything else”.  If you’re a parent you have been blessed with the gift of raising a child, but that comes with the responsibility of feeding your children the appropriate foods.

You might think I’m an extremist and that I’m probably going to deprive my child.  And if deprivation means that my daughter won’t taste McDonalds before 2 years of age (or hopefully ever) you’re absolutely right.  She’ll also be deprived of nutrient deficiencies, Diabetes, and packaged garbage disguised as food. 

Granted, she will have the occaisional treat like a home baked cookie or piece of candy every so often, but she won’t have a treat every day because a treat per day isn’t a treat, it’s a habit.  If you’re feeding your child junk food or sugar bars (otherwise called ”granola bars”) daily you’re neglecting your responsibility as a parent and you’re doing your child a disservice.

Please feel free to comment below.  If this rings true for you as well, please share this post.

Yesterday I attended the 6th Annual McMaster Bariatric Conference put on by the Centre for Minimal Access Surgery.  The topic was obesity management and talks ranged included those discussing the risks associated with obesity as well as lifestyle, pharmacological, and surgical management of this condition.

 like myself so interested in the topic of obesity?  For me, body weight is more of a continuum than a distinct divide between lean and obese.  All of us are somewhere on that continuum and (based on statistics) most of us are more towards the obese end than the other.   

Moreover, almost 95% of people who lose a significant amount of weight by the usual commercial weight loss practices (i.e., get ripped in 12 weeks) will gain it back plus some additional pounds leading us closer and closer to being la rger and larger throughout our lives.  And I still believe that whether you’re 20 pounds away from your fat loss goal or 100 we are all subject to the same environment, marketing, and dieting practices.  While surgery (if we use it at all) might be used for the most severe cases, conservative management can probably benefit anyone looking to lose body fat permanently.

Here are a few notes I took at the conference that I’ll likely expand upon in an upcoming post:

- If your BMI is over 25 you are considered overweight.  If your BMI is over 30 you are considered obese (Class I).  OVer 35 is Class II obesity.  Over 40 is Class III.

- BMI does not account for muscle mass so lifters may not be truly obese.  However, if they are carrying excess fat around their midsection, there is still reason for concern.

- The total number of obese people in North America is levelling off.  However, the number of people with class 3 obesity is growing.

- Current statistics on obesity likely underestimate the number of obese because people with normal weight obesity (normal body weight, but high fat percentage) is not included.

- Normal weight obesity results in metabolic issues similar to having a BMI over 30.  These are the people we call “skinny-fat”

- The only group in North America in which obesity rates are still climbing is 6-9 year olds.

- Studies have shown that parents and phsyicians are unable to accurately determine when a child is obese.  In some studies as few as 18% of parents thought their children had weight problems when they were clinically obese.  Doctors didn’t fair much better.  You can’t treat what you don’t diagnose. 

- The best predictor for adult obesity is childhood obesity.

- 90% of obese kids have a lipid abnormility (high cholesterol or triglycerides) and 50% have hyperinsulinemia.

- 20% of obese children are likely to have a heart attack and 15% will have Diabetes by age 38.

- Obesity is second only to smoking as a risk factor for Cancer.

- Some people have now created the term “Diabesity” because of the strong link between Diabetes and obesity.

- Obesity is a chronic condition very much like hypertension.  When treatment is stopped, the condition reappears.

- Body weight is related more to “screen time” than to the amount of exercise you do.  In other words, turn off the computer and television.

- Frequency of activity breaks is related to weight loss more than total amount of activity time.

- A 5-10% body weight reduction shows improvements in lipid profiles, blood sugars, and various other obesity related disorders.  This should be the goal when health is the primary outcome.

- 50% of people on a suitable lifestyle plan (exercise + diet + behaviour modification) can maintain 5% loss at one year.  In other words, you need to treat only two people to achieve this result with one.

- 20% of people on lifestyle plan can maintain 10% at one year.  Need to treat 5 people to get one who does this.

- Lifestyle alone tends to maintain 5% weight loss, lifestyle + pharmacology allows 15%, and gastric bypass around 50% weight loss.

- People who do not lose weight while following a 900 calore per day VLCD (very low calorie diet) will likely not lose weight effectively with surgery.  Possibly due to genetics?

- Although many blame obesity on genetics, the number of genetic mutations that actually occur to cause such conditions likely only accounts for 5% of obese people.

- The most common form of weight loss surgery is the Roux en y Gastric Bypass.  The stomach is reduced to a small pouch (about 2 tablespoons) and the pouch is attached at a point further down to bypass the first part of the small intestine.  The procedure is restrictive (small stomach) and malabsorptive (bypassing absorption in the intestine).

- Gastric banding is an alternative type of surgery where an inflatable band is placed around the stomach.  This surgery is reversible, but gastric bypass is not.

- Gastric bypass is significantly more effective for weight loss than banding.

- Bypass surgery results in an almost immediate remission of Type II Diabetes in most patients.

- Pregnancy is discouraged for 2 years after weight loss surgery.

- After surgery a patient must never consume carbonated beverages again.

- Bariatric surgery requires supplementation to prevent nutrient deficiencies although they are still common.

- Depending on where the surgery is done, 3-40% of bands require removal (usually due to weight regain).

- In patients with BMI over 40 gastric bypass has a 20-35% failure rate at 10 years (again due to weight regain)

- Effectiveness of revision surgery is equally as high, but complications (leaks, infections, etc) are 2.5 times more common.

- Gastric bypass is also more effective than banding in children.  The youngest to date was age 9.

- Craniopharyngioma is a condition of the pituitary that can cause uncontrollable eating in children.  Surgery helps maintain weight.

- One presenter said that gastric bypass was “the real solution to childhood obesity because nothing else really works”.  He was a giant dink.

- Bariatric surgery is the most studied surgery in history.  The screening for this surgery is intense and includes surgeon, nutritionist, social worker, and phsychiatric consults to ensure suitable mental status to maintain weight loss.  Tests for obstructive sleep apnea and other issues are common as well.  Heart and brain surgery has much less screening.

- Patients who are not compliant with managing blood sugars or taking meds probably won’t follow post surgical instructions.

- ADHD has a strong relationship to obesity.  Sometimes treating ADHD causes patients to lose weight.

- Binge Eating Disorder is now officially a diagnosis in the DSM.

- Depression can cause cravings for carbohydrates which increase serotonin.  Screen and treat for depression when necessary.

- The incedence of previous sexual abuse is very high in obesity.

- The higher the BMI, the greater chance of having a history of mental health issues.

- There are increased rates of divorce after bariatric surgery.  Assessment makes sure support systems are secure prior to sugery.

My hope is that these points will make for a great discussion.  Thoughts?