Massachusetts Plan to Measure Weights of Children a Good Idea?

Is weighing children and teens at school a good idea?

Dr. Robyn Silverman

Massachusetts has jumped on the “free the obese” bandwagon. The ant-obesity plan goes before the Public Health Council next week, and broad support is expected.

The plan requires all major restaurant chains, including fast food restaurants, to prominently post all calorie counts on the menu as part of an anti-obesity campaign put forth by Gov. Deval Patrick. Many people are often shocked by the high number of calories in fast food— especially those that are supposed to be formulated for children.

On top of that, public schools will be required to measure the heights and weights of all first, fourth, seventh, and tenth graders to determine who is and who isn’t overweight.

The findings to the data collected will be sent home to parents with detailed advice on how to eat better, exercise more, and get healthier overall.

The process will go into effect next fall.

“People often really are not aware of what’s sitting on their plate – it’s a big portion, they’re talking to their friends, they have no way of knowing exactly what they’re eating,” said Dr. Caroline Apovian, Boston Medical Center’s Director of the Nutrition and Weight Management Center. “But if the information is sitting right in front of you . . . it’s hard to deny.”

But I have to wonder, will weighing the children and teens bring weight and “weight competition” to the forefront? Are we going to have an eating disorder issue on hand as children begin to share “weight results” just like grades on the last spelling test? Will the attention of the teachers, now shifting to BMI, not just academic performance, color how they view their students (unfortunately, past studies hint that it could)? How will it affect children’s self esteem and teenager body confidence? Yikes. I don’t get a good feeling about this part of the plan.Perhaps you remember the great “weight grade” debate and how it created havoc in the lives of children who thought something was “wrong” with them since they had “failed” on BMI?

SO what do you think?

Here is some feedback from readers (Boston Globe)

I have to feel bad for the poor overweight child who has few friends but does get validation from a positive relationship with teachers and other workers n the school. They will now be sending this child negative reports, even if academic and behavior issues are absent. It would be much better to encourage all students to walk more or eat healthy than to stigmatize individual students. –zendall

How about bringing back recess and requiring more time in P.E. class? NCLB has put so much emphasis on test performance that many schools have cut back the amount of time kids are allowed to be active. –Andrea_Q

Calorie counting only gets one so far. Most people know roughly what a food’s count is. Exercise, gym , and, yes, recess are important components in addressing this concern. General activity is too. Banishing Fluffanutter sandwiches may grab headlines, but trivializes this serious issue. –amoreperfectunion

Government weighing your kids?? And you’re okay with that?? Probably citing “costs” to society. Shades of “your body belongs to the state.” Except we are not a socialist state, we stand for individuals to be free to be left alone. When The State weighs you then we have entered into “you will be healthy for the state.” Health as not a private matter but as a duty, punishable by “fine” (e.g. stigmatization, taxation, etc.) Behold the new state religion Health. And you lemmings with no life of your own that you have to stick your nose into other’s nod and say “a good thing.” I wonder if even when they begin calling it Child Abuse to have a heavy child and take your child away to state run camps that you’ll complain then. That’s how deaf and blind and dependent on the state to fix or control your life you’ve become. When the state starts weighing your kid what on earth do you think will happen next????? –nycclash

Give us your take. What do you think?

Why Fat Girls Don’t Go To College?

As you know, I’ve been studying girls, women and body esteem for quite a while. It’s so hard for girls to feel like they “fit in” when our culture sensationalizes thinness and rejects people who deviate from the media’s thin ideal. This cultural issue has a high cost. It isn’t only a problem because it creates a breeding ground for disordered eating behavior and low self confidence, but also because it can cultivate social problems such as bullying, ostracization, and academic failure to thrive.

A new study indicates that a supportive, respectful peer culture, which makes children feel as though they “fit in” is just as crucial to a student’s success as high academic expectations. Among the results was a finding that those students who were categorized as clinically “obese” were less likely to go to college than those students who were considered of medically “normal” weight. Perhaps not surprisingly, the issue was much more severe for girls than for boys.

Who did it? Robert Crosnoe and Chandra Muller

Where was it published? July issue of Sociology of Education

Where did the data come from? The ongoing National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health provided data from over 11,000 teens in 7th-12th grade from 128 schools in the US

What did he find? Teens who were categorized as “obese” tended to have to cope with more social isolation. They were less likely to go to college and take advanced classes even though their same-age peers were doing so. In addition, In school cultures in which students were less likely to be considered “clinically obese” and “overweight,” 61% of “obese” girls didn’t continue school. However, in a school in which at least 1/3 of students were indeed considered medically obese, only 17% of “obese” girls did not go on.

Gender Issues: Because body appearance is so central to girls, girls are more likely to compare themselves to their female classmates and peers around them than are boys.

“Your school and your culture affects how you view academics and your future. Social ups and downs are a big distraction…many of the kids said it’s hard to sit and do your homework when you’re worried about what will happen in school the next day.” (Crosnoe)

Overcoming the Odds: Kiss These Assets

• How did some socially isolated students thrive despite their social issues? Here are their very important assets: Very supportive parents, at least one good friend, boyfriend, or girlfriend, and finding a niche in an extracurricular activity. Enrolling your child in a positive extracurricular activity where character, confidence, connection, individual competence, caring and compassion are stressed, such as in an academy that is using Powerful Words, is more important than ever. 

How did you fit into your school culture? How has your child found his or her place within the school culture? How do you see a powerful extracurricular helping this situation? Please share your “secrets” so we can spread the ideas to all those who can use them!

Please comment below.

Have a Great Day!

Food for Thought? How Schools are Filling Our Kids with Junk

Foe me, this is an issue of “worth” rather than “weight.”

As we’ve covered in the past, A 2001 Harvard School of Public Health study found that for each soda or juice drink a child drinks a day, the child’s odds of becoming overweight increase 1.6 times.

Two angry Moms, Amy Kalafa and Susan Rubin, would be horrified. With their documentary, they’ve been trying to make headway with the schools with regard to changing their food plans and vending machines over to providing healthier options that stimulate the mind and the body during school hours.

There are some success stories but as highlighted by the Washington Post this morning, there are also many schools that are failing or flailing as they try to balance what children want, what is feasible within their budgets, and what is actually good for the children and teens to consume.

Consequently, many teens are not making healthy choices.

Flores smooths her bills against the machine and tries once more. Out falls her meal — 530 calories and 25 grams of fat, or French Onion Sun Chips and Linden’s big fudge chip cookies. Ka-ching. Ka-ching. Ka-ching.

“I wouldn’t call it lunch,” she said as she gathered her change of 75 cents. “I know it’s not healthy, but it’s not like they’re selling fruits.”

So while the airwaves are flooded with people crying “obesity!” and “unhealthy children!” and many of our children are suffering from poor body image since we’re stressing dieting and appearance over eating healthy foods and exercising, here many of our school stand, providing sub par food choices to our children. So much for feeding the mind and bodies of our kids. Vending machines may be considered the enemy, but they are our children’s schoolmates for about 8 or more hours everyday.

To students, the machines are often an alternative to long lunch lines and sometimes unappetizing food.

We’ve done such a poor job for so long that schools feel that they must “phase in” good foods slowly so not to “shock” the children.

Bladensburg’s vending machines are more healthful than most, and fewer than half the school’s 2,100 students buy snacks and sodas from the machines on a typical day. Rice Krispies Treats (150 calories, 3.5 grams of fat) are an improvement from Snickers bars (280 calories, 14 grams of fat). Baked chips have replaced fried.

Yes. But can we call it lunch? And while Rice Krispy Treats are “better” where is the nutrition? I mean, it’s seems like where comparing unfiltered cigarettes to filtered ones—one might not be as bad but they’re still all bad for you.

Problems kids are citing that lead them to the vending machines:

(1) Long lunch lines

(2) Unappetizing lunch options

(3) Lunch is too close to breakfast (often just an hour and a half after the kids arrive)

What about “cheaper?”

Nope.

For a $1.85 school lunch, these students could gobble up pizza, collard greens, fresh fruit and calcium-fortified juice. Instead, many are spending $2 to $3 on vending goods.

Chef Anne Cooper, famous “lunch lady” revolutionizing school lunch in Berkley, California (and sister to Powerful Words Mom and friend, Ruth Cooper and Aunt to Powerful Words student Abby!), recommends:

• Children ages 6-9 should aim for 4-7 servings daily
• Children ages 10-14 should aim for 5-8 servings daily
• Teens ages 14-18 should aim for 6-9 servings daily

And no, the Rice Krispy Treats DO NOT constitute a whole grain!

As well as:

• 4-9 servings daily of veggies

• 3-5 servings daily of fruits

• 2-3 servings daily of calcium-rich foods/drinks

• 2-3 servings daily of lean proteins

• 3-4 servings daily of healthy fats

• 2-3 servings per week of red meat at most due to it’s high saturated fat

• Added sugars and fats should be eaten rarely

• 8 glasses of water

So what are we fighting against?

Top Vending Machine Sales, according to Automatic Merchandiser

1. Snickers

2. Doritos Big Grab

3. Peanut M&Ms

4. Cheetos Crunchy

5. Cheez-It Original

Read the full list.

So what are we supposed to do?

We can’t get the manufacturers to stop making the junk food. And in our rush-around lifestyle, we still need convenience.

(1) We can educate our schools and form a committee to help choose good foods for your children’s schools

(2) We can screen the movie “Two Angry Moms” in your area to educate the community. Yes, you can too! Powerful Parent Media Expert and Correspondant, Amy Jussel of Shaping Youth, is doing just that in San Francisco!

(3) Get your children into after-school programs that provide exercise. Powerful Words schools have excellent physical programs. If you need a recommendation of a school near you, please contact us.

(4) Brainstorm new options that provide healthy options for the children in fun, creative, and modern ways.

According to an interview with Risa Lavisso- Mourey, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (an organization devoted to healthcare in America):

I’m not in favor of going back to the 50s or 60s. We’re not going to solve this problem by taking a “retro-view” We’ve got to find 21^st century solutions to how you can re-engineer activity back into the very busy schedules we all have—re-engineer making healthy choices and eating healthy and being able to do it in a quick, accessible way that fits the environment and lifestyles that people have now. Risa Lavisso- Mourey

She would like to see a society in which:

(1) Restaurants allow you to see the nutritional information with regard to what you’re choosing to put into your body. Nutritional information should be available, accessible, and displayed readily.

(2) Schools guarantee healthy, nutritional guidelines are met for breakfast, lunch, and after-school.

(3) Exercise is encouraged and engaged in everyday. Providing creative ways for children to have 30-60 minutes of physical activity everyday is essential in schools and after school programs.

As adults, we are the ones who create the environment for our kids. We do have a moral and ethical responsibility to make sure it’s as good or an environment as we know how to create.

–Risa Lavisso- Mourey

Would you like to see Risa Lavisso- Mourey’s complete 5 minute interview? See it here.

Let’s hear it from the boy:

Noah Horn, age 12, didn’t care about eating healthy or exercising until his father dies of a massive heart attack when Noah was in kindergarten. Noah connects his father’s sudden death to his unhealthy lifestyle, weight, diet, and lack of exercise. Amazingly, Noah made a conscious decision not to follow in his father’s footsteps—a path he had been taking until his father’s unexpected passing.

He tells the Washington Post:

“If I’m not exercising or eating the right foods, then I might end of like him. I might get heart disease, have a heart attack and die. So after that I decided to eating healthy and exercising more.

He made small switches:

(1) Ritz crackers to… wheat crackers

(2) Ice-cream to… frozen yogurt or sherbert

(3) Deep fried chicken to…”regular” baked chicken

(4) Almost no exercise to…trying to exercise everyday (even if just walking)

While Noah still needs to work on his cholesterol and he understands why eating foods with a lot of cholesterol is unhealthy and can be life threatening, as with his father. But a very high price needed to be paid.

“I’m not glad that he died but I am glad in a way because if he didn’t die then I wouldn’t be healthy.”

And while you might be pondering if Noah feels like his choices have been taken from him or he is no longer in control, hear this:

What makes Noah feel powerful?

“It makes me feel powerful that I’m winning over the bad cholesterol. I’m the winner over not exercising and eating bad foods. I am the winner. It makes me feel very powerful.”

It’s time to make some switches. Children’s positive body image and health are in part dependent upon feeding the body with foods that nourish them, physical activity that excites them, and adults that show they care. Get your children on board and discuss some changes, even small ones that you can make today. What’s one thing that your children and your family can do today that could make a difference? Our children’s future is dependent upon it.