15 January 2005 - 12:21am
What the hell.
Really. What the hell.
I keep hearing and reading news stories about how the children of America are facing an obesity epidemic.
Fucking DUH.
How are kids rewarded these days? With sweet-ass candy and a new PS2 game. While I'm not bagging on either one - god knows I've had my Butterfinger and Final Fantasy binges - I seriously believe this is a big factor.
I'm not by any stretch of the imagination old. I just turned 26 in December. But I clearly remember when I was a kid having this thing called playtime. You know, when we went outside and PLAYED? Wiffleball, hide and seek, tackle football in the street (I was the only girl in the neighborhood who refuesed to be a cheerleader on the sidelines and still have the scars on my knees to prove it), digging up bugs in the back yard, riding my bike as fast as I could and scaring my mom to death. It was fun, I had a blast, and I was active as all hell.
I live in the suburbs. I hardly ever see kids outside. When I do, they're riding back and forth on those little motorised scooters. A few houses have basketball hoops, but I only see one or two kids playing on occasion.
My neighbors across the street have two Very Large children. I *never* see them outside.
Why is it such a problem to have children playing any more? Why are houses selling for $300, 400, 500K when they have yards the size of my first apartment?
(Before you ask, it was a studio. With a shared kitchen. Not exactly roomy.)
Yes, children in this country are fatter than ever. So instead of complaining, try doing something about it. Get a slow cooker and make dinner at home instead of stopping for fast food. Take a walk with your kids to talk about school or life... or simply not talk but BE WITH each other! Don't let your kids sit in front of the tv pressing buttons to play a skateboarding game; buy them a skateboard, take them to a local skatepark and cheer them on.
Be proactive instead of reactive.
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Comments
If they get depressed or jittery from eating all that sugar while sitting on their asses, there's always Ritalin and other wonderful legal pharmaceuticals to make them behave as if they were healthy.
Good point.
When did it become passe to let kids just be KIDS? :/ Why do they have to be these medicated little drones?
Our problems began when they started giving growth hormones to animals that we eat. A certain segment of the population is sensitive to those hormones. Think about it. We got bigger at the same rate the animals did. Chickens and cattle don't grow to that size naturally. As a result, we have a national epidemic of hormone related illness: obesity, depression, post-partum psychosis, dysmenorrhea, cystic acne, breast cancer, uterine tumors, infertility, and children afflicted with precoscious puberty just to name a few.
No one is going to tell us about this because of financial interests. Doctors and pharmaceutical companies make fortunes peddling anti-depressants, and fertility treatments; The treatment of skin disorders generates billions of dollars for dematologists and makers of acne treatments; the diet and exercise industries aren't going to profit by making it easier for you.
Remember when you were little - did anyone have to make you go out and play? No - they couldn't have stopped you. You didn't feel lethargic. You didn't have a compulsion to eat more than you needed. You were full of energy, and generally happy. Video games didn't change that. The beef and poultry industries did. No one is going to piss them off - remember when they sued Oprah?
If you know people who are having infertility problems - and you probably do - tell them to swear off
beef and poultry for a couple of months. They'll be amazed at the difference.
Notice that most heavier people are also poor. They eat cheaper cuts of meat, like neck bones and scrap parts of chickens that have higher concentrations of hormones. Back in the 70's Ms. Mgazine reported on an epidemic of precoscious puberty in Puerto Rico that was traced directly to their consumption of chicken necks. We're talking 8 years old girls menstruating and little boys growing breasts. Having had that symdrome myself, I can tell you it is devastating. The individual develops too early which has not only psychological repercussions, but stunts growth and pretty much guarantees a lifelong problem with obesity.
We aren't just lazy. We're being doped.
Morgaine-ism© #8
"A Woman's Sexual and Reproductive Autonomy is Sacred and Absolute."