There’s always some “specialist” of some sort that writes an elaborate research paper that seems to get many people into hysterics. By hysterics I mean rage or laughter or possibly both.
The latest comes from Dr. David Ludwig, the Director of Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children’s Hospital Boston, concerning childhood obesity and what he feels could help the issue.
Personally, I think Dr. Ludwig’s research paper is more to validate his obnoxious title to steer away from the fact that he needs to get out into the World more often.
Dr. Ludwig has come up with the greatest of informational nugget to help fight Childhood Obesity, that being taking the severely obese away from their parents and place them in Foster Care until the parents decide to change the lifestyle of the home.
How much funding did Massachusetts or even the Federal government give this crackpot?
Childhood obesity is not some new disease it has been around for decades, yet now “Specialists” have given a divine name to make it seem severe.
There’s no doubt, obesity of any sort is severe, no matter the age of the person, with diagnosis of Diabetes, Heart disease, Asthma and so on. But there’s more than just the home at cause, there’s society to take a larger degree to blame as well.
We live in a society that over the past 3 decades has become more about convenience then necessity as well as high regards on image and appearance.
Today’s societal convenience has not always been the norm. Today McDonald’s every 3 miles, home pizza delivery in 30 minutes, Convenience stores open 24 hours so we can grab a Hot Dog and beer for the road, Big Box stores, SKYPE, Webcams, texting, Virtual gaming, etc it’s easy to say we are becoming the true life version of the movie WALL-E.
Today, there are many factors that have caused Obesity and if the good Dr. Ludwig was smarter that the piece of paper on his wall he prides in, he would look at the food manufacturers and preparations of today compared to that over the last 30 years.
Dairy farmers use steroids on their cows to get one more gallon out of them. Just look at the frozen chicken breast in your freezer, it wouldn’t shock me if there was more listed then just Chicken on the Nutritional fact label.
Nutritional labels are listed with preservatives and crap no one outside of a Dietician could understand. Really a nutrition label on water!! IT’S WATER!
Dear Dr Ludwig, apparently you haven’t been paying much attention to the news to understand that 95% of the States are in serious debt and are cutting budgets across the board. The foster care programs and even the human services departments are already overburdened.
For instance, Florida just cut 43% of the budget for its Healthy Families Florida program, which provided home visits to expecting families and newborns.
As of September 2010, there were approximately 423,773 children in US Foster care. Close to a half million children in foster care for various reasons, all in need of a home and Dr. Ludwig wants to add more, for a short term, into an already underfunded and over loaded system. Estimates ranges around 1.25 million under the age of 18 are considered obese and who knows the percentage that would be considered severely obese.
But who is to say a foster home is a safer place. Over the past few months, Media has been reporting of Maltreatment in foster homes has risen significantly since 2001. In 2009, 49 States reported a total of 1,676 fatalities according to the Administration for Children & Families.
I am not saying all foster parents are abusive; some like Congresswomen Michelle Bachmann are legitimate good souls who open their homes to care for foster children. But there are those that are crazy and with pending cuts, it puts more strain on Health Services to keep up with visitations.
Dr. Ludwig is basically calling the parents of severely obese children child abusers. But what about the parents that care for the severely under-weight child? Are they not child abusers as well?
Society is not helping in the battle of childhood obesity and childhood eating disorders; it’s more the cause then the cure.
Appearance and image have become such a commercialized sector, that you can’t get away from the ads on TV, radio and print. You gotta look like this to succeed has destroyed many people young lives.
Childhood bulimia, anorexia and binge eating is a fact, for both boys and girls.
It’s no lie that peer pressure when one is growing is significant to a young person’s psyche. The awkward life of puberty and just trying to fit into the World can make a pre-teen loss control and take drastic measures to look like some celebrity or to wear the latest fashions. No one likes to be picked on or the butt of jokes, but that’s part of society’s ill.
Yet, no one concerns themselves with skinny, instead only look at the obese as an issue.
Society’s ills have transformed many households, as parents would rather have their child inside the house afterschool at all times and not outside playing where they have a chance of have their picture on the back of a milk carton or being bullied on video for all to view on YouTube.
Dr. Ludwig needs to recant his work and bring a larger picture into view, much of which I have described and making a notion of simply temporarily removing a child from their parents.
The dangling carrot of changing everything in your house and you get your kid back is just plain wrong.
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