Thoughts on Childhood Obesity

In researching this topic, (so close to my former obese child's heart), the first article i found (from 2010) said this,"In February of this year, First Lady Michelle Obama presented her ambitious Let’s Move campaign to battle the terrifying childhood obesity epidemic. Childhood obesity has tripled in the past 30 years"

So, I was terrifying, huh? 

Oh, I get that obesity can be harmful to health with the added incidence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma, etc.., It just so happens that,  as a 60 pounds overweight kid , I suffered none of these, but still, i get it.

However, what i did suffer was excessive bullying and ostracism leading to miserable self-esteem and loneliness. Every day, i begged to be allowed to stay home from school. what would have helped that problem was changing the OTHER kids, not me. No one talks about that!

But no, what we hear about is better nutrition and more exercise. Busy mom's get blamed for making processed foods instead of preparing healthy meals. Computer games take the rap for lack of exercise.

Hey, I've got nothing against good food and exercise, but, my mom served us vegetables, broiled fish (yick), and fruits. we weren't allowed more than one starch at a meal and got dessert only on special occasions. 

still I was huge, often stealing money to run to the candy store, buying everything i could and shoving it all in my mouth on the way home.

In contrast to me, my brother and sister were quite thin. . in terms of exercise, my sister had all the athletic genes - she swam, played tennis, cheer-leaded, did gymnastics. My brother sat on the living room couch with his nose in a book. As i said, both - thin

Could there be something more at work here than veggies and aerobics? i loved all vegetables - brussels sprouts rivaled ice cream as my favorite food........ i ate lots and lots of brussel sprouts and lots and lots of ice cream. pretty much, lots and lots of everything.

Could there be something else going on, something that fruits and veggies couldn't fix? i think so.

To me, obesity is an inside job. I ate because i was miserable - a lonely odd-ball whose parents were going thru an evil divorce. i had no idea how to fit in with others, i was afraid of everything (the dark, the Nazis, slavery, being kidnapped for starters), and looked for solace in the only thing that (i thought) wouldn't hurt me - food
 Trust me, filling my life with leafy greens and jumping jacks wasn't  going to help me. Filling myself with what I really needed, finally, did.

But no one talks about that. Just today, 5 years after that beginning of Mrs. Obama's war against Childhood Obesity, I read about her and her war. I read about doctors, nutritionists, exercise and of course, fruits and vegetables

I read nothing of sadness or fear or loneliness. I read nothing of therapists or going any deeper than the surface.

Obesity was linked with poverty -- more kids with less money and less opportunity
gravitate toward more fast food and less activity. However, there are plenty of thin kids who live in poverty. What's different? What's going on with the kids who turn to zoning out with food and TV?

Not getting enough rabbit food?