Fat Kids and the United States Government

According to Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark), one is five children in the United States is obese (or fat) if you prefer. She said so on my favorite early morning television show Morning Joe earlier this morning. Evidently the government is going to deal with childhood obesity by throwing more money at it with a program that "is already payed for" according to Ms Lincoln. Patrick J. Buchanan (my favorite political commentator) asked who was to be held accountable for the evident mismanagement of the school lunch programs back in the 1970s. The good Senator didn't answer that query. Citizens, the federal government wants to do more for us. It makes sense , because in appearing to do more they can control what is going on !

Comments

[Rain]

I feel sorry for fat kids, know what it will mean for their health as they get older, but don't see how the government can fix it. You sure see a lot more of it and even when I was in school, if a child was fat, it led to ridicule from others. If they 'fix' the school lunches to be nutritious without the grease and heavy carbs, a lot of those kids simply won't eat the food and it gets thrown away. You have to be educated (I think at home) in eating healthily. I understand though the collective concern because as we go to more and more health care paid for by us all and we know frequency of diseases like high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes can be impacted by diet as well as genetics, we all pay for the problems. So next step will be to oversee adult diets too... and that's going to be even more unpopular. We are mostly a junk food culture although kids can be taught to prefer healthier foods and I see it with my grandkids who for instance do not like french fries and order the carrot sticks in a restaurant when given the option. That comes from the home though, I think.

[Paul]

I agree Rain-parents have a responsibility to guide their children in eating healthy foods...

[Moana]

Not trying to make an "excuse", but many families can only afford to feed carbs & starches in order to control their children's hunger. This, of course, sets our preferences for the balance of our lives. I am a victim of that.

[Ingineer66]

Families that can only afford to feed their kids fast food because they are too lazy to cook good food from scratch is a big part of the problem. We also used to have PE in the schools and the older kids had to sweat and then take showers. But do to budget cuts the schools no longer can afford towels or hot water for showers so the kids don't take them. And a good portion of PE class is spent on talking and taking tests instead of running around getting exercise. It is a massive systemic problem that needs real solutions not just more money thrown at it.