Obesity my arse

[Voice]

I've always felt that if someone is over-weight, the only person that can make them lose the weight, is that person. They have to want to lose the weight, and it takes a HELL of alot more than changing school lunches and taking away soda pop and candy.

If a kid wants a coke, he's gonna get one.

And I stand firmly that it's not only what you eat, but how much you eat.

Supposedly I am underweight, at 215 lbs. I'm 6'6 or 6'7....but I'm not in the shape I would like to be. So I am doing something about it....

I think it's rather Nazi-ish for a public school to try and dictate the way a kid eats....that's up to the parents. If their parents want them to eat a certain way...they can pack them a special lunch.....for god's sake, let the kids enjoy their SQUARE PIZZA!!!!

[sabbas]

This was in fact a debate topic in my Kinesiology class last semester (if you don't know what Kinesiology is, look it up). Both sides of the argument (if schools are in charge of kids' well-being in terms of health or not) presented valid points. The eating habits kids develop at a young age are most likely going to stick with them for the rest (or at least majority) of their lives. Sure, this is mostly developed in the home. But what about parents who just don't give a crap about their kids' nutrition?! What about the parents that neglect their children, and just give 'em 10 bucks every day for lunch. Of course the kids will get what they want! (such as McDonalds). Doesn't mean it's good for them. There is also the problem with double-income families where neither parent is there to provide guidlines for healthy eating. This is where people argue that it should be up to the school system to take charge. In Canada, (I don't know if it's the same case in the U.S. or UK) but P.E. courses are mandatory up to about Grade 9 or 10. These courses promote healthy lifetyles (although heavily influenced by the type of teacher one may have) as well as healthy eating habits etc. Also going on in Canada right now, Parliament is debating whether to completely take out Pop/Soda (whatever you wanna call it) out of Elementary schools, only to be replaced by 'healthier' drinks such as fruit drinks and energy drinks such as Gatorade - which is just as bad, seeing as how some of these drinks have just as many calories as a regualr can of pop anyways. So as you can see (and enough of my little rant), I do feel there is change needed in the way people decide their eating habits, especially forming those habits at such a young age. But there are pros and cons to having those habits be made in the home, or at the school level.

And yes, there is reportedly a growing number of obese people in both the U.S. and Canada (and the UK from what Gabriel says).

[Matthew S.]

Good post Brendon...

[Pocky Fiend]

I says, replace all drinks with Arizona Iced Tea!

[Tosser00]

They have good intentions, but I don't think they're going about it correctly. Something SHOULD be done. Its quite an epidemic if you look at it all. In my opinion its the school's fault in the first place. They are the ones who provided the machines after all. It does bother me that the number of soft drink machines are much greater than those of healthy alternatives (this is at my school). Hell, I wanted a bottle of chocolate milk today and it cost .25 more than a pepsi. What the hell is that? They want you to be healthy but charge you more for it in the process?

[Voice]

hells yeah, aizona iced tea is the bomb....I like their green tea with ginseng.

I still say that even if the lunch is changed at school, for those kids who are neglected at home, it won't make that big of a difference, because they eat more at home than at school.

[Cowboy22]

I've been overweight pretty much my entire life. I really don't eat a whole lot, nor do I eat a ton of things that are really bad for me. I haven't had a pop (which is how we refer to soft drinks here as well ) in something like 2 years and I don't usually eat a whole ton of candy and chips and crap like that. I also work out and play sports pretty much year round. Nothing really helps, it's just how I'm genetically programed. I, like all the men in my family, am always going to be heavy. I've pretty much come to grips with it at this point.

Anyway, I do think that the schools should try to control what the kids eat in grade school so as to help create good eatting habits, but once you reach middle school you should be able to decide for yourself. At that point you're more than capable of deciding if you should be eating healthy or not.

[Pocky Fiend]

Originally posted by Cowboy22
I've been overweight pretty much my entire life. I really don't eat a whole lot, nor do I eat a ton of things that are really bad for me. I haven't had a pop (which is how we refer to soft drinks here as well ) in something like 2 years and I don't usually eat a whole ton of candy and chips and crap like that. I also work out and play sports pretty much year round. Nothing really helps, it's just how I'm genetically programed. I, like all the men in my family, am always going to be heavy. I've pretty much come to grips with it at this point.

Anyway, I do think that the schools should try to control what the kids eat in grade school so as to help create good eatting habits, but once you reach middle school you should be able to decide for yourself. At that point you're more than capable of deciding if you should be eating healthy or not.

Yeah, a friend of mine is genetically "overweight". She may look fat to some, but she is almost a black belt in karate and can kick a lot kids' ass.

[LordArchy]

Eh, change the school lunches to what? My school serves microwaved pidgeon every day... no joke, you see the janitor walk in the baseball field with a rifle every 2nd period... how much healthier can you get than that?

Yeah, I went through a "fat stage" once, but now I've reached my goal of being underweight. It's so easy to gain weight at a week over grandmas, while a summer of working got me to become officially underweight.

EDIT: Cowboy, is that sort of like being big boned?

[Voice]

I'm lucky because I have a fast metabolism, but i've started to change the way I eat and all that, so hopefully it'll work out and I can get back into shape.