Dr Oz Show Blasts Child Obesity Today. On the Dr Oz Show today, Doctor Oz tackled the controversial topic of whether child obesity is the parents’ fault, and if it is child abuse to have a child who is obese or overweight.
Sound off in our poll and tell us whether you think it’s child abuse to have a child who is overweight, then read on for the rest of the show recap!
Dr. Oz presented two moms with overweight children, and it was really sad to see how difficult those children’s lives are because they’re so fat. The moms denied that they were abusing their children though, and said that it’s partially the kids responsibility regulate their eating.
An obesity activist in the audience named Meme got pretty harsh with our two moms and put the responsibility back on them. These kids are 11 and 12, and to some extent I think Meme was right. The moms should not have the food in the house if their kids shouldn’t eat it. On the other hand, at that age, kids do have to start taking some responsibility or you’re not raising them right. I do wonder if these moms have sought counseling for their kids, to help them break free from the emotional eating that they both admit to doing.
I also have to point out that the one kid, the boy Javier, his mom was not too much overweight, and it seems possible that he will grow out of it. But the other child, the girl, her mom was just as overweight as she is, so really it’s not too surprising that it’s a problem. I have noticed that there are “fat” families, and skinny families. And as a mom, how do you counsel your child to maintain a healthy weight when you’re obese yourself?
Next, Dr. Alan Greene came on the show; he is the author of “Feeding Baby Green.” He says that while childhood obesity is a serious problem, taking the child away from the parents is not always the answer. If the parents are trying and want to do right by their children, then the courts would try to work with the family to educate and support them.
Catherine Schuller then spoke up, she is the advocate for a child who was 30 pounds more than morbidly obese at the age of 8. He was taken away from his mother and place with foster parents and she said it did not help him. The amount of stress it put on the poor child to be separated from his mother was just as harmful to him as being overweight.
At that point a giant free-for-all debate started up and the mother of the boy, Javier, was shocked to learn that she should not have M&M’s in the house. Duh!
Next, Dr. Oz introduced the Wellspring Academy, which is a boarding school for obese children (mostly teenagers it seems). This school removes the children from their home and away from their enabling parents and teaches them physical fitness and nutrition, as well as their regular school curriculum. One of the girls started at 510 pounds. Two years later Tanisha weighs 235 pounds. Carsyn started at 203 pounds, and year later she weighs 153 pounds.
Tanisha said her parents just didn’t know and needed to be educated, they weren’t abusing her by letting her get to over 500 pounds. Carsyn came from a very fit and healthy family, and her mother said she was looking for a way to intervene, but found she was unable to help her herself. Sending her to the school was the answer, and she feels like if she hadn’t, she would have participated in “parental-assisted suicide” because Carsyn was killing herself with food.
Dr. Oz says that after seeing the two teens success stories with losing weight after being removed from their homes, it makes him think that taking obese children away from their parents is not such a bad idea.
Whoa, there Doctor Oz! That’s all fine and dandy if you’re going to send them to a school like Wellspring where they get all kinds of help. But if you just stick them in the foster care system (no offense to anyone in particular), there’s no guarantee that will help. I doubt there are many foster parents that are naturally equipped to deal with helping an obese child recover from emotional overeating. And how many foster families are you going to find that have ONLY healthy food in the house?
Some warning signs that your child has a problem with weight are when he or she starts developing belly fat, or is getting teased at school for being fat, or tells you that he or she wants to lose weight. The biggest warning sign of all though is a skin condition called acanthosis nigricans. This appears around the neck and in the armpits, and is a sign that your child’s pancreas is putting out too much insulin to handle the amount of sugar that he’s eating. It’s an early warning sign of diabetes.
Next, Dr. Oz highlighted a family, all of them fat, and shadowed them on their supermarket shopping trip. They buy chips and soda and a lot of packaged food, juice drinks and stuff like that. Dr. Oz just can’t understand it.
Dr. Greene then said that research shows that what a mom eats while she’s pregnant has an impact on what foods a child craves. (Hmmm, my daughter should crave beef chop suey then…that’s the only thing I could keep down). He also said that the food industry is engineering their foods to hit our pleasure centers with the sugar, fat and salt, so that we get addicted to the foods.
Dr. Oz then revealed some hidden ways the food industry hooks our kids on their foods. The cheesy chips for example, like Doritos, are high in carbs without any fiber, so your brain thinks it needs more. Foods that are packaged with popular cartoon characters are another hook. A study showed that kids would pick broccoli over chocolate if the broccoli had a picture of Elmo on the package. Another hook is the “Made with whole grains,” statement on the package. If it doesn’t say 100% whole grains then don’t fall for it.
Doctor Oz says the most valuable food we can give our kids is fiber. Under the age of 10, about 20 grams per day. 10 years and up need 25 grams of day just like adults.
