Why is Gen Z so obese?

[Anonymous]

It’s specifically the American diet. A lot of bread, sugar and grease in large portions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I still see way more fat boomers and gen x/millenials than Gen Z. All of my Gen Z kids are thin to normal. My gen alpha kids are thin. A lot of it has to do with genetics as I am naturally thin.

How many freakin’ kids do you have, brood mare?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starbucks

Honestly, yes. I see so many children, even elementary age, walking around with a massive cup of some syrupy glurp in their hands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop body shaming. It’s getting old.

This is part of the problem. If you're under 18, parents should step in and help. Weight is part of someone's health. We can't just ignore the elephant in the room as part of some body positivity movement.

My kids are SURROUNDED by junk food constantly. Soccer game snacks, girl scout snacks, swim team snack shack, they get fed a honey bun from school as they walk in the door, heck even the dentist gave my kids a popsicle (is that like a sick joke?!) after their teeth cleaning. Because they get junk everywhere else, parents just have to be the bad guys who only feed super healthy food. That's the part that is the hardest. We can't even go out for ice cream as a special treat because it's not special, they get ice cream almost daily as a dessert with school lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Millennial is 1981-1996
Gen Z is 1997-2012
Gen Alpha is 2013 to 2025

The very oldest millennial would have had to have had a kid before 31 to have birthed a Gen Z kid. Most millennials have Gen Alpha kids. Gen Z is mostly kids of Gen X.

Gen Z is also the most ethnically diverse generation. I’d like to see the obesity stats by race and SES.

SES is key I think. I go to a very diverse school and don't see a correlation with race. All of the kids from richer families are thin.

+1 it’s a low income and rural thing. You don’t see much severe obesity in DC, even in poorer communities. I live in Arlington and I very rarely see someone who is morbidly obese. Back home in my small town in NC? You can’t go anywhere without seeing it.

You and I must go to very different places in DC and the closer suburbs. I see legions of fat black teens and especially 20 some things in the district. I see very fat Latino, children, teens, and young adults in the district and Prince Georges County.

I see roly-poly Asian kids around Rockville when I shop there. And I’m not sure their parents country of origin, but I’ll just say children whose families immigrated from the Middle East. The teen boys, especially plump in Fairfax County.

PP was right. Go spend some time at a large mall. Get away from the private school corridor on Wisconsin Avenue in DC.

You are right but let me rephrase what I mean a little. The problem is exasperated in rural areas. I mean I see people with canes and using the motor wheelchairs in Walmart because of their size and children waddling around. Obesity to the point of a negative effect on mobility is what is rare for me to see here.

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data-and-statistics/adult-obesity-prevalence-maps.html

DC and Colorado have the lowest obesity rates in the country.

The exacerbation of the issue does indeed sound exasperating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop body shaming. It’s getting old.

This is part of the problem. If you're under 18, parents should step in and help. Weight is part of someone's health. We can't just ignore the elephant in the room as part of some body positivity movement.

My kids are SURROUNDED by junk food constantly. Soccer game snacks, girl scout snacks, swim team snack shack, they get fed a honey bun from school as they walk in the door, heck even the dentist gave my kids a popsicle (is that like a sick joke?!) after their teeth cleaning. Because they get junk everywhere else, parents just have to be the bad guys who only feed super healthy food. That's the part that is the hardest. We can't even go out for ice cream as a special treat because it's not special, they get ice cream almost daily as a dessert with school lunch.

I’m a PP with an overweight kid and agree this is part of the problem. My heavy kid is not able to turn this junk down or eat just some of it. I could not believe how many days they get cupcakes, candy, etc at school (even Valentine’s Day is all candy now!!). Worked against everything we were trying to teach at home. And the quality of school food is shocking. He packs his lunch but in elementary school I fed him breakfast and for years didn’t realize he was also getting sugary breakfast at before care - packaged muffins, packaged pancakes, granola bars, sugary cereal with milk. Ugh.

It stinks that food is so tied up with reward and entertainment in our culture

[Anonymous]

This is a really good book for anyone wanting to read more about this topic:

The Hungry Brain: Outsmarting the Instincts That Make Us Overeat

The author is also on podcasts and has a blog.

I've started to talk to my kids about macronutrients and why highly palatable, easy to eat, low fiber foods are so gratifying. For example, why you can overeat potato chips but how eating multiple baked potatoes in one sitting is hard.

[Anonymous]

Because SAD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Millennial is 1981-1996
Gen Z is 1997-2012
Gen Alpha is 2013 to 2025

The very oldest millennial would have had to have had a kid before 31 to have birthed a Gen Z kid. Most millennials have Gen Alpha kids. Gen Z is mostly kids of Gen X.

Gen Z is also the most ethnically diverse generation. I’d like to see the obesity stats by race and SES.

SES is key I think. I go to a very diverse school and don't see a correlation with race. All of the kids from richer families are thin.

+1 it’s a low income and rural thing. You don’t see much severe obesity in DC, even in poorer communities. I live in Arlington and I very rarely see someone who is morbidly obese. Back home in my small town in NC? You can’t go anywhere without seeing it.

No, even the regular, non-obese, high-SES teens here are smoother than teens used to be. Softer, larger.

I agree with this. Even in the affluent area where I live, many of my child's middle school peers are larger than I would expect, and some are definitely overweight. If their habits don't change, many of these kids are headed for obesity in early adulthood.

[Anonymous]

Poor people are fat because they eat crap, and America is getting poorer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Poor people are fat because they eat crap, and America is getting poorer.

https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/obesity-adult-prevalence-rate/country-comparison/

Yes and no. Right now we are number 12 in the world behind the Pacific Islands and Kuwait. I saw some complaints about people from other countries, but El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico are all doing better than us. The pacific, the US, and Arab nations seem to have it the worst. I think we have too much access to junk food in ways that other countries don’t.

[Anonymous]

My kids are all fit and healthy. We moved to a safe area with warm weather, our weekend activities are all outdoors, we play sports with them.

Kids learn from parents. You have to prioritize activity and good eating habits.

[Anonymous]

Wall-E called it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor people are fat because they eat crap, and America is getting poorer.

https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/obesity-adult-prevalence-rate/country-comparison/

Yes and no. Right now we are number 12 in the world behind the Pacific Islands and Kuwait. I saw some complaints about people from other countries, but El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico are all doing better than us. The pacific, the US, and Arab nations seem to have it the worst. I think we have too much access to junk food in ways that other countries don’t.

In the case of the Polynesian Islands, it’s because the naturally occurring diet was replaced by the western diet during colonialism. Our bodies are not designed to take this much sugar and oil on a daily basis and that is what most people eat here. There is hidden sugar in all the snacks and people have poor nutritional knowledge.

[Anonymous]

It is because of screens.

It is also because people don't cook as much anymore. Kids and families will eat food prepared from restaurant or food establishment multiple times per week. Restaurant foods ALWAYS have way, wayyyy more calories than most home cooked meals. That includes mom and pop and other small local places. When we were growing up, we at most went to a restaurant only once per month, sometimes only once every three months. So many families now dine out multiple times per week.