Anonymous wrote:I teach in a high poverty school and by 5th-6th grade, nearly every student is overweight. It's sad. Some of them stayed overweight as they grew but some of them were a normal weight and then just packed on the pounds.

Its all the cheap food loaded with unhealthy grains and sugar / high fructose corn syrup.

Healthy food is expensive.

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Anonymous wrote:In the same boat OP. We don’t withhold much of anything, they get a treat after dinner, and they have very low BMI. I don’t understand how children can become so overweight. It’s tragic and the parents should have to attend mandatory child nutrition classes.

I cook from scratch, don’t stock junk food but don’t withhold healthy food, have occasional treats, etc etc, and I have one 15th %ile kid who eats like a bird and one 90th %ile kid who will have thirds of chicken and rice and salad. It’s complicated.

What is complicated about this?? First off, because your kid is 90th percentile doesn’t mean he has high BMI, it’s how his weight is distributed relative to height. If he has high BMI, he is eating too much and you are responsible for making sure he cools it on the thirds or gets more exercise. Calories in calories out - IT IS NOT COMPLICATED FOR 8 YEAR OLDS

So your advice is that when a child is hungry, I should deny them healthy food? “Sorry honey, you’re fat.”

How bizarre. When a child has had enough to eat, they don't need to eat more. Do you ever tell your DC no? About anything? Do you parent them at all?

And a kid who’s hungry definitionally hasn’t had enough to eat.

Just curious. Do you have pets? Dogs, fish, anything that you feed a controlled amount of food? Why do you control the amount of food? Because otherwise they would overeat and become sick (or worse).

Are children somehow exempt from that rule?

Isn’t dog food ultra processed and full of artificial flavorants and all kinds of stuff that interferes with satiety signals?

I don’t currently have pets, I used to have a dog who would leave food in the bowl all day, and a human being’s relationship with food and body is more complicated than that of an animal.

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Anonymous wrote:In the same boat OP. We don’t withhold much of anything, they get a treat after dinner, and they have very low BMI. I don’t understand how children can become so overweight. It’s tragic and the parents should have to attend mandatory child nutrition classes.

I cook from scratch, don’t stock junk food but don’t withhold healthy food, have occasional treats, etc etc, and I have one 15th %ile kid who eats like a bird and one 90th %ile kid who will have thirds of chicken and rice and salad. It’s complicated.

What is complicated about this?? First off, because your kid is 90th percentile doesn’t mean he has high BMI, it’s how his weight is distributed relative to height. If he has high BMI, he is eating too much and you are responsible for making sure he cools it on the thirds or gets more exercise. Calories in calories out - IT IS NOT COMPLICATED FOR 8 YEAR OLDS

So your advice is that when a child is hungry, I should deny them healthy food? “Sorry honey, you’re fat.”

After two servings of chicken, rice and salad, if he is still hungry, something else is going on. He’s either misreading cues or there is some issue. I’d offer carrot sticks and cucumbers if still hungry after two full servings of dinner.

Yes you have an eating disorder

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Anonymous wrote:In the same boat OP. We don’t withhold much of anything, they get a treat after dinner, and they have very low BMI. I don’t understand how children can become so overweight. It’s tragic and the parents should have to attend mandatory child nutrition classes.

I cook from scratch, don’t stock junk food but don’t withhold healthy food, have occasional treats, etc etc, and I have one 15th %ile kid who eats like a bird and one 90th %ile kid who will have thirds of chicken and rice and salad. It’s complicated.

What is complicated about this?? First off, because your kid is 90th percentile doesn’t mean he has high BMI, it’s how his weight is distributed relative to height. If he has high BMI, he is eating too much and you are responsible for making sure he cools it on the thirds or gets more exercise. Calories in calories out - IT IS NOT COMPLICATED FOR 8 YEAR OLDS

I think many parents don’t understand BMI vs. weight percentile. My teen’s weight percentile is 99% but his BMI is under 20 (and 50th percentile for kids BMI). Because he’s tall - so it makes sense that he’s relatively heavy.

And he also eats a ton compared to his younger siblings, because he NEEDS to eat a ton to support his current size and continued growth. His little sister doesn’t need to eat as much, and if I fed her exact same food in the exact same quantities as him, of course she’d get chunky. But I wouldn’t scratch my head and tell everyone “well I feed both of my kids the same and one is fat and one is thin! This is so darn complicated!”

DP, and I hate to break it to you, but it is in fact complicated.

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Anonymous wrote:In the same boat OP. We don’t withhold much of anything, they get a treat after dinner, and they have very low BMI. I don’t understand how children can become so overweight. It’s tragic and the parents should have to attend mandatory child nutrition classes.

I cook from scratch, don’t stock junk food but don’t withhold healthy food, have occasional treats, etc etc, and I have one 15th %ile kid who eats like a bird and one 90th %ile kid who will have thirds of chicken and rice and salad. It’s complicated.

What is complicated about this?? First off, because your kid is 90th percentile doesn’t mean he has high BMI, it’s how his weight is distributed relative to height. If he has high BMI, he is eating too much and you are responsible for making sure he cools it on the thirds or gets more exercise. Calories in calories out - IT IS NOT COMPLICATED FOR 8 YEAR OLDS

So your advice is that when a child is hungry, I should deny them healthy food? “Sorry honey, you’re fat.”

How bizarre. When a child has had enough to eat, they don't need to eat more. Do you ever tell your DC no? About anything? Do you parent them at all?

And a kid who’s hungry definitionally hasn’t had enough to eat.

Just curious. Do you have pets? Dogs, fish, anything that you feed a controlled amount of food? Why do you control the amount of food? Because otherwise they would overeat and become sick (or worse).

Are children somehow exempt from that rule?

Look, maybe it’s not healthy to let a kid have a (gasp) third chicken thigh or some more broccoli. But I KNOW it’s not healthy to have a kid who has to ask for permission to eat.

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Anonymous wrote:In the same boat OP. We don’t withhold much of anything, they get a treat after dinner, and they have very low BMI. I don’t understand how children can become so overweight. It’s tragic and the parents should have to attend mandatory child nutrition classes.

I cook from scratch, don’t stock junk food but don’t withhold healthy food, have occasional treats, etc etc, and I have one 15th %ile kid who eats like a bird and one 90th %ile kid who will have thirds of chicken and rice and salad. It’s complicated.

What is complicated about this?? First off, because your kid is 90th percentile doesn’t mean he has high BMI, it’s how his weight is distributed relative to height. If he has high BMI, he is eating too much and you are responsible for making sure he cools it on the thirds or gets more exercise. Calories in calories out - IT IS NOT COMPLICATED FOR 8 YEAR OLDS

So your advice is that when a child is hungry, I should deny them healthy food? “Sorry honey, you’re fat.”

How bizarre. When a child has had enough to eat, they don't need to eat more. Do you ever tell your DC no? About anything? Do you parent them at all?

And a kid who’s hungry definitionally hasn’t had enough to eat.

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Anonymous wrote:In the same boat OP. We don’t withhold much of anything, they get a treat after dinner, and they have very low BMI. I don’t understand how children can become so overweight. It’s tragic and the parents should have to attend mandatory child nutrition classes.

I cook from scratch, don’t stock junk food but don’t withhold healthy food, have occasional treats, etc etc, and I have one 15th %ile kid who eats like a bird and one 90th %ile kid who will have thirds of chicken and rice and salad. It’s complicated.

So…don’t give them so much food? What’s complicated? No one needs “thirds.”

NP. You are right, but a parent can only control a kid’s intake for so long. Once they move into teen years, you can’t. The best you can do is not buy processed junk and try to cook heathy meals. But you cannot possibly police their serving sizes of everything, how many glasses of milk they have, if they make a PB&J after dinner bc they are still hungry or get a second helping later on, or grab a banana and several slices of cheddar. Then there is all the junk food available and offered at school and sports in middle school. You can feed them a heathy breakfast then they can also grab a free chocolate milk and poptart provided by school when they walk in. They have to be able and willing to say no to the junk on their own accord. If you have a kid that can’t say no to junk and have a tendacy to overeat, once they hit teens, the weight gain moves out of parent control and they need to start being accountable for what they are consuming

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the same boat OP. We don’t withhold much of anything, they get a treat after dinner, and they have very low BMI. I don’t understand how children can become so overweight. It’s tragic and the parents should have to attend mandatory child nutrition classes.

I cook from scratch, don’t stock junk food but don’t withhold healthy food, have occasional treats, etc etc, and I have one 15th %ile kid who eats like a bird and one 90th %ile kid who will have thirds of chicken and rice and salad. It’s complicated.

What is complicated about this?? First off, because your kid is 90th percentile doesn’t mean he has high BMI, it’s how his weight is distributed relative to height. If he has high BMI, he is eating too much and you are responsible for making sure he cools it on the thirds or gets more exercise. Calories in calories out - IT IS NOT COMPLICATED FOR 8 YEAR OLDS

So your advice is that when a child is hungry, I should deny them healthy food? “Sorry honey, you’re fat.”

How bizarre. When a child has had enough to eat, they don't need to eat more. Do you ever tell your DC no? About anything? Do you parent them at all?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the same boat OP. We don’t withhold much of anything, they get a treat after dinner, and they have very low BMI. I don’t understand how children can become so overweight. It’s tragic and the parents should have to attend mandatory child nutrition classes.

I cook from scratch, don’t stock junk food but don’t withhold healthy food, have occasional treats, etc etc, and I have one 15th %ile kid who eats like a bird and one 90th %ile kid who will have thirds of chicken and rice and salad. It’s complicated.

What is complicated about this?? First off, because your kid is 90th percentile doesn’t mean he has high BMI, it’s how his weight is distributed relative to height. If he has high BMI, he is eating too much and you are responsible for making sure he cools it on the thirds or gets more exercise. Calories in calories out - IT IS NOT COMPLICATED FOR 8 YEAR OLDS

So your advice is that when a child is hungry, I should deny them healthy food? “Sorry honey, you’re fat.”

After two servings of chicken, rice and salad, if he is still hungry, something else is going on. He’s either misreading cues or there is some issue. I’d offer carrot sticks and cucumbers if still hungry after two full servings of dinner.

Anonymous wrote:In many families eating fast food is the norm today.

We supplied free food at my work place. The free food was fresh fruit, salad makings, and cooked chicken, precooked shrimp and hard boiled eggs. The fruit we offered was bananas, apples, mangos, avocados, and citrus fruit, and sometimes blueberries depending on the season.

Even though the food was fresh and free only two of our workers routinely ate the free food for lunch. Both were older women. One was a woman who was age 68. The other was a Haitian American woman who was 63.

All of our other workers ignored the free food and routinely brought fast food to eat for lunch or called door dash to bring them fast food for lunch.

Many Americans have not been raised on fresh fruit and unprocessed foods and have been raised on fried fast food and prefer the taste of fried fast foods even if unprocessed foods are offered for free.

What kind of workplace is that? Serious question.

I love fruit and salad and would eat all of that, but even I'd probably get tired of eating the same thing every day. I'm 5'8", 135 lbs and 57 FWIW.

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Anonymous wrote:In the same boat OP. We don’t withhold much of anything, they get a treat after dinner, and they have very low BMI. I don’t understand how children can become so overweight. It’s tragic and the parents should have to attend mandatory child nutrition classes.

I cook from scratch, don’t stock junk food but don’t withhold healthy food, have occasional treats, etc etc, and I have one 15th %ile kid who eats like a bird and one 90th %ile kid who will have thirds of chicken and rice and salad. It’s complicated.

What is complicated about this?? First off, because your kid is 90th percentile doesn’t mean he has high BMI, it’s how his weight is distributed relative to height. If he has high BMI, he is eating too much and you are responsible for making sure he cools it on the thirds or gets more exercise. Calories in calories out - IT IS NOT COMPLICATED FOR 8 YEAR OLDS

So your advice is that when a child is hungry, I should deny them healthy food? “Sorry honey, you’re fat.”

DP but YES of course you should! Kids (and adults) should learn that it’s okay to “feel” hungry sometimes! If he’s getting enough calories he’s not *actually* starving, he’ll be fine. And then he’ll adapt and won’t feel hungry constantly unless his stomach is literally packed with food.

It’s fine to feel hungry. It’s not fine to get up from the dinner table still hungry.

I offer my kids the same meals. One is very hungry and wants a lot. One is not very hungry and does not want very much. They have similar activity levels. I’m serious — you guys thinks I should say “no you can’t have another bowl of soup, Larlo”?

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the same boat OP. We don’t withhold much of anything, they get a treat after dinner, and they have very low BMI. I don’t understand how children can become so overweight. It’s tragic and the parents should have to attend mandatory child nutrition classes.

I cook from scratch, don’t stock junk food but don’t withhold healthy food, have occasional treats, etc etc, and I have one 15th %ile kid who eats like a bird and one 90th %ile kid who will have thirds of chicken and rice and salad. It’s complicated.

What is complicated about this?? First off, because your kid is 90th percentile doesn’t mean he has high BMI, it’s how his weight is distributed relative to height. If he has high BMI, he is eating too much and you are responsible for making sure he cools it on the thirds or gets more exercise. Calories in calories out - IT IS NOT COMPLICATED FOR 8 YEAR OLDS

So your advice is that when a child is hungry, I should deny them healthy food? “Sorry honey, you’re fat.”

DP but YES of course you should! Kids (and adults) should learn that it’s okay to “feel” hungry sometimes! If he’s getting enough calories he’s not *actually* starving, he’ll be fine. And then he’ll adapt and won’t feel hungry constantly unless his stomach is literally packed with food.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the same boat OP. We don’t withhold much of anything, they get a treat after dinner, and they have very low BMI. I don’t understand how children can become so overweight. It’s tragic and the parents should have to attend mandatory child nutrition classes.

I cook from scratch, don’t stock junk food but don’t withhold healthy food, have occasional treats, etc etc, and I have one 15th %ile kid who eats like a bird and one 90th %ile kid who will have thirds of chicken and rice and salad. It’s complicated.

What is complicated about this?? First off, because your kid is 90th percentile doesn’t mean he has high BMI, it’s how his weight is distributed relative to height. If he has high BMI, he is eating too much and you are responsible for making sure he cools it on the thirds or gets more exercise. Calories in calories out - IT IS NOT COMPLICATED FOR 8 YEAR OLDS

I think many parents don’t understand BMI vs. weight percentile. My teen’s weight percentile is 99% but his BMI is under 20 (and 50th percentile for kids BMI). Because he’s tall - so it makes sense that he’s relatively heavy.

And he also eats a ton compared to his younger siblings, because he NEEDS to eat a ton to support his current size and continued growth. His little sister doesn’t need to eat as much, and if I fed her exact same food in the exact same quantities as him, of course she’d get chunky. But I wouldn’t scratch my head and tell everyone “well I feed both of my kids the same and one is fat and one is thin! This is so darn complicated!”