Posted on 08/26/2005 8:45:17 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Despite California's aggressive campaign against childhood obesity, school-aged kids are getting fatter.
Fitness test scores in public schools showed that about 28 in every 100 schoolchildren in California were overweight in 2004, up 6 percent from 2001, according to a report by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy.
The trend occurred among all racial, gender and age groups.
Although childhood obesity looked markedly worse in Los Angeles than other Assembly districts, no region of the state has been spared.
The study shows that about 28 percent of all children are overweight in the state's 32nd Assembly district, which includes part of Kern County and San Bernardino.
The number of overweight children jumped by about 10 percent in both Assembly districts 30 and 34 -- to 33.9 and 30.2 percent of kids respectively -- which cover parts of Kern County.
The study also noted that 75 percent of children who are overweight are expected to be overweight adults.
"We were really shocked by the findings. Given the amount of media coverage we did not expect this type of increase," Dr. Harold Goldstein, the center's executive director said. "It's a public health crisis."
Goldstein described Kern County as being on the "brink of a health disaster."
The obesity rate is higher in Hanford Democrat Nicole Parra's district than other Kern County districts with about one-third of children being overweight.
Parra said Thursday that she wasn't shocked by the increase of overweight children in her area because of the area's low education and employment rates.
"When families are struggling to find a place to live, food choices are a lower priority," Parra said. "A bag of beans and tortillas will last a family a month versus other, healthier foods."
The findings were based on results of a fitness test given to all public-school students in fifth, seventh and ninth grades.
All students categorized above a "health fitness zone" based on their body mass index were classified as overweight.
The results were broken down by Assembly district in hopes that policymakers would take heed and push harder for healthier snacks, bottled water and real fruit juice in schools.
The report recommends that state and local officials enact policies to address the problem.
Bills are pending in the Legislature that would extend partial bans on junk food and soda already in place.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supports a pair of school nutrition bills, SB-12 and SB-965, sponsored by state Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Whittier.
Parra said she is also behind the Escutia measures that would mandate nutritional standards for snack foods sold in elementary and junior high schools.
The Bakersfield City School District began banning soda sales at all 42 of its elementary and junior high schools in July to comply with a new state law.
Greenfield Union School District had stopped selling soda years before the state Legislature enacted the law.
Still, even the staunchest advocates of healthy food choices in the schools concede that removing junk food from school campuses is not enough to make a big dent in the problem.
"The biggest thing that we found that causes obesity is their inactivity level," Debbie Wood, coordinator of health services for Bakersfield City School District said. "We need to make sure that P.E. is a positive time for kids."
"The family that eats together, stays together."
Pass the "ho-hos", please.
when I see parents at grocery stores "asking" their children what they want to eat, I don't know why obesity is surprising.
when I was growing up, food was put on the table and we were expected to eat it all...fortunately for us, our mother was an excellent cook! LOL
but she NEVER took us to the grocery and "asked" us what we wanted to eat! like we all got our degrees in diet & nutrition! LMAO
Vending machines need to be outlawed on California school grounds. Any cafeteria worker caught selling a student soft drink gets an automatic 10 year prison sentence. Its the friggen sodas that are the problem.
"When families are struggling to find a place to live, food choices are a lower priority," Parra said. "A bag of beans and tortillas will last a family a month versus other, healthier foods."
Beans and tortillas are very healthy, low in fat and high in fiber. But somehow, I suspect these are not the sole ingredients.....
--http://www.publichealthadvocacy.org/center/index.html
Sounds like a great black market to me! "Psstt! Yo, man! Got that straight Coco-cola for you..., not that Coke Zero sh**!"
Buddy Hackett said that his mother had two choices on her menu: Take it or leave it! (recent Cryptoquote)
That's sad being Cali is considered to be America's bread basket. They have such a great assortment of good, healthy foods.
"assortment of good, healthy foods"
and we do!
fact is, you could live in the produce section of the grocery stores and not go down any other isle...not to mention the fresh seafood and fish.
I have a friggin' farm behind my house! LOL
and everybody I know "home schools" their children so what goes on in the schools I don't know about.
"Researchers presented more evidence yesterday blaming spread-out suburban development for America's obesity epidemic and for a variety of other public and mental health woes, allowing antisprawl activists to argue that new, compact forms of development would be better for the environment and also healthier for individuals."
"Millions are being spent this year on research on development patterns, neighborhood design, and health, funded by the CDC and by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Results of two more studies linking sprawl and health are expected in September."
http://www.glenwoodpark.com/net/content/item.aspx?s=11896.6163.78.6078
< /sarcasm tag> (not that it's needed)
If you ate not just beans, but re-fried beans and not just tortillas, but fried tortillas - all cooked in lard...you'd be a haystack, too.
I would look at other factors:
Growth hormones in our foods.
Compare pre-use and post-use in the population to see if their is any relationship.
Also, compare it with other countries that do not use growth hormones or such in their foods.
I second that. Plus mom didn't have any snacks or soda around. She just didn't buy that crap. Kids today eat all of that junk. The lowest income ones are the worst for buying, prepackaged microwavable crap, ice-cream, soda, chips, crackers, and all that stuff that costs a fortune. I thought they taught basic nutrition in school. Geez.
Don't even get me started about how the zero tolerance fear mongers and their allies (including plenty right here on FR) scared parents into thinking their kids would be better off inside playing Nintendo, then outside riding their bike, roller scating or rough housing in the yard (my personal favorite was playing guns, but we all know that's a BIG NO-NO) even though statistically speaking the US is a heck of a lot safer now then when i was a cute.
And whatever happend to the shame of being a big fat fat disgusting lard-butt? Kids and adults that were obese back in the day were ashamed off their weight, and wanted to lose weight. You felt sorry for them. Now days there is no shame at all in obesity. It's the status quo.
Add sour cream, tomatoes, onions, shredded cheese and extremely hot salsa and then you've got a deal.
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