I won’t slam you, because I basically agree with you - however, my problem is with the use of the BMI and the change of the definition of the words “overweight” and “obese.”
That is why I object to the schools doing this.
USE of BMI winds up putting star athletes into the overweight and obese categories, when nothing could be further from the truth.
I live in a primarily agricultural community and many of the kids I know would be considered overweight or obese in an urban setting based on their BMI, but these kids are not sedentary and they are not living on junk food. These kids are tending chicken houses, small farmettes, and even larger farm fields. They eat hearty because they play and work hearty and many do so from a very young age.
Until some folks around here really got to know our family they wondered if I actually fed my 8yo daughter enough, because she’s a little bit of nothing........then when they got to know us all, they realized that is just the way she is because she will eat everything on her plate and go back for more. Her best friend is a very big girl and actually outweighs me by 10 pounds, which means she outweighs my daughter by 50-60#.
Yesterday afternoon they asked me if they could take a break from filling seed start pots - a very sedentary thing to be doing.........they then both proceeded to work on perfecting their cartwheels and somersaults in the side field. After that they raided the vegetable drawer in the fridge for carrots for a snack.
I find BMI to be a very deceptive form of determining if one is unfit, overweight or obese.
Actually, I agree with you there. BMI was never intended to be a "precise" measurement of body fat. You need to jump into a water vat or undergo analysis with a electronic device to get more detailed info. Which is outside the scope and budget of most schools.
But the truth of the matter is -- kids ARE getting fatter -- And their parents doesn't seem to be aware of it.
Either they don't care or they don't know what to do about it because the parents usually don't take good care of themselves. I suspect the latter.
And guess what? If these parents used a little bit of intelligence, they can go to Amazon.com and do a search. Find fat loss books that have lots of feedback and high ratings from readers. If your budget is low, buy the books used.
And yes, the fat loss industry is over-saturated and extremely confusing at best... You need to sift the wheat from the chaff. Because there are books and information sources out there that will give you EXACT good quality information to whip everyone in the household in great shape.
You see, we have a choice of how we want to be. That is the special thing about human beings -- we are the only living thing on the earth that can do this...