Posted on 09/06/2009 1:07:11 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Tens of thousands of overweight children – some as young as four – will be shipped off to fat camp, under a Government scheme to tackle obesity.
Primary school pupils identified as being overweight will automatically be offered a place on a state-funded diet and exercise scheme.
Parents groups said the new NHS rules meant Labour had moved "beyond a nanny state, to a dictatorship."
Health experts warned that the public branding of young children as fat could damage their confidence, expose them to bullying and trigger eating disorders. However, paediatricians welcomed the move.
Under existing regulations, children are weighed when they start primary school – aged four or five – and again as they leave, at 10 or 11. Parents of all children receive a letter saying whether their children are healthy, overweight, underweight or very overweight. Latest figures show that by the time they leave school, one in three children is overweight.
When it was introduced three years ago, the weighing programme was met with a backlash from parents. In its first year, more than half withdrew their children from the scheme, for fear they would be bullied after the class weigh-in.
When families were advised that pupils would not be told their weights, nor singled out and told to diet, but that data would simply be used by local health planners to monitor the spread of obesity and to help them set up the right services, participation rates increased.
The new guidance, slipped out to NHS Primary Care Trusts in England during the school holidays, orders an immediate change of approach.
From this month, pupils whose weight is too high – or too low – will automatically be offered a referral to "weight management services" in areas which already run such programmes
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
"Skinny is beautiful."
Where’s the plan to send overweight politicians and government officials to NHS fat camps?
Re-education!
This is just stupid. Only reason the kids are so damn fat is that they eat too many carbs and don’t get enough exercise. I wonder if they have PE classes over there or not.
I tend to be skinny. And the months of summer work on the ranch have callused me, sunburnt me, and I haven't gained an ounce. Probably lost weight.
That said, the nanny staters here in the States can kiss my scrawny ass. Ain't none of the gooberment's business what I weigh. And my neighbors and relatives concerned about how skinny I am can take a flying leap at a rolling donut as well.
That's all I have to say about that subject.
/johnny
Can we send Barney Frank there???? Forever?
Kids are too fat because their mothers are neglecting them.
"Health experts warned that the public branding of young children as fat could damage their confidence, expose them to bullying and trigger eating disorders. However, paediatricians welcomed the move."Absolutely right as far as I am concderned. My pediatrician put me on a diet when I was in the 5th grade...I believe it created an innate belief within me that I was fat.
Only reason the kids are so damn fat is that they eat too many carbs and don’t get enough exercise.”
It really has nothing to do with the kids being fat.
No that’s not it at all. Not many of those gangbangers that have those wheels and all that stuff on their cars are fat and they were obviously raised in a neglectful environment. The reason America has become fat is because Americans are too damned lazy. It doesn’t take much to walk a mile. If Americans would just walk a mile a day and drink more water and less soda many of this country’s weight problems would evaporate overnight.
Who’s numbers are they using when they make the determination of proper weight? People call me skinny and I’m a good 15 pounds heavier than what the weight charts say I should be.
When I was still running long distance, I did weigh what the charts recommended. And people said I looked like those photos of the nazi concentration camp victims. I remember my sister yelled at me once...”I don’t care what those stupid charts say, when I can see your ribs in your back, you’re too skinny!”.
I also remember being at a party with long time friends at someone’s house and being confronted about my “health”. I was wasting away, is what they told me. What they didn’t understand was that I was training to run a marathon. They wouldn’t listen. I needed to see a doctor, is what they demanded...on the verge of death. When I told them I still weighed a pound or two above what the health charts said they made me step on a scale right there at the party. Every person there was stunned. I weighed 20 pounds more than any of them believed possible.
The are not “concentration camps”, they are “renutrition camps”.
Obesity has real health risks, including increased risks of diabetes, stroke, heart and respiratory problems. I struggled with sleep apnea and high blood pressure at my highest weight. I had the initial symptoms of Type II diabetes.
I decided to do something about it and looked at the research into the effects of diet and exercise on weight. I learned that the obese have issues with metabolism related to insulin production. The key to weight loss for me has been getting consistent exercise and controlling my diet. I try to get an hour a day of aerobic exercise (walking) at least six days per week and work on core strengthening routines each morning. I also have to practice "portion control" when eating and focus on low-glycemic index carbohydrates that are metabolized more slowly and are less likely to be stored as fat. This has produced steady progress. It will also have to be a permanent lifestyle change. That said, I feel much better, sleep better, and get fewer colds. I still have a long way to go to reach a healthy body-mass index.
Children younger and younger have these problems because of an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and a steady diet of high fat, carb, and calorie fast food. This is really an issue that should be addressed by parents. A good resource is the new book by Mackie Shilstone.
Governments and insurance companies who pay for the health care of these individuals are quite alarmed because of the tremendous cost of the care to deal with the health consequences of obesity. Hence the parent article.
I can pack on the pounds fairly easily, but I can take it off just as easily. My problem is that I become short of breath, heat intolerant, and develop very bad chronic heartburn if I am only a little above what I feel is my healthy weight. My job is physically demanding at times and I have to deal with temp extremes.
Example: earlier this year I was welding vents/ducts up on a black rubber roof when it was 100degrees outside. It very well could have been 150 on that black rubber. You can’t do that if you are out of shape. Heck, you really can’t do it very well IF YOU ARE IN SHAPE.
Part of the reason why my weight stays low is because I have such a sensitive stomach these days. I literally cannot eat fast food(most of it). I will be vomiting in 2 or 3 hours after eating mcdonnalds. Bean burritos from taco bell don’t do that to me. Deep fried stuff tears me up if I eat too much of it. I should probably get that checked out, and I will some day. It could be a gall bladder problem or an ulcer or something like that.
“This is just stupid. Only reason the kids are so damn fat is that they eat too many carbs and don’t get enough exercise. I wonder if they have PE classes over there or not.”
Its shocking to see how many giant kids are around these days. Our kids live a very unnatural lifestyle. So many just sit around playing video games and watching TV all day while filling themselves with soda and junk food. When we were growing up people not only ate less but we actually got outside. We played real baseball instead of MLB 2K10 and played real football instead of Madden. We also had PE class a lot more often than my kids have it today and had longer lunch recess. Perhaps PE and recess aren’t at all academic but boy does that extra couple hundred calories burned a day really add up over the course of the school year.
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