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First Lady Michelle Obama takes heat for naming Sasha, Malia in campaign against childhood obesity
LATimes ^ | February 9, 2010 | Johanna Neuman

Posted on 02/09/2010 10:51:37 AM PST by maggief

EXCERPT

Now, some critics are questioning whether using her own daughters as examples is fair to them. "Was it hurtful to her girls?" asked one blogger who focuses on Mommy issues. Psychology Today even questioned the first lady for using the word "chubby" to describe her daughters.

While her heart is in the right place, Michelle may not have considered or been familiar with the delicate balance between preventing obesity and triggering eating disorders. She mentioned that she put her children on a diet after her pediatrician and their father felt they were getting “chubby.” Words like “chubby” don’t cause eating disorders but they are often a trigger to disordered eating behavior. As an eating disorder professional, we would strongly caution parents from using labels or prerogative words to describe their child’s weight as this has lasting impacts on a child’s self esteem.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: boobbelt; childhoodobesity; firstwookie; flotusmichelle; malia; obama; obamafamily; sasquatch; wookie
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To: AtlasStalled
"We need more (fat) white people!"

U.S. first lady Michelle Obama speaks during an event held to unveil a nationwide campaign to combat childhood obesity, at the White House in Washington February 9, 2010.

21 posted on 02/09/2010 11:06:57 AM PST by maggief
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To: maggief

Once a clerk at a store referred to me (when my sister was hunting me down and asked her) as “heavy-set,” and I’ve never, ever forgotten it, and she was no relative to me, not even someone I’ve ever met before and I *only* was about ten pounds overweight at the time. The sting of cruel words to describe your very own flesh and blood (the same flesh and blood that Michelle feels is disposable) is felt even more so, I would imagine. Shame, shame on Michelle. Do you think “her heart was in the right place”? I hope her kids become pro-life zealots. That would fix her.


22 posted on 02/09/2010 11:08:12 AM PST by mlizzy ("Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person" --Mother Teresa.)
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To: allmendream

If you leave most of these kids alone and stop being helicopter parents, kids usually grow up and out of these “problems”. Geez, but we’re an obsessive society.


23 posted on 02/09/2010 11:08:58 AM PST by InvisibleChurch (happily replying to threads without reading the articles since 2002)
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To: getitright
You might think that health would take precedence over looks at some point.

A preteen girl need not look like a runway model. That is an unhealthy weight, and an unhealthy obsession, and a outdated mindset (that the value of a woman/girl is defined by if men like to look at her or not).

A twelve year old girl at a healthy weight SHOULD look a little chubby by Hollywood standards.

The diets and obsessing over what men think of how they look will start up with a vengeance soon enough. Why stoke the fire and destroy the last days of their childhood?

24 posted on 02/09/2010 11:08:59 AM PST by allmendream (Income is EARNED not distributed. So how could it be re-distributed?)
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To: maggief

Michelle: "I have to speak to school kids today. You know what that means."

"Set up the TOTUS!"

25 posted on 02/09/2010 11:09:33 AM PST by N. Theknow (Kennedys: Can't fly, can't ski, can't drive, can't skipper a boat, but they know what's best.)
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To: maggief

And regarding her own caboose she said........nadda


26 posted on 02/09/2010 11:10:52 AM PST by Happyinmygarden (Yes, actually, I have pretty much seen and heard it all before...)
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To: maggief

I think they’re cute girls that look just fine.


27 posted on 02/09/2010 11:11:17 AM PST by mom4melody
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To: mlizzy

I heard the same words as a child from an uncle and have never forgotten them. Right before I got married my mom and brother were along on a shopping trip with me and my brother told my mom that I walked like I was fat and he didn’t understand why (she told me later). I was 125 pounds and believed I was fat. That’s what adults’ words can do to you.


28 posted on 02/09/2010 11:11:49 AM PST by keepitreal ( Don't tread on me.)
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To: maggief
There's nothing like a mother blabbing to the world about her daughters' issues with weight....

((Close your ears Sasha and Malia...you are perfect!!!))

29 posted on 02/09/2010 11:12:14 AM PST by BossLady (POLITICS - Showbiz for Ugly People)
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Comment #30 Removed by Moderator

To: maggief

Michelle is somewhat chunky herself


31 posted on 02/09/2010 11:13:48 AM PST by bt579 (America elected a reader when it needs a leader. Clean the House in 2010, Right the Wrong in 2012.)
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To: Morgana

Pointing out the faults of your children shows your own insecurity about yourself.


32 posted on 02/09/2010 11:13:51 AM PST by keepitreal ( Don't tread on me.)
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To: maggief

Mrs. O, please don’t call your children names anymore. Don’t you know that when your young and the outside world puts you down or calls you names like “chubby”, the place you go for comfort is home.

Think Mrs. O. Where will your children go for comfort if you’ve called them names too?


33 posted on 02/09/2010 11:14:56 AM PST by GloriaJane (Pro-Choice = Pro-Death........ Pro-Life = Pro-LIFE!)
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To: TexasCajun

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8449184.stm

“Daddy, I had to eat a lot of chocolate today.”


34 posted on 02/09/2010 11:15:47 AM PST by maggief
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To: allmendream

Thank you!!! As if it isn’t already hard enough to be a tween. Perhaps she should refer to her own chubbiness before throwing the girls under the bus.


35 posted on 02/09/2010 11:18:24 AM PST by marstegreg
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To: keepitreal

I was skinny as a child and to this day, I hate being called that. Except now I am FAT. And it doesn’t bother me when people say I am fat. Just don’t call me skinny.


36 posted on 02/09/2010 11:19:00 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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Comment #37 Removed by Moderator

To: maggief
uhbama and his bride prove over and over and over that they are the most undereducated-educated, insensitive, ego driven pricks ever.
38 posted on 02/09/2010 11:20:41 AM PST by Republic (I love Rush)
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To: maggief

They are at the chubby stage of prepubescence. so long as she is feeding them healthy food, she should not put them on a diet. my pediatrician tried to tell me my son was chubby at that age, and i knew darn well it was pre-growth spurt and as my older daughter grew out of it within a year so did he. not an ounce of flab on either of them.


39 posted on 02/09/2010 11:21:16 AM PST by xsmommy
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To: maggief

The Children will development like their parents, it is called Genes. It is a shame, good or bad we get our body frames, etc from heritage. Michelle should not choose this as her First Lady platform because how can you talk about childhood obesity or obesity at all when from the waist down you look like a BW Bus. Improper nutrition can cause serious problems with growth and all over health. She cannot watch her children every minute and they may end up snitching food. The children will find a way. She could get them to take up smoking to kill their appetite like their Daddy. She needs to let her kids grow up naturally without making them the issue.


40 posted on 02/09/2010 11:27:07 AM PST by samantha (The New Media fighting the DBM for our Sanity, Survival ,Soldiers.)
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