Childhood Obesity Epidemic

[Guest guest]

This is a worrisome topic.

As noted, its probably a combination of things children do for

recreation and for diet.

Video games and TV are a lot more common now than playing a sport, or

even playing in the yard. As far as food, Mc's and Cheesy Poofs

have become the staple as opposed to a balanced healthy diet.

I'm in my early twenties, and dietary habits among even others of my

age are atrocious. Soft drinks, fast food, and candy bars are more

the rule than the exception. Combine that with little or no exercise,

and you've got a problem.

I also wonder if the epidemic may not have to do with an emphasis

more on fat-free foods, with people thinking that absence of fat

equates to absence of calories. All the time not realizing that the

refined carbohydrates in the food make it just as bad if not worse.

man

Birmingham, AL

[Guest guest]

Among the reasons given for the increase [in obesity]: Children are

spending much more

> time watching television, using computers and playing video games,

> -------------------

>

> Dr Mel C Siff

> Denver, USA

> Supertraining/

Just an anecdote to elaborate on this fact. As a kid, I remember

spending most of my days outside, usually playing hockey (until my

feet were so frozen that when done I would look inside my skates to

make sure no toes had stayed there!), basketball or just about any

game imaginable. I'd also be begging my mother to go outside after

supper on school days or to stay out later once I was there (just a

few more minutes!!!).

The last few years that I lived in Québec, I lived in a neighborhood

full of kids and I noticed something: I'd leave say to go do

groceries and I'd come across kids playing hockey in the street.

Cool! But just an hour later sometimes, I'd come back and no hockey

game in sight! What gives! And I've seen that over and over. Kids

going outside to play and going back in within a few minutes

sometimes, usually because they all start talking about that new Sega

game or that new site they found on the Internet. Nothing wrong with

that of course, but I think nowadays, the balance between exercise

and play outside, and more sedentary activities is way off. What are

parents to do about this new phenomena? I don't have kids of my own

now, but the thought of having to deal with sedentary children either

in class or at home does concern me...

Lépine

Vancouver BC

[Guest guest]

This area touches me deeply. I am a middle school PE teacher and I am amazed

at the level of fitness and apapthy of a lot of kids these days. Thanks for

touching on this. I would welcome any comments/suggestions from the group

regarding these

comments

1. I currently do a lot of " introductory " training in my classes. I include

track and field work, dumbbell and body weight training, tag and agility

games, etc. I do not have a " weight room " , but would welcome any/all

suggestions of what the experts think I should include in my classes.

2. I am constantly bombarded by kids who complain of pains in their knees,

back, etc. I personally think some of it is from growing, but a lot of it is

from lack of work, training, etc. I just think kids these days, on a whole,

are weaker than past generations. Any comments?

[in most cases this is called " malingering " and is often a skill acquired by

watching the excuses of lazy adults. Of course, that sort of ploy has to be

taken seriously

in litigious America, because the ability of the teacher is limited not only

by education but by legal games, parents, politicians and various others who

know better than any experienced teacher. Children also need to be taught some

of

the science of training, and that soreness, DOMS, etc, are often quite natural

signs

of adaptation to training - and that the pain of EFFORT is very different from

the

pain of INJURY. Mel Siff]

3. I also run my own training business and mostly work with high school age

kids. For the most part, I am their first exposure to lifting/training.

What do you think are good exercises to include in a beginning program. I

include many body weight (squats, lunges, step ups, push ups, pull ups,

etc.), med ball work and light dumbbell exercises and teach the basic

movements and lead ups for the core lifts (squats, bench, snatch, clean,

jerk). I would love to hear from the experts.

Thanks,

Jon Beyle

Chapel Hill, NC

[Guest guest]

To Jon,

I remember one of my physical education professors in college said to a

group of us something like this:

" Physical educations teachers are busy teaching high school students how to

play catch the ball while the 11th grader has just come from trigonometry

class and he is never being told about muscles and joints and so he thinks

you (the Phys. Ed. teacher) are stupid because of it. " (paraphrased)

I never forgot that statement. Maybe you'll find it useful too. All the

best,

J. Farley, M.A., Psy.D.

President

The Optimal Performance Institute

www.opi.edu

Re: Childhood Obesity Epidemic

> This area touches me deeply. I am a middle school PE teacher and I am

amazed

> at the level of fitness and apapthy of a lot of kids these days. Thanks

for

> touching on this. I would welcome any comments/suggestions from the group

regarding these

> comments

>

> 1. I currently do a lot of " introductory " training in my classes. I

include

> track and field work, dumbbell and body weight training, tag and agility

> games, etc. I do not have a " weight room " , but would welcome any/all

> suggestions of what the experts think I should include in my classes.

>

> 2. I am constantly bombarded by kids who complain of pains in their

knees,

> back, etc. I personally think some of it is from growing, but a lot of it

is

> from lack of work, training, etc. I just think kids these days, on a

whole,

> are weaker than past generations. Any comments?

>

> [in most cases this is called " malingering " and is often a skill acquired

by

> watching the excuses of lazy adults. Of course, that sort of ploy has to

be taken seriously

> in litigious America, because the ability of the teacher is limited not

only

> by education but by legal games, parents, politicians and various others

who

> know better than any experienced teacher. Children also need to be taught

some of

> the science of training, and that soreness, DOMS, etc, are often quite

natural signs

> of adaptation to training - and that the pain of EFFORT is very different

from the

> pain of INJURY. Mel Siff]

>

> 3. I also run my own training business and mostly work with high school

age

> kids. For the most part, I am their first exposure to lifting/training.

> What do you think are good exercises to include in a beginning program. I

> include many body weight (squats, lunges, step ups, push ups, pull ups,

> etc.), med ball work and light dumbbell exercises and teach the basic

> movements and lead ups for the core lifts (squats, bench, snatch, clean,

> jerk). I would love to hear from the experts.

>

> Thanks,

> Jon Beyle

> Chapel Hill, NC

>

>

>

> Modify or cancel your subscription here:

>

> mygroups

>

> Don't forget to sign all letters with full name and city of residence if

you

> wish them to be published!

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

> I have 2 practical solutions:

> 1) Return to old fashion diet, not 90% carbs.

> 2) Encourage play, pick up games,etc...put a basket up,encourage

> neighborhood kids to play on it, drive to park 2x week with kids for

> informal pick up games,etc...

>

> Diego Crespo

> Quito,Ecuador

Diego makes a wonderful, but very understated point with respects to

diet. No one, not an adult, child, or competitive athlete can

exercise enough to handle overconsumption of foods. The human body is

way too efficient, whether at rest or even under heavy loads. (I

think Dr. Siff mentioned that he doesn't worry about consumption and

often does a workout after eating a handful of nuts...)

A few weeks ago, I found this example of how efficient we really

are.... a person running a marathon (26 miles or 42 km) burns only

about 2,600 calories. In other words, you burn only about 100

calories per mile (about 62 calories per km) when you are running.

(How many calories in just one meal? Well if it is Mcs..How

about one Hamburger? (740) Fries? (540) Medium coke (310) gee that's

a total of 1590 for this one meal. Now add another two meals....and

the picture gets even worse.)

Another way you can see just how efficient the human body is if you

compare your body to a car. A typical car gets between 15 to 30 miles

per gallon of gasoline (6 to 12 km/L). A gallon of gas contains about

31,000 calories. That means that if a human being could drink

gasoline instead of eating hamburgers to take in calories, a human

being could run 26 miles on about one-twelfth of a gallon of gas (0.3

L). In other words, a human being gets more than 300 miles per gallon

(120 km/L)! If you put a human being on a bicycle to increase the

efficiency, a human being can get well over 1,000 miles per gallon

(more than 500 km/L)!

With this type of calorie efficiency in humans, its very easy for

children in the west to over consume food on any given day. A cholate

bar here, a soda there, do you want some fries with that?

If we really want to help answer the childhood obesity epidemic we

need to find a way to help them eat a more sensible diet that

contains less calories...in a world that temps you at every turn. If

we can solve the overconsumption problem, I would be willing bet that

we wouldn't be talking about adding exercise to our children

lives...they would be very willing to be active.

Reg Foulkes

Ottawa, Canada

[Guest guest]

....... the balance between exercise and play outside, and more sedentary

activities is way off. What are parents to do about this new phenomena? I

don't have kids of my own now, but the thought of having to deal with

sedentary children either in class or at home does concern me...

Ben Freeman reply:

*** - I agree with you here in that I believe parents CAN have a lot of

influence. The kids who live next door to my father are a prime example -

they are fat and don't go to school. Instead they roam the streets and

abuse people and property, all in the name of 'fun'. ALL the while, their

parents know that their kids are not in school and yet STILL do nothing

about it - THEY are the example If not for their young age, these

children would be in the juvenile detention centre. At barely 13yrs of age

they are already known to the police !!

Cheers

Ben Freeman

Melbourne, Australia

[Guest guest]

It was written:

<2. I am constantly bombarded by kids who complain of pains in their knees,

back, etc. I personally think some of it is from growing, but a lot of it

is from lack of work, training, etc. I just think kids these days, on a

whole, are weaker than past generations. Any comments?>

Mel Siff commented:

<In most cases this is called " malingering " and is often a skill acquired by

watching the excuses of lazy adults. Of course, that sort of ploy has to be

taken seriously in litigious America, because the ability of the teacher is

limited not only by education but by legal games, parents, politicians and

various others who know better than any experienced teacher. Children also

need to be taught some of the science of training, and that soreness, DOMS,

etc, are often quite natural signs of adaptation to training - and that the

pain of EFFORT is very different from the pain of INJURY. >

**** In regard to Mel's last comment here about effort vs injury it would be

very interesting to hear others' opinions about who, if anyone, was to

'blame' for children's lack of effort in many of their activities ? (sorry

for the choice of words)

<3. I also run my own training business and mostly work with high school age

kids. For the most part, I am their first exposure to lifting/training.

What do you think are good exercises to include in a beginning program. I

include many body weight (squats, lunges, step ups, push ups, pull ups,

etc.), med ball work and light dumbbell exercises and teach the basic

movements and lead ups for the core lifts (squats, bench, snatch, clean,

jerk). I would love to hear from the experts. >

**** You can't go wrong with rope climbing and those 'core' lifts you

mention. In my opinion, a little bit of yoga is good also, as it teaches one

about

subtle differences about body position and movement. It is also quite

relaxing

Regards

Ben Freeman

Melbourne, Australia

[Guest guest]

It was written:

<I have 2 practical solutions:

1) Return to old fashion diet, not 90% carbs.

2) Encourage play, pick up games, etc...put a basket up,encourage

neighborhood kids to play on it, drive to park 2x week with kids for

informal pick up games, etc... >

**** I agree, but *how* do we get them to do this ? I mean what do you

say or do when they say 'I don't want to' ?

Cheers

Ben Freeman

Melbourne, Australia

[Guest guest]

Our modern society norms are killing our kids. I was alarmed (not for the

first time) when my grandson on Christmas day was encouraged by his parents

to play with his electronic games, rather than to go outside (it was sunny

and warm here) and learn to ride his new bicycle. It was less trouble for

the parents obviously.

I don't believe that we are raising a generation of obese children because

of advertising and lack of after school sports sponsored by public schools

- I think it's that convenience for the parents seems to be overriding what

is good for the children. Convenience foods, convenience activities, etc...

Any other opinions?

Madeline Chen

Colorado Springs, CO

Project Consultant

719-338-6757

[Guest guest]

e coaches " , the impulse to make your children perfect ballerina's, computer

engineers, pro athletes, geniuses, in elementary school,etc " .

X-eGroups-Edited-By: Supertraining@...

I am getting some of my posts edited. Although I write in a very informal

way, on purpose, sometimes with slang, the changes sometimes take the

meaning out of my sentences. Please note I wrote:

...(what do they do in school anyways, they spend more time in there than

college students and still have hours of homework?), " Vince Lombardi want a

be coaches " , the impulse to make your children perfect ballerina's, computer

engineers, pro athletes, geniuses, in elementary school,etc " .

ABOVE I AM DESCRIBING A TYPE OF COACH AS " WANNABE LOMBARDIS "

This was posted:

<...And we have things such as this thrust upon them: " Vince Lombardi wants us

to be coaches " , the

impulse to make your children perfect ballerinas, computer engineers, pro

athletes,

geniuses - even in elementary school, etc " . >

BELOW THIS MAKES NO SENSE, " VINCE LOMBARDI WANTS US TO BE???? " . I hope i am

not losing my mind.

[The original text was edited, as is the case with all " letters to the editor " ,

because it made no sense at

all as it stood. I regret that I did not interpret your message as you thought

it should be, but friends of

mine who were with me also could not make head or tail out of the original, so I

had to make what I thought

was the best call. I take great pains to edit any English problems with all ESL

(English as a Second language)

speakers because I think that they are wonderful in being able to use English as

competently they do and I

thought that this was just such a case where I was being helpful.

To assist all of us now, please explain what these sentences mean:

1. " what do they do in school anyways, they spend more time in there than

college students and still have hours of homework?) "

2. " " Vince Lombardi want a be coaches " , the impulse to make your children

perfect ballerina's, computer

engineers, pro athletes, geniuses, in elementary school, etc " .

The latter sentence is especially confusing and unclear, particularly since it

displays no standard subject-verb

structure. Because there is no such word as " anyways " and " ballerina's " is not

the plural of " ballerina " , these

words were also edited. Punctuation in the first sentence also needed editing

to enhance its clarity. Now I am

fully aware that some members of the list are aligned against any emphasis on

syntactical and linguistic correctness,

but I prefer to ensure here that language usage, like exquisite sporting skills,

adds to, rather than detracts

from, the value of the discipline. Constant exposure to and acceptance of

mispelled and misused words ultimately

leads to an inability to distinguish correct from incorrect, and the gradual

demise of language use, especially among

the young - and have not other letters already been lamenting " the dumbing of

America " ? Note, too, that mispellings

of any terms mean that the search engine often will not be able to trace those

terms in the archives.

My objective is to offer a highly educational and scientifically analytical

professional forum whose archives and general

information serve as an exemplary source of easily accessible and clearly

explained information, not simply a

" chat room " . There are numerous genuine chat room lists that cover topics such

as those embraced by " Supertraining " ,

but my unabashed aim is to run a distance education group that sets the highest

possible standards like the Harvards,

MITs, Princetons, Stanfords, Oxfords, Cambridges and Sorbonnes of the Internet.

All journals set a specific set of

guidelines for all who wish to be published - right or wrong, liked or disliked,

" Supertraining " follows a similar

philosophy and strives in this manner to offer a product which displays

excellence of content and manner of

expression. I trust that this expansion on the list's philosophy helps everyone

understand its objectives even more

clearly. So, if you really wish to assist in this regard, please pay careful

attention to what you write and how you

write it, for this definitely will enhance the quality of the product for all

who receive its vast free service. Simply

using a spell check before you rush off a letter will pick up most typos and add

to the quality of what you send. Mel Siff]

Diego Crespo

Quito, ecuador

----- Original Message -----

From: Diego Crespo <gladiadores@...>

> Ben,

> In my experience these things just occur..it is natural. E.g.

>

> 1) I have never told my kids " dont eat sweets " . In fact, when they were

> children, based on what I had heard that children in natural cultures reject

> sweets and based on nutritional studies that said that children know what to

> eat that were presented to us in class lectures I took all candies and

> sweets and put them on the bottom drawer of the kitchen. My kids have never

> felt guilty about eating sweets.....now in halloween they just leave about

> 95% of the candy without eating it.

>

> My one kid does eat to many carbs in my opinion, and started to get a

> little belly, which she noticed..so i suggested that that is how the body

> prepares for growth, but added.. drink half your Coke, more water, and half

> your fries...you need to eat more meat and vegetables. That is it. My

> child started gymnastics and started to grow, changed diet a little and is

> lean again.

>

> 2) If kids have a play environment, they will play 10 hours a day. They are

> experts at play. Remember when we were kids, we became experts at bike

> riding, basketball, soccer, exploring, fishing, tag, running, wrestling,

> learning everything ourselves and enjoying everything to the maximum. No

> classes. We learned everything. The only reason we stopped playing was

> because it was dark. As adults, we should IMO, provide a safe environment

> and put " tape " on our mouths and stay out so we dont turn play into work

> training. Although I think playing in pick up games is great.

>

> To provide a play environment one must avoid sport as business, as school

homework

> What do they do in school anyway - they spend more time there than

> college students and still have hours of homework? And we have things such

> as this thrust upon them: " Vince Lombardi wants us to be coaches " , the impulse

to make

> your children perfect ballerinas, computer engineers, pro athletes, geniuses

> - even in elementary school, etc " .

>

> Diego Crespo

[Guest guest]

Bob Forney wrote: . . . first we need to get the parents to help their kids

live more active lives. I think that is where the bigger problem is. Any

suggestions on how we can do this?

*** Easy (as long as the parents have their earplugs in): turn off the TV

(lock it off if you have to); turn off the computer (again lock it off);

lock up all games like Ntendo in a closet. Make a new house rule: one hour

a day of TV (the kid gets to pick which one, but only one) OR one hour of

computer games (use of computer for school projects and writing papers is a

different story, but you've got to supervise the situation. If you're not

home, then somehow there can be NO access to games, only word processing or

spread sheets or possibly some other necessary program); OR one hour a day

on the phone. No cheating, i.e. going to an undisciplined friend's house to

partake of the fanny-spreading pleasures.

No junk food in the house -- no soda, no chips, no candy. This is good for

the parents, too! Lots of milk in the fridge, lots of fresh fruit, plenty

of peanut butter and other nuts, etc. No handing out big hunks of cash so

Junior can go down to the local 7-11 and buy this stuff regularly. In fact,

less spending money, period, unless earned by the kid at a part-time job.

When the kids do go to work, then cut off the allowance because they are

capable of earning their own spending money.

No big fancy new cars. " A transportation piece " if absolutely necessary

(there are plenty of areas where, unfortunately, this is the case). And if

a car is provided, then the kid is responsible for paying for the gas and

part of the insurance. This isn't the only area in which kids need to be

made responsible, not only for some of the expense, but always for their own

actions. Of course, there's a big difference between a child of 7 or 8 and

a teenager of 15 or 16, but if someone is given responsibility that they can

handle, they are usually much happier.

Of course there must be rewards for good behavior as well. If a weekly trip

to Mc's is the desired " goody, " well, one Big Mac a week won't hurt.

The best reward, however, is parental praise: " Gosh, I'm really proud of

you! " or " Gee, you're a smart kid! " goes a long way.

As with many other things, the above is often easier said than done.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Rosemary Wedderburn-Vernon

Marina del Rey, CA

IronRoses@...