Miche wrote:
> In article >,
> "Polly Esther" > wrote:
>
>> What do you think about this? Yesterday ABC news was talking about a
>> Harvard professor who suggests the gov't should take kids away from
>> their parents if the chunky little darlings are over weight. Sounds
>> like a plan to me but what is the state going to do with them when
>> they take them?
>
> Sounds fine to me as long as they take away the super-skinny ones too.

I was one of the super skinny ones and it wasn't my parent's fault. I ate.
And ate and ate. But I couldn't gain an ounce. Yes I was active. I can
remember my friend and I stuffing ourselves with food until we felt sick and
then sitting in the kitchen chairs just staring at each other in the hopes
of not burning any calories and putting on weight. She was skinny too but
she was short. AFAIK people didn't make fun of her. I was very tall so it
earned me the nickname of Lt. Twig. Twiggy was popular in those days and so
was the original Star Trek. At came we did a Star Trek skit and that was
the name I was given. It stuck.

And now I am fat. And I don't overeat. For many years this was difficult
for me because I was used to eating so much for so long. I had to learn to
cut back and ignore hunger. Now this is easy to do with he gastroparesis.
For the most part I do not feel hungry any more and sometimes I have to
force myself to eat. Yes, once in a while I will feel hungry. But more
often it will be what I call "eye hunger". I see something. A picture of
food. An ad on TV. A recipe. And that looks appealing. So I will want
it. But I am not taking in excess calories. I know this because I
downloaded the Cron-O-Meter and for several weeks I ran all of everything I
consumed through it to see where I stood nutritionally. Apparently I am
severely lacking in vitamin E. But taking in mostly 1,000 calories per day.
Once in a while as much as 1,200 calories a day. Hardly excess.

As for kids, I have seen all manner of things. Extremely picky kids who are
malnourished because they will eat little more than pasta, white rice and
white bread. The one example I am thinking of is in counseling to overcome
her food aversions. For some reason she believes if she eats other foods
they will make her sick. I could understand this if she had an allergic
reaction to a food or for some other reason fell ill after eating some food.
But this isn't the case.

Another girl is the youngest of a large family. Her mother has admitted
that she doesn't feed her dinner till 10:00 at night and she doesn't know
what she eats for the rest of the day. And I haven't seen her eat much
aside from candy and fruit. She is allowed to pack her own meals. My
daughter is also allowed to pack her own meals but they have to be
nutritionally sound. There has to be a protein, a starch a vegetable and
usually also a fruit.

Another girl's mother complains that she is having low blood sugar and yet I
have yet to see her eat a whole meal. The mom does not allow it. She will
feed her a couple of bites of a protein bar, a few grapes or a cracker. The
girl will complain that she is hungry but the mother won't let her have a
meal. This girl is by no means overweight but is also not skinny scrawny.
She will take her at times to McDonalds for something called a "Chicken
Snacker". Now I don't know for sure what this is because I don't darken
their door but it sounds to me like a snack and not a meal.

I buy things from time to time for my husband that he does not eat and we
can not eat. Like energy bars, cupcakes and cookies. Sometimes he eats
these things. Sometimes not. I never know. If he doesn't eat them I will
take them to the dance studio before they go bad. I have seen some of the
skinniest kids, eating these in secret and wolfing down quantities that
would make my stomach hurt! One such girl is on a strict diet and the mom
said she is not allowed sugar. However she has given the girl sugar in lieu
of meals on occasion. And she says the girl won't eat her meals.

So I have seen all manner of things. I do not think you can tell what type
of foods the child has been eating based on their size alone. Once in a
while I will see some sort of skin rash that makes me think the child might
have a food allergy that is either being ignored or is not known. And in
the case of the girl with the food aversions, I suspect celiac based on
several things the mother has told me. Such as crumbling teeth and lack of
growth. This girl looks to be many years younger than she is.

There is also something called Prader Willi. It is a medical condition that
causes the sufferer to want to eat huge amounts of food. They never feel
full. But there is a lot more to it than the eating. The people who suffer
from this have something wrong with their brains. They do not develop
normally physically and can have learning disabilities. They tend to be
overweight even when placed on a strict diet of 800 calories per day and
according to the show I watched on this that is all the calories their
bodies need.

Then there is Down Syndrome. People who suffer from this also tend to be
overweight.

And I am sure there are a lot of other syndomes or maladies that I don't
even know of. Should we take all children away that are not of a certain
weight? I think not.

I don't know the answer. I do see parents who IMO are not feeding their
children properly. In some cases perhaps they don't know what is right. Or
maybe they do deep down inside but are doing otherwise. At least in this
area, nutrition is covered in school. In many grades. My daughter knows
what she is supposed to eat.