Fat Kids

[VanIsle]

With all the news there has been over the past few years regarding fat kids or fat people, do you think there is much change? Each cashier seemed to have their own story to tell regarding people who went through their till. At this time of the year we all see and most of us buy, a bunch of junk food. Counters at home are full of things like homemade short bread, tarts, chocolates, potato chips and the like.
One cashier told of a woman going through who had deceided the usual Christmas dinner was just not healthy. So, she was planning a completely organic, meat free meal consisting mostly of beans and greens. Mmmm Yummy huh!!!
On the other hand, I had a customer who had a very over weight child with her but two things seemed missing. Normally in such circumstances, with a child so over weight you see parents who are really overweight themselves or more often than not, these children have parents who had their child later in life and don't seem to notice that they are overweight and all their children are.
At first I thought that this child may have a disease contributing to the condition but then the groceries came out of the buggy. Numerous packages of Kraft Dinner all in a row and then - a big bag of cookies with something like M & M's in them. The Mom picked up the bag of cookies and said to the child "I said you couldn't have these and I don't think you will like them". All the child said - without hardly any fuss, was "I want them" and she looked at him for a moment and then put the cookies on the counter with the rest of the groceries. They did not appear to be people in need so to speak. The KD on the counter was lined up in such a fashion that it looked like his "dinner" for about a week. It was the real stuff and not the less expensive packages which again would have led me to believe that somewhere, there might be some kind of problem. At what point does a parent take responsibility for what they do or don't feed their child. Too skinny children included.

 

[AnnaG]

Perhaps when the kid develops type 2 diabetes at the age of 35 and has congestive heart failure at 40. Concern is too little, too late.

 

[lone wolf]

I have seen so many parents with "whatever-keeps-'em-quiet" attitudes. Maybe the world needs more people like my Gram....

 

[AnnaG]

I have seen so many parents with "whatever-keeps-'em-quiet" attitudes. Maybe the world needs more people like my Gram....

I don't know your Gram, but I agree with the other stuff. It's scary sometimes.

 

[Liberalman]

Fat kids don’t exercise and parents who have fat kids should be held responsible.

If Canada had mandatory military conscription for two years the fat kids would disappear and healthy fit kids would be the norm.

 

[AnnaG]

Fat kids don’t exercise and parents who have fat kids should be held responsible.

If Canada had mandatory military conscription for two years the fat kids would disappear and healthy fit kids would be the norm.

Oh, neat. Take kids that are used to shooting monsters in their XBox games, have no social skills, give them real guns, and let them loose on each other.
lol

 

[VanIsle]

Oh, neat. Take kids that are used to shooting monsters in their XBox games, have no social skills, give them real guns, and let them loose on each other.
lol

Sooo true. I have one grandson that spends so much time with left over paper towel rolls or Saran Wrap rolls, making guns! Hopefully it will pass.

 

[countryboy]

quote] I don't mean to monopolize all the space here, but thought some of you might enjoy the following story...completely on topic (I hope!)...CB

THE STORY OF BUD and SPUD

Once upon a time there were 2 potatoes growing in a field. Their names were “Bud” and “Spud.”


The farmer who grew and harvested them sold some to a food distributor and kept some for himself. Bud ended up in the farmer's potato bin and Spud was put on a truck for a long trip to the distributor's warehouse.


Bud spent months in the farmer's storage bin, with nothing to do but relax.


SPUD ARRIVES AT THE FACTORY


Spud spent his time quite differently. After he arrived at the warehouse, he spent a few days lying in storage with thousands of other potatoes. He was then loaded on to another truck for a long trip to a processing plant. When he arrived there, he was dumped unceremoniously on to a conveyor belt which took him through a pressure wash line. After that, the conveyor took him to the peeling station, where his skin (and most of the nutrients he had spent months proudly developing in the garden) were immediately removed.


He then proceeded to another station where he was cooked into a soft, pasty mush, along with thousands of his comrades. After being thoroughly cooked, the excess water was drained off – along with any remaining nutrients – and what was left was dumped into a big blending vat.


In the meantime, Bud continued his peaceful slumber in the potato bin.


SPUD MORPHS TO MUSH & ADDITIVES


Back at the factory, a great number of additional ingredients were being added to the blending vat which contained the starchy remnants of Spud and his many friends. Many of these ingredients originally came from his neighbors in the corn field which adjoined the potato field back on the farm. But these ingredients were quite unrecognizable as corn – there were flavorings to make Spud and his friends taste better, stabilizers to keep Spud from separating from his friends, thickeners to control the viscosity of the batch, and some other non-corn ingredients such as cheap beef fat for more flavoring and a great deal of sodium-laden salt to add even more flavor. The last item to be added was MSG, which is something that will make people come back for more.


And Bud still continued to relax in his original state back in the bin.


SPUD GETS PREPPED & PACKAGED


When Spud and the hideous mixture in which he was immersed got to just the right texture, he was extruded quickly through a machine that turned the entire vat into millions of little “sticks.” These sticks were then lowered into a giant cauldron of cheap processed cooking fat and were turned into 'par-cooked' french fries within minutes.


These fries were then plopped onto another conveyor belt and run through a quick freeze line where they became frozen french fries. As they proceeded through the process, they ended up in the packaging department where they were carefully weighed and dumped into giant plastic bags. These bags then ended up on in big cartons, where they spent another day in a giant freezer.


Bud continued to languish in peace back on the farm.


SPUD COMES TO AN UNGRACIOUS END


At the processing plant, what was left of Spud and his buddies – now frozen french fries – were loaded on to a big reefer truck and hit the road for a cross-continent journey to their ultimate destination. After 3 days of non-stop driving, Spud arrived at a fast food restaurant where he was unloaded and dumped into another freezer.


At this point, Bud's sleep in the bin was quietly interrupted by the farmer's wife when she came to pick him up and gently carry him to the kitchen. She proceeded to wash him carefully and prepare him for the oven. Bud didn't mind this at all, because this was his mission in life – to become part of a nutritious meal for someone.


Spud was also about to become a meal, albeit a much different one. He was no longer “pure” and in fact no longer resembled a potato. His physical and chemical makeup had changed dramatically, to the point where he could no longer fulfill his original mission – to become part of a nutritious meal for someone. His nutrients were gone.


He was now plunged into a greasy deep fryer somewhere far from home, fried to a golden brown, shoveled into a cardboard container, covered with salt, and put on to a tray. A young boy gobbled him up and that was pretty much the end of Spud.


Meanwhile, Bud was roasted for a while in the farmer's oven and then placed with honour on a dinner platter alongside some fresh vegetables and nice, grass-fed steak. The farmer and his wife gave thanks for such a wonderful, bountiful meal and proceeded to eat. Bud had accomplished his mission in life with honour and dignity.


Spud ended his days in a less dignified fashion. He ended up being flushed down the toilet after the young boy unceremoniously threw him up along with all the other junk he ate that day at the fast food restaurant.



The Moral of the story? If you treat your food with respect, it will take care of you!

- A Countryboy Original, written Jan. 2009 just for fun...

 

[YukonJack]

AnnaG said:

"Oh, neat. Take kids that are used to shooting monsters in their XBox games, have no social skills, give them real guns, and let them loose on each other."

Let us not forget that the Armed Forces will teach you the VALUE of life, namely defending your own, and those of your country men/women.

To write off the Armed Forces as nothing more than teaching how to kill is nothing short of disrespectful and irresponsible.

 

[Risus]

Perhaps the reason for fat kids is fat parents.

Besides, who's business is it if someone is fat or skinny?

 

[Niflmir]

I was one of the too skinny kids. I'm not really a kid anymore, but still what one might call "too skinny".

Whatever, I eat when I am hungry and don't suffer from any sort of malnourishment. The funny thing about being skinny is that people don't think twice about commenting on how disgustingly thin you are--those same people will spit bloody fury if you comment on how over-plump they are.

In my opinion, you don't have to finish everything on your plate. If you are full and their is food left on your plate, it has been wasted whether you eat it or not. If you eat it, not only did you waste it, but you are being unhealthy. Don't eat when you are full. Eating it is not going to feed starving children, and it shouldn't ease your guilt either.

People eat too much meat. Quarter pounder? That is almost two servings of meat! Double quarter pounder? Now that is like a week's worth of meat--in one meal! I swear some people don't think its a meal if there isn't meat. To me, if it's not a meal without the meat, it's not a meal to begin with.

 

[Risus]

I was one of the too skinny kids. I'm not really a kid anymore, but still what one might call "too skinny".

Whatever, I eat when I am hungry and don't suffer from any sort of malnourishment. The funny thing about being skinny is that people don't think twice about commenting on how disgustingly thin you are--those same people will spit bloody fury if you comment on how over-plump they are.

In my opinion, you don't have to finish everything on your plate. If you are full and their is food left on your plate, it has been wasted whether you eat it or not. If you eat it, not only did you waste it, but you are being unhealthy. Don't eat when you are full. Eating it is not going to feed starving children, and it shouldn't ease your guilt either.

People eat too much meat. Quarter pounder? That is almost two servings of meat! Double quarter pounder? Now that is like a week's worth of meat--in one meal! I swear some people don't think its a meal if there isn't meat. To me, if it's not a meal without the meat, it's not a meal to begin with.

Eating meat doesn't necessarily make you fat. Its what you eat and drink with it...

i was a skinny kid, am overweight now, and I know its the beer...

 

[Kakato]

I was one of the too skinny kids. I'm not really a kid anymore, but still what one might call "too skinny".

Whatever, I eat when I am hungry and don't suffer from any sort of malnourishment. The funny thing about being skinny is that people don't think twice about commenting on how disgustingly thin you are--those same people will spit bloody fury if you comment on how over-plump they are.

In my opinion, you don't have to finish everything on your plate. If you are full and their is food left on your plate, it has been wasted whether you eat it or not. If you eat it, not only did you waste it, but you are being unhealthy. Don't eat when you are full. Eating it is not going to feed starving children, and it shouldn't ease your guilt either.

People eat too much meat. Quarter pounder? That is almost two servings of meat! Double quarter pounder? Now that is like a week's worth of meat--in one meal! I swear some people don't think its a meal if there isn't meat. To me, if it's not a meal without the meat, it's not a meal to begin with.

I'm one of those peeps who can eat as much as I want or as little and stay the same wieght,as a kid I used to gore myself on moms baker chocolate if I could find it or any other sweet and I still do.
I still cant walk by a counter with the old style double bubble or thrills without buying a few handfulls.;-)


When someone asks why I am not fat I tell them I'm the new improved more sleek and efficient model.
I dont need as much fuel as some folks.:lol:

Kid's are going to just get fatter now as they dont go out and do the thing's we did before computers and video games,like ride their bikes around town and look for pop bottles,or hit the swimming hole,basically stay out as late as you could doing healthy things untill you knew you would get grounded if you didnt get home before curfew.

Pretty sad actually,ten years ago there would be kids tobogganing down the hill next door at this time,now their all glued to facebook.

 

[Niflmir]

Yeah, meat won't make you fat, necessarily. I just use it as an example of a culture of bad eating.

Well, a sedentary lifestyle is fine, if you have the diet to match it. You can seat around all day and do basically nothing and not gain a pound, if you have a diet which matches it. Problem is, most people eat what they are used to: a while back, people worked a lot and so ate a lot. But if you don't do anything all day, you don't need that much.

The chemical cocktails surely don't help, either.

 

[Kakato]

In Nunavut a "pooch" is looked at as an assett before any marriage,if Ookpik and his wife are stuck out on the tundra for ten days in a ground blizzard she wont require any food so he only has to leave the iglu to hunt for himself.

Same with the guy,if he has a gut,he's good marriage material with the gals.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

VanIsle, our son was a fat kid. In elementary school, he even suffered a bit of teasing for being fat, from other kids.

But it soon passed. By grade 9, he had developed into an intelligent, extroverted, all rounded boy. He reached the top of his class academically in grade 9, and stayed there all the way to grade 13 (in those days, Ontario had grade 13, they abolished it recently).

However he remained overweight throughout. Neither me nor my wife got onto his case or tried to nag him into losing weight. I figured kids have enough problems as it is, without parents adding to the problems. If he is going to lose weight, it has to come from within himself; I didn’t think anybody nagging would accomplish anything. We were careful to keep only healthy food in our house.

Anyway, he graduated from high school and moved on to the university. A couple of years at the university and he realized that he was overweight and that he had to reduce weight. He started watching what he ate, joined a gym and exercised regularly and brought his weight down. He has kept it down ever since.

But it all came from within himself, we never nagged him, blamed him about his weight. I personally don’t think nagging serves any purpose. If he wants to reduce the weight, he will do it, without nagging or urging by anybody else.

As it happens he realized that he had to reduce weight and did it. I for one am glad that he did it. But even if he hadn’t, we would not have loved him any the less. And never ever would there be any nagging for him to reduce weight. I don’t think it serves any purpose and may even be counterproductive.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

In Nunavut a "pooch" is looked at as an assett before any marriage,if Ookpik and his wife are stuck out on the tundra for ten days in a ground blizzard she wont require any food so he only has to leave the iglu to hunt for himself.

Same with the guy,if he has a gut,he's good marriage material with the gals.

Kakato, in many third world countries a full figured, obese woman is considered to be beautiful, not a skinny one.

It all depends upon social conditions. In many third world countries, there is not enough to eat. So if a woman is overweight, that tells the world that her father is a wealthy man, he can provide plenty of food for his family. That is an indication that she comes from a good family, and therefore is good marriage material.

Incidentally it works the same after the marriage. An obese woman is a status symbol, something like a trophy wife here. If a woman is overweight, that means that her husband is well off, that means that he can provide her with plenty of food, it reflects well on her husband.

And also, as you point out, an obsess woman is more likely to survive the famine than a skinny woman.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Kakato, I assume you have seen Fiddler on the Roof. In that Tevye describes how his wife, Golde would look like if he had been a wealthy man.

I see my wife, my Golde, looking like a rich man's wife
With a proper double-chin.
Supervising meals to her heart's delight.

 

[taxslave]

Perhaps the reason for fat kids is fat parents.

Besides, who's business is it if someone is fat or skinny?

It is every taxpayers business because these people that couldn't be bothered to look after their bodies will expect every cure that modern medicine has to offer, all for free.

 

[lone wolf]

Gee, thank you! Do you suppose you can come up with meds that don't have side effects ... like weight gain?