Childhood. Obesity.
Two words we hear thrown around way too often in today's media. As parents, it's easy to become
numb to it's sway. We try. We enroll our kids in positive sports programs. We avoid the high-fructose corn syrup and calorie-laden fast foods.
We do our best.
Yet? The advertising is hard to combat.
Our kids are bombarded with slick ads for sugary treats and they in turn bombard us with pleas until we weaken. Even simple word of mouth at school of the latest trendy snack takes a powerful hold. Your child wants to have those
Lunchable nachos, or that new Pop Tarts flavor or even the new extreme flavor
Dorrito, or yes, gotta have the pseudo-healthy XXX Vitamin water.
Flickr photo by @wyaneMy kids are
healthy, adventurous eaters. We know this. However, they don't necessarily feel
popular with their whole wheat wraps with hummus that seemed fine during the summer. They often succumb to the peer pressure of wanting to fit in or wanting a infrequent treat.
And?
At the end of the day, who doesn't give in occasional to the drive through
McDonalds or crack open a half-gallon of
Dreyer's Good Stuff?
We are not immune nor perfect as parents.
The manufacturing industry, whether by corporate moral obligation or or
more likely political threat of state snack taxes encroaching on their bottom line has been swayed as well. A CEO-led organization called
The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation launched a campaign last year to partner with families to reduce childhood obesity through 2015. The hook is moderation, not deprivation. Balance. The plan is to use those powerful advertising tools to educate in the marketplace, schools, and the work place about energy balance as a path to a healthy weight.
Better yet, in an effort to reduce childhood obesity,
sixteen of the America's largest food manufacturers encompassing am much as 25 percent of the nation's food products, has promised they will remove 1.5 trillion calories out of their products by 2015 in an effort to reduce childhood obesity. The goal is to join the fight to reduce childhood obesity by cutting both fat, calories, and portion sizes in their products.
All this mother can say is it's about time the food manufacturers stood with us, not against us.
Yet, my mind wanders to their influence. Is a smaller, single serving of crackers, chips, or similarly-processed food better than apple? Is a more moderate serving of a food manufactured and shipped weeks or months before it is eaten better than a homemade peanut butter-honey sandwich made with local honey and bread.
Please don't get me wrong. Believe me, I am no food Nazi. I just hate the daily whine for foods our family will never buy which gets increasingly louder as my kids move toward their teenage years.
I guess, in the end, these are at least small steps in the right direction. I think. What are your thought on smaller-portioned, lower calorie snack packs?
Honestly, CG uses my period to have steak night. Seriously.
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