Last week, an Associated Press article reported that the number of pre-school kids (3 to 5 years old) who are overweight and obese increased by almost 50% in the last 10 years. Another AP article was about a 15 year study that showed kids who ate fast food more often gained more weight than kids who didn’t.
It doesn’t take much imagination to connect those dots. A McDonalds representative responded with a flap about the healthy alternatives they offer.
Kids beg for treats. Parents relent. Then there’s the rewards for good behavior or a good report card or a good what have you.
It’s easy. It solves a problem. An Oreo. A Coke. A Big Mac. It doesn’t happen that often.
What if the treat or reward was a cigarette? Only one. How bad could that be?
Food has long-term health effects, some good, some bad.
Kids live in what Kelly Brownell calls a toxic food environment. I hope you’re not shocked to hear that fast food restaurants and processed food manufacturers are not in business for your health. They want you for every meal. They invest vast sums to make sure that both the allure and the quality of the food is habit forming.
Tobacco companies have been taxed and fined up to their eyeballs. Some of that money goes into anti-smoking campaigns for kids. Why aren’t we doing that for food?
When Big Tobacco saw the writing on the wall, they diversified. Into processed food. Oreos. RJR-Nabisco. RJR = RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company.
Not much imagination required to connect those dots either.
How do we neutralize the toxic food environment?
I don’t want to dive into a morass of public policy issues or calls for community activism or engage in that popular spectator sport of blaming the victim. Instead, let me call upon your imagination.
First, kids figure out what they should eat by how you eat.
Second, make snacks, don’t buy them. Don’t cooking from packages. Get rid of soft drinks and anything with high fructose corn syrup. Get creative with alternatives.
A study put bowls of fruit within easy reach of passing kids. They could keep the bowls filled. Traffic at vending machines dropped.
And if you think I’m talking only about the toxic food environment kids are exposed to, think again. I know you can connect those dots.
