Awesome Childhood Obesity Guidelines Are Awesome
These new guidelines for childhood obesity programs are just amazing. Rachel has them listed at The F Word, complete with highlighting. In this case it indicates not white-hot rage, but happiness. Consider guidelines like…
Interventions should focus on health, not weight, so as to not contribute to the overvaluation of weight and shape and negative attitudes about fatness that are common among children and have harmful effects on their physical, social and psychological well-being.
Or…
Interventions should focus not only on providing opportunities for appropriate levels of physical activity and healthy eating, but also promote self-esteem, body satisfaction, and respect for body size diversity. [C]onstructing a social environment where all children are supported in feeling good about their bodies is essential to promoting health in youth.
Or even…
It is unrealistic to expect all children to fit into the “normal weight” category. Thus, interventions should not be marketed as “obesity prevention.” Rather, interventions should be referred to as “health promotion,” as the ultimate goal is the health and well-being of all children, and health encompasses many factors besides weight.
These guidelines make sense, and I love the emphasis on not stigmatizing kids or making them feel fat is shameful. I hope parents and educators and OMG CHILDHOOD OBESITY crisis experts are listening. If these guidelines become the norm, we could really start to break the cycle of self-loathing and fat hate—and have physically and mentally healthier kids in the process.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Advocacy, Exercise, Fat Positive, Humor, Kids, Science
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Every day you give great food for thought. Thank you! It’s about time sane ways of discussing weight loss are developed.
It’s something I’ve struggled with with my site, which is all about life post-fat pants: reconciling the then and now, loose skin, relationships changing, dealing with folks who give you grief for losing too much weight (the same that gave you grief for your weight. Coincidence? Not hardly.)
These are things all the diet ads conveniently neglect, and the oversimplification of post-weight loss (or body politics) doesn’t help anyone.
In my case, I really debate how I present these articles. I don’t want to make people afraid of losing weight any more than they should be afraid of gaining 1.2222 lbs. on one day. Especially after a big weight loss, at some point you got to stop defining yourself by your waistline and build yourself a life beyond it.
And really drawing a distinction between changing your life and the weight loss itself. It’s a riff on “losing weight doesn’t fix your life.”
Fat-acceptance/fat activism’s rhetoric and theories are really useful for me, as it helps distinguish these issues, keeps me honest and makes sure I present pre- and post- weight loss in all its complexity. Hopefully I do a good job of that, but that’s for everyone else to decide.
And it’s even better that the AED is really taking these things to heart and helping a lot of kids (even the grown up, slimmed down versions like me) in the process.
Thanks so much again!
That article almost made me cry – when I think of how much it would have reduced my issues around food as a child/teen had authority figures stuck to those guidelines instead of shame & guilt.
I’m so happy to read this today! It’s nice to have what lots of us have been saying for years published by a recognized health/eating organization. steps like these are what is going to cause real change I think, and knowing that people like us, are what encourage steps like these! I’m so happy i’m going to go eat something! ;)
LONG overdue, and I’m happy to see this. I just hope it sticks.
things like this give me hope!
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