TV-Too Young To Be So Fat
 

Has anyone seen this programme? "My Shocking Story 'Too Young To Be So Fat'".

I caught it on TLC last evening. Another sad reflection on the obesity epidemic in North America. But that isn't what haunts me today.

I'm still shocked and appalled by the one young gals' response to salad. It was a lovely salad. I believe she said something like ... I've never had anything like this before ... and choked and gagged and finally spit out a whole cherry tomato.

Is this really that common? Have we seriously grown that far away from real food?

I have not seen it, but I will look out for it now that you mention it. I LOVE watching obesity specials on TV. Yesterday, MTV True Life had an episode called "I'm Happy to Be Fat" about three very obese young people who (unfortunately) reinforced obesity stereotypes and "owned" their fat.

I Google searched it and now am going to get a reminder e-mailed to me.

And why was the girl shoving a whole cherry tomato (along with, I'm assuming, other salad particles) in her mouth at once anyway? :rolleyes:

Susan I didn't watch it but plan to next time it's on. Amazing that I child didn't know what a "salad" was???? My son is 5 and hates anything green-what a lovely faze. I'll admit w/food costs and choices sometimes it's hard to provide him w/food he likes and that's good for him too. Doesn't help that foods marketed as "good for you" and targeted towards kids are loaded with calories, fat, and fillers.

Is the boy this story is about on his way to loosing weight?

There's a boy called Dexter who goes to a special school .... It looked good. The kids there did learn a lot.

I saw it last night. I can't believe that the girl was trying to get liposuction at 13. All it does is remove fat. It would just come right back if she didn't change the awful way she was eating. With the amount of fried food she ate just in the special its no wonder she was so big. I hope Dexter really changed his life. He was doing so well.

My heart broke for that girl. It seemed to me that even though her mother claimed that it wasn't her fault, she knew it was. I mean, taking a "weekend together" at a casino and leaving your morbidly obese daughter alone all day to comfort herself at the buffet.... maybe she needs to rethink her parenting style.

You raise a kid on fried chicken and nothing else, of course at 13 they will be disgusted with a tomato.

I was raised with some bad food, some good... tomatoes were there... and I STILL am not a huge fan. lol But I know where you're going with this. Just trying to play devil's advocate.

That's the one big thing with my husband and I trying this time... we're changing LIFESTYLES not dieting... we want to learn how to eat and ENJOY healthy stuff so that it's not a CHORE but rather the way we do things from now on. Instead of saying what we can't have, we just find healthier alternatives and try new things. We want our house to be HEALTHY and our habits to be HEALTHY so that when we have children they won't be learning the same bad habits we did as children.

Oh, for example: Every lunch should have a Little Debbie snack with it. Every couple days you get extra lunch money for ice cream. Ice cream was always in the freezer and was the only dessert available at night. You came home from school and had an after school snack... not an apple, a fatty Little Debbie cake or something.

Granted, I know kids need more calories b/c they're growing... but there's definately better ways to deliver those calories, right?

Unfortunately, some parents do raise their children in this way (not feeding them healthy food). My SIL and her husband have VERY low incomes and still are able to feed their 2 children healthy food every day, including fruits and vegetables. They eat mostly whole foods and don't have a problem with this financially, so I know it can be done. I think some people (like another family member, for instance) feed their children mac n' cheese, etc and say it is cheaper - but - my other family member, unlike my SIL and her family, can somehow afford to go on an extravagant vacation every year. I think it is really where the parents' priorities lie.

I'm obsessed with salads. I could eat them with every meal, I think it's ridiculous how people gag an carry on when they try something new, especially like fruits and veggies.

I had to look devil's advocate up at dictionary.com :) And no I'm not trying to start an argument. I guess I was hoping that that snippet was shock TV -or- that that girl was an unusual case -or- something ...

Good point on the mother. What has she been feeding a kid who's never had a salad or tomato?
It had to be a shock TV moment! Doesn't every grocery store have a produce section?

I wrote about in the 100 lb club BUT...

I was a 300 lb 14 year old. My mom was frustrated beyond belief and took me to see many doctors and nutritionists from a young age (9 or 10). She cooked "healthy" foods. There were always veggies, although sometimes covered with cheese. There were lots of salads. Lots of lean meats. I don't remember processed foods at all. There were no Spaghettios or Hamburger helper. There were no fast food lunches. I remember lunch at the mall being a salad at the Carl's Jr salad bar. (Although I did have a love for ranch dressing). I do just remember eating a lot and sometimes I'd sneak food, even fairly healthy food. Christmas time did mean cookies though, homemade cookies. Sadly, it still means homemade cookies by my mother :)

I was an active kid as well, swam, ran, rode my bike, etc.

Not that I've seen the show (I don't have cable), but it is disheartening to see them show kids that have really poor eating habits and are obese. It isn't always that way. Though parents should teach their children to eat vegetables although not all parents eat vegetables themselves. Part of it is setting an example for their children.

Hahaha--- and now *I* had to look up Devil's Advocate to be sure that I really knew the meaning of it and used it correctly!!! :lol:

That would be awful to use it and then have you look it up and be like "what in the HECK is she talking about?? that makes no sense at all! Why would she use that term?"

hahaha

nelie--- what did it turn out to be, then?? I mean, surely you didn't get to 300 pounds at age 14 by binging on broccoli, right? And those once a year homemade cookies didn't do you in, correct?

Did you have hormonal issues? I'm curious...

Jen,

Yes, well and I was a binger. Bread was always a big downfall for me (still is). I wasn't munching on ho ho's, cheetos, twinkies and ice cream (although ice cream was an occassional treat).

I also found out later that I did have hormonal issues but still I really think that was a small factor.

Not that you can get morbidly obese on broccoli, I do think you can gain weight from fairly healthy foods as well and I learned binging at a young age somehow. I really enjoyed food and then I learned to hide my enjoyment of food really well. (Sigh I still gain weight from fairly healthy foods if I don't watch it)

I can't remember which show it was (like someone earlier, I'm a sucker for these types of shows) but I got upset when they interviewed a 16 year old girl who had already had liposuction and a gastric band. She claimed that she had "tried everything" to lose weight, but couldn't so she saw the band as a last resort. Then, later in the interview, she made a comment about how she would always binge eat. But no where did anyone address the issue of her binging. She couldn't get gastric in the U.S. because of her age, so she went to Mexico. I wonder if these doctors are as stringent in dealing with the psychological aspects as many of the doctors here are. I hope so, for her sake.

I just kept thinking that she needed therapy, not surgery...at least at age 16. Get into therapy, deal with the psychological issues, start eating healthy and taking care of yourself, and then, if you are still unable to lose weight at 18, after truly saying you had tried everything, reconsider the surgery. She just made me sad.

Thanks, Nelie for the update---

I wasn't trying to be demeaning, sorry if it came off that way. Just more curious since you were obviously raised in a MUCH more healthy household than I was and I wonder how other people get to where they are (or were).

Thanks

You've probably asked the million dollar question there, Jen.

Does anybody remember the book we went through about .... let me look up a link.

Here it is "Rethinking Thin".

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=220

Jen,

No I didn't think you were demeaning although I think shows like this go for some of the sensationalism or "shock value" of it all.

It does amaze me too that there are people that don't like veggies. I was never the biggest veggie fan although I always thought they were a necessary part of a meal. I was a much bigger fan of fruit. It wasn't until my late 20s that I learned to love veggies.

I always loved veggies when I was young. Of course, that wasn't how I got fat. I used to sneak candy into the house, and sneak out the trash. In middle school (5ht grade), I would get picked on (it began with non-weight issues) which made me want to eat, which led to getting picked on because of my weight.... So I can see not all of the responsibility falling on the parents' shoulders. My parents NEVER knew about that and I never told them. Even now, they don't know and I'm too ashamed to admit it to them. I would cry to my mom about being overweight and she tried to help (walking with me, making healthier dinners) but of course it didn't really work and she never knew why. Not to mention that back then, my parents were overweight and ate portions more than twice as big as they should have. So for me or my brothers to have seconds (or thirds) was no big deal. My brothers are both normal sized, and since my weight loss, my parents also started eating healthier and smaller portions and lost weight.

that's the worst, yeah--- closet eating... I too can remember the days where I would wrap up my snickers wrappers in tissues or looseleaf paper and throw them in my garbage so you couldn't see the wrapper at a glance. ::sigh:: I think now that I have my own place, having access to all the food I want and having the option to choose what comes in my house means that I don't have to sneak the bad foods or ask if I can have something to eat--- if I want it, I make it. I always have lots of foods to choose from and don't have to resort to sneaking anymore.
Let's hope it stays that way! :lol:

I did see that show last night and I was appalled at that 13 year old girl trying to get liposuction. I also had a few choice words for her so-called doctor and her mother too. I found it very funny too but sad that she was so resistant against a simple salad as well. I don't like tomatoes myself but still.. she acted like it was dirt or something. I was impressed with Dexter and that school he went to. I wish my college offered a nutrition class that also has a lab included and that's where you go to cook things that you learn about in class.

Ok, so I wanted to clear somethings up since you seem so disgusted by me. Yes, I am Corina Brock from that documentary.

First off all, I eat salads and healthy food. Yes I gagged on that tomato because it was gross, I have the right to not like every food on the food pyramid, I like salad but I dont like spinich salads, i prefer my spinich cooked.

Also, dont act like you know me and my story because you dont. Although Documentaries are supposed to be "Real" most things on this one wasnt. I don't eat fast food all day everyday. Any time I was in a restaraunt it was because they put me there for filming, I dont even like buffets and it was not my choice to go there. Yes I eat badly and yes i'm over weight, but I dont like being portrayed like a disgusting fat person.

As for my mother, I wont blame her bad parenting problems for my weight issues. Not every woman is meant to be a parent and she happens to be one of those people.

I dont need her to take care of me though, I've taken care of me and my sister just fine for 7 years. I do the cooking in my home and my sister isnt overweight, not even close. So I'm not eating terrible foods everyday, but yes i do indulge sometimes. I just needed to work on my portion control.

This past February I had the Lap-Band surgery and it was my choice only. I didnt have a say in the liposuction, but I didnt truly in my heart of hearts want it. My friend Brooke was the youngest to have Liposuction but I saw her put the weight back on, then she went on to have the Lap- band and now she has better eating habits and she has kept the weight off.

My highest weight was 360, now that i've had the Lap-Band I am almost 2lbs away from being under 300lbs which is huge for me because I havent been here in over 4 years.

Saw it and was very aggravated at the young girl.

I saw the episode with Dexter...It was terrible..And it is common now..They predict the epidemic to get worse over time....America is sadly the (I wont say stupidest) most uninformed country in the world...And it is strange that parents dont blame themselves more for their children being fat..

I notice that alot of over weight parents have over weight kids..And alot of times people dont think their children are over weight...a fat 2 year old is told she has "baby fat" if she is like 30-40 lbs and short...Its ridiculous..People should be more concerned with making thier children fat than with caring if someone is judging them...Seems like everyone cares more about conforming than being different...And I know its hard to be different...Im always butting heads with people because they say I eat "too healthy"...

I dont think the post was intended to say "yuck gross your so fat!"....She was trying to say that it is ridiculous that children are as big as they are now...Im glad your doing well but what is instilled in you from a child is most of the time what makes you eat or be less active as some are...

Its good you are doing well...I just think kids shouldnt go through this...Seems like alot for you to go through at such a young age....