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?

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!!!

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.