girlfiend

The three people who suggested that I’m putting on weight really pissed me off today. I work out five days a week. I wear a size zero. It stuns me that our society is so fucked that people will tell me I’m gaining weight, while completely ignoring the obesity of our students.

Kids in the U.S. are porkers. Their eating habits appall me. Today I kept four kids in for lunch detentions. Nellie, the healthiest one in the bunch, ate ranch dressing with a few shreds of iceberg lettuce. Mikey inhaled pizza, fried chicken and french fries. Ollie’s meal was fried chicken, onion rings and potato chips. Cindy devoured an enormous portion of fries. Blue “juice” was the beverage of choice.

Each child purchased their lunch in the school cafeteria. Why would the cafeteria serve pizza, fried chicken, onion rings and french fries all on the same day? Where are the vegetables in the salad? Why not just give the kids a salt lick and let them wash it down with a supersized bucket of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Of those four children, only two are involved in sports. Cindy may eat crap for lunch, but she plays basketball and soccer and goes to the occasional yoga class. Ollie plays football with friends after school most days, and with a team once a week. The others don’t seem to exercise at all. Mikey has no supervision at home. He spends his spare time glued to the television. Nellie’s mom has told me on several occasions that she doesn’t play outside so the the only exercise she gets is during phys ed. Students are bowling this month in gym class- I don’t think Nellie will burn any calories. When I was growing up, every kid I knew was involved in some sort of afterschool activity that involved movement. Every kid I knew played outside.

A few years ago I worked at a school where the population was primarily Hispanic. Many of the students were first generation American, others had moved to Philadelphia from the Dominican Republic, Colombia, or Puerto Rico. Most of the kids were chunky. About 15% were what I’d consider to be grossly overweight. As the school year progressed, many of the immigrant students started to pack on the pounds. Their clothing became increasingly tight, as evidenced by the safety pins that kept the zippers on their pants closed.

One of my students, Crystal, was devastated by her weight gain. She hated it, but didn’t know what to do. In Puerto Rico she lived in the country. She walked a few miles to and from school each day. After school she and her friends played outside. They lived near fields where they played futbol and streams where they could swim. If they were hungry they’d snack on fruit. In Philadelphia she wasn’t allowed to be outside by herself. She was driven to and from school each day. With no place safe to play, she spent afternoons and weekends watching T.V. In Philly, not only do kids snack on chips and soda, they have chips and soda for breakfast as well. Of course she gained 30 pounds in a year. The odds are working against her.

This article, Immigrants to the U.S. Arrive Thin, Get Fat, about the rise in obesity in immigrants echoes Crystal’s concerns. The schools are doing a terrible job of feeding kids, and their parents are doing an even worse job.

A few words of advice. Parents, if your kid’s a fatty, don’t give him chips for breakfast. I’m sick of parents telling me that their kid is big-boned. If your family is prone to obesity, get your kids to exercise when they’re young, don’t wait until the other kids start calling ‘em fatass. It’s just not healthy.