| The sheer amount of misinformation on obesity in | | | | Quite frankly, the best advice is to give your child |
| America is staggering. However, far more | | | | a good healthy diet, moderating sweets and be |
| troubling is the amount of misinformation on | | | | sure he gets plenty of exercise. Every one is an |
| childhood obesity and how to combat it. For all the | | | | individual and their body shape is a combination of |
| troubling news stories of how people are dying | | | | genetics and proper eating habits and exercise. |
| left and right, the latest vital statistics data from | | | | There is no one cause of obesity in children or |
| the CDC says that we've hit a new high in life | | | | adults as a group. Each person is unique and what |
| expectancy, as we have every year since 1977. | | | | is good for one may be bad for another. Science |
| First you have to establish your child is really | | | | has shown that no single factor is the cause and |
| overweight. BMI has historically been inaccurate in | | | | claims of soda or sweets being the factor have |
| a majority of the population. BMI would have | | | | been debunked in published scientific journals using |
| marked Sylvester Stallone as obese in his Rambo | | | | proper scientific method. |
| days. In fact, BMI is useless for anyone who | | | | The best thing to do for you and your child is |
| exercises since it cannot account for muscle | | | | educate yourself by reading more than the |
| mass. There are athletes with 2% body fat | | | | headlines and never listening to another person. No |
| classified as "obese". Any doctor that uses BMI as | | | | one knows your child better than you and your |
| an indicator of your child's obesity or "obesity" is | | | | child should never be humiliated or embarrassed |
| not being honest. There's actually a very simple | | | | by anyone with regards to their weight. Proper |
| way of telling if your child is obese: Look at them. | | | | mental health is a large key to anyone's obesity. |
| We know what stomach fat looks like and that is | | | | If you care about your body, you will take better |
| the indicator of poor health. It's called "abdominal | | | | care of it. The emphasis should be on health, not |
| obesity". | | | | size. |