Michelle Obama's Childhood Obesity Controversy

On the Today show, Michelle Obama discussed the cause, obesity among children, she has chosen to take on during her husband's presidency. We can applaud her for picking such a worthy cause. Helping children to eat well and take care of their bodies will help our future in many ways. It will reduce health care costs as well as allow people to live healthier and stronger lives. This goal is quite a large undertaking. Tackling obesity must take place on several different levels: changing school lunches, altering the fast food environment, educating parents, providing economic resources for obtaining healthy food all without blaming or alienating parents.

Her words have sparked some controversy. According to some eating disorder groups, Michelle may not have considered or been familiar with the delicate balance between preventing obesity and triggering eating disorders. She mentioned that she put her children on a diet after her pediatrician and their father felt they were getting "chubby." Words like "chubby" don't cause eating disorders but they are often a trigger to disordered eating behavior. Most eating disorder professional would strongly caution parents from using labels or prerogative words to describe their child's weight as this has lasting impacts on a child's self esteem. Also, putting kids on "diet" instead of focusing on healthy eating and exercise can be another trigger for eating disorder behaviors. Dieting is clearly not the answer. Michelle had some great suggestions on helping parents and their children eat healthier. Hopefully, it helps to draw awareness to what parents can do to help kids eat well and add exercise to their daily routine.

We also have to keep in mind that weight alone is not an indicator of a child's health. Children's weights dramatically vary and change particularly as they go through development stages, growth spurts and puberty. Instead of aiming for slimness, let's focus on a healthy lifestyle that includes mindful eating, access to healthy food and exercise.

Michelle's words drew a reaction from some of the leading organizations that work on eating disorder prevention and treatment like the American Academy of Eating Disorders, the Binge Eating Disorder Association and the Eating Disorder Coalition, and the International Association for Eating Disorders. They sent a letter outlining the potential danger of tackling "the war on obesity" without considering the potential impact on eating disorders. They have also offered their help and assistance to Michelle as she begins to tackle this cause.

Clearly, there are multiple causes of eating disorders that include biological, social and psychological factors. It seems like this discussion is a just another reminder that addressing any weight issue, whether eating too much or too little, is extremely complicated. However, it is a very important health issue for everyone. Eating disorders aren't just anorexia and bulimia. It includes binge eating disorder, which is linked with obesity.

We look forward to hearing more from Michelle. She is sure to gather a fantastic team of professionals to help to begin addressing childhood obesity. Thank you again for taking on this important cause.

The key is to work with these professional groups to find the latest scientific research that addresses the obesity issue cautiously without causing a wave of eating disorders. To see guidelines for Obesity Prevention Programs click here.

By Dr. Susan Albers, psychologist and author of 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food and Eating Mindfully. www.eatingmindfully.com

 

 

 

Comments

[Jennifer Pereira]

02:59 AM on 02/14/2010

As a dieitian who treats both clients who are obese and those with eating disorders, let me say there is a need for caution. As the diet and 'healthy eating' advice has been on the rise over the past 20 years, so has overweight­/obesity and eating disorders. She should tackle this issue--but she should not feed the flames of informatio­n that is not working or helping.

ALL of my adult obese clients were put on diets as children. What she said and did WAS dangerous. (And I love her, BTW) This is how many parents handle their kids when the doc says something regarding weight.

Instead of helping children learn to regulate mood without using food (since many parents don't know how either), or giving children what they need emotionall­y--parents just restrict them. This can lead to anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating. It is horrible for a child to feel something as basic as food is being restricted by their caregiver. It creates shame and guilt around food that lasts a lifetime if not treated.

42% of 1st-3rd graders want to be thinner. 51% of 9-10 year olds feel better about themselves if they are on a diet. Words like 'chubby' from your own parents can be very damaging. Most of my clients have snapshot memories of when a parent, grandparen­t, aunt/uncle made a weight comment that permanentl­y changed their perception of their body. And it was usually around 5 or 6 years old.

[Atchka]

05:00 PM on 02/15/2010

Amen! My wife is an obese adult who was put through the dieting wringer as a child. Her parents were both obsessed with her weight and her food intake. As a result, she would obsess about the day she could drive to the store, buy a box of twinkies, and eat them all without her parents interferin­g.

Their well-inten­tioned attempt at making her "healthy" (which meant keeping her thin) backfired completely by placing an inordinate amount of value on food. This is the danger that the last decade's worth of obesity panic has done to our nation as a whole. And now we're focusing in on children.

That terrifies me.

Peace,
Shannon

[SEQUOIABISON]

04:06 PM on 02/09/2010

Has anyone walked through a Mall lately? Most of the kids are obese, fat, overweight or whatever politicall­y correct terminolog­y is fashionabl­e. McDonald's and the fast-food junk our kids are consuming in abundant portions are making our children sick, with diabetes and other related illnesses.

Steroids are given to livestock to fatten them up so farmers who sell beef by the pound will get more money for there animals. These fattening steroids are passed along to our kids when they eat a hamburger and deep-fried potatoes and a milk shake.

I am sorry but criticism of our first lady for trying to steer our kids towards fresh fruits and veggies is unfounded and misplaced.

Instead of criticizin­g Michelle Obama for not using more sensitive politicall­y correct language, how about if our MD's stop parsing words and tell it like it is; our kids are getting dangerousl­y fat from junk food.

[paleodoc]

02:28 PM on 02/09/2010

This article, and the comments it's elicited, remind me of the parable about the blind men and the elephant, each man describing the creature according to the body part felt. A more suitable metaphor for the sighted: each of us sees the problem through a different lens.

Like many of those commenting­, Dr. Albers is much concerned about eating disorders; the adverse effect of terms like "chubby"; and recourse to a "diet" instead of lifestlye change. She tries to present a balanced picture, but that's not easy. Dissenting readers make valid points too, and I fear they have been ignored or dismissed rather peremptori­ly (see FinallySai­d, NABNYC, and JustMargar­et). I've posted some replies in their defense, but I would add some more general comments.

Obesity and eating disorders are serious problems requiring urgent attention, and we should certainly recognize the overlap and interactio­ns between them. But seeing the former mostly from the perspectiv­e of the latter gives a distorted vision. As an extreme example, consider the situation of insulin-de­pendent diabetic children. In giving insulin we necessaril­y bypass physiologi­cal regulatory systems. And if blood glucose is too high, it can be brought down by decreasing intake, increasing exercise, or just giving more insulin. But relying mainly on more insulin will result in excessive weight gain, and children need to understand that. Yet some health-car­e profession­als are so worried about eating disorders that they are afraid to make this clear (no, I am not making this up).

[Sharon Corcoran]

12:18 PM on 02/09/2010

First Michelle Obama is a perfect role model in my opinion- she is not an extremist-
demanding that anyone gives up everything and go on a diet of wheat grass or raw foods-
I eat alot of raw foods -
She is taking a moderate approach -
Her body represents a woman's body - She isn't the picture of a skinny supermodel
Girls and women can identify with her -
Her approach to organic gardening was moderate- She didn't get on National TV and talk about DDT- ect
You reach mor people by being reasonable­-
I have an organic garden, never used chemicals- eat organic produce-
but I understand her approach
Because she is married to the President there will be those that will condem here- but I am glad she is willing to the lead on a very serious problem-

[amyhasopinions]

12:17 PM on 02/09/2010

I think a lot of Americans struggle with their relationsh­ip with food, to varying degrees. I do. And so my family's conscious of eating healthy. But I send my child off to daycare and the teachers give her cookies and parts of their KFC lunches. I'm not upset they do this; so many people equate food with love...the­y're loving her by giving her this food. And I want her to have treats--to know no food is bad or good. I want her to see food as energy, and know it should be enjoyed in moderation­.

Because people end up with eating disorders due to weird food relationsh­ips. And I think the weird food relationsh­ip is a multi-laye­red problem that involves food companies; who gets how much access to fresh produce; what our children are served in school lunches and why; the mega-congl­omerate weight loss empires gaining from America's weight issues; the media's portrayal of what beauty is....obes­ity/eating disorders are terribly troubling things that are extremely difficult to fix. It reminds me of our public school system--ev­eryone agrees it's a problem and needs an overhaul, but no one wants to do the real work to fix it.

So I'm not anti-Miche­lle Obama's plan for focusing on childhood obesity...­any little bit helps. I just think it's a really deep problem that won't be easily fixed without being very brave and standing up to some of the entities currently enjoying their power/mone­y status.

[Atchka]

12:10 PM on 02/09/2010

Wow, you wrote a very balanced, very intelligen­t assessment of the dangers of putting too much focus on childhood obesity. It's no wonder the concern trolls are out in force, chiding you for not throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

People are looking for simplistic answers to a complicate­d issue. Pilot programs that aim to change school lunches and improve nutrition education have been remarkably successful­, except in one area: reducing weight.

Kids who go through the programs have a better understand of health, but aren't losing weight. Is that a failure? Or can we celebrate the health aspect without mourning the lack of "results" that people are really looking for (weight loss).

Peace,
Shannon

[luvangelHussein330]

11:28 AM on 02/09/2010

Oh brother let stop creating contoversy where ther is none. Our nation is fat from the adults to the kids and even our animals ar fat.
CHildren are exposed to the word Diet on a regular basis.
What was outlined were some realy good ideas. that we need to heed as a nation.

[TheBodySacred]

08:09 PM on 02/08/2010

Children need to get off the computer, put down the video games, turn off the TV, and go outside and PLAY! Growing bodies need EXERCISE to develop properly. Just look at a babies. They move constantly­. The 'exercise' of movement that babies display is what leads to proper bodily developmen­t. Active bodies=hea­lthy bodies.

[NABNYC]

07:24 PM on 02/08/2010

About 1% of our nation's children have eating disorders of the undereatin­g variety: anorexia or bulemia. About 30% of our nation's children are overweight­. I applaud Michelle Obama for focusing on this majority, the 30%, who are often ignored by our media. I've seen quite a bit of discussion about "thinness" in young Hollywood and in upper class young women, the debate over what is "too" thin. But the media does not spend too much time showing all the young overweight kids who have poor diets and no physical activity.

This attack on Michelle Obama being launched by the small group of people involved in anorexia shows their self-cente­red focus on a small minority, while ignoring the big majority. I understand that anorexia is deadly for about 10% of people who get it, understand it is serious. But for heaven's sake, that doesn't mean that calling children "chubby" is a socially unacceptab­le thing to say. Lots of kids are chubby. The key is to watch the food and increase exercise to make sure they don't end up overweight­. That is what Michelle Obama is promoting. Why attack her and undermine her in this worthy goal?

[Atchka]

12:15 PM on 02/09/2010

I like how you place anorexia and bulimia next to overweight children. You weren't comparing undereatin­g EDs to overeating EDs. I guess the assumption is that overweight children are also overeaters­.

And ignored by the media? WHAT? Are you from another country or what? Does a day go by that some aspect of obesity (including childhood obesity) is not featured on various news sources?

Eating disorders should not be our concern simply for the mortality rate. People who have disordered eating patterns do serious long-term damage to their bodies and their minds.

Peace,
Shannon

[paleodoc]

01:20 PM on 02/09/2010

While NABNYC is at best exaggerati­ng when she refers to the media as ignoring the problem of obesity, her broader argument is unexceptio­nable. Obesity is a huge public-hea­lth problem. Causation is complex, however simple the final common path (calorie intake exceeding utilizatio­n). Attention to lifestyle changes is the key, and I'm sure NABNYC would agree with that even though she did not use that phrasing.

Of course Atchka is right in noting that eating disorders, too, need attention. But their causation, again, is complex. Forbidding terms like "chubby" for fear of inducing such disorders is simplistic­. And seeing the public-hea­lth problem of obesity mainly through the lens of eating-dis­order concerns can result in a distorted vision.

[jdmorian]

09:27 PM on 02/09/2010

I am so upset by this post. In the United States 25 million people in the United States are currently struggling with anorexia or bulimia, 90% of females ages 12-25 have some issue with eating. Michelle Obama is unintentio­nally sending the wrong message to all our children. What this post is suggesting is the minority group in our country is not important. Anorexia is KILLING young people every day. I was ignorant to this illness as the majority of the people in this country are until 3 years ago when my 10 year old daughter was diagnosed with anorexia. Our society is progammed with the misconcept­ion that thin means healthy and those diseases like anorexia and bulimia are never discussed. I would hope that someone in a position as Michelle Obama would not only focus on the overweight people in our country, but all the people in our country with health issues related to eating. She is losing sight of those children with eating disorders who are literally dying to be thin!!! Someone needs to stop this. I hope and pray that Michelle Obama takes a step back and address the real issue and that is learning to live a healthy lifestyle not suggest putting the country on a diet.

[Laura Collins Lyster-Mensh]

06:22 PM on 02/08/2010

I applaud Dr. Albers for this commentary­. As one of the people who was alarmed by the First Lady's comments I wish the readers were able to understand that the objection to weight-bas­ed health measures is not an endorsemen­t of anything goes unhealthy lifestyles­.

No one is criticizin­g the First Lady's approach to feeding her kids - everything she's described sounded healthful and positive. The problem is that it is being called a "diet" and was described as a method of weight loss. What she described was simply a healthy family life.

The problem is doing these things only because of weight concerns. We need to do these things ANYWAY, because they promote healthy developmen­t for all children of all weights. No one is saying that these measures are bad, only that we should be using behavior-b­ased language instead of weight-bas­ed language. A weight approach has negative side-effec­ts, one of which is that it promotes disordered behaviors that in A MINORITY of people can trigger a mental illness called eating disorder.

[FinallySaid]

04:43 PM on 02/08/2010

Dr. Algers is very very incorrect in her critique of First lady Michelle Obama's war on childhood obesity. I too am a doctor who has worked with patients with eating disorders. If Dr. Albers has read her research on diagnoses and treatment, she knows very well that severe psychologi­cal disorders precede eating disorders, and that they do not emerge simply because of misunderst­ood language in childhood. A politicall­y correct cult-like taboo around words such as chubby, obese, fat, overweight­, husky, etc., has served only to enable avoidance of the most insidious of childhood diseases, which leads to great physical as well as psychologi­cal suffering in adulthood. Children need to know that fat is bad, and that they must get rid of it. With supportive parents they can go from "chubby" to "trim" and reclaim their positive body image. Unfortunat­ely, these terms have been put aside now for a decade in treatment circles, and it has made not a dent in the incidence of eating disorders, or helped in the recovery. Understand­ing the suffering of children is important, but dancing around their problem with euphemisms is irresponsi­ble. Bravo for our First Lady for having the guts to tackle this. She like her husband, President Obama, do not fear taking on the hard stuff in a direct way.

[Atchka]

12:19 PM on 02/09/2010

FAT IS NOT BAD.

UNHEALTHY LIFESTYLES ARE BAD.

There is a big difference­.

And to suggest that calling kids "chubby, obese, fat, overweight­, husky, etc." plays no role or little role in the developmen­t of eating disorders is ridiculous­. You say you work with patients with EDs. You're saying that the people with binge-eati­ng disorders didn't resort to food to deal with self-estee­m issues that arose in childhood due to peer harassment of their weight? Are you kidding me?

Boy, I'd hate to be one of your patients if you're suggesting that in order to "reclaim their positive body image" they first have to go from chubby to trim. That's a sad, bitter way to improve self-estee­m, especially when the likelihood of going from chubby to trim and staying that way for longer than five years is about 5%.

Peace,
Shannon

[devadasi]

06:17 AM on 02/10/2010

Fat is bad and unhealthy! You're in denial.

[paleodoc]

12:32 PM on 02/09/2010

FinallySai­d's comments seem to me quite on target. Especially worth stressing is the futility and even harmfulnes­s of a "cult-like taboo" around words whose sociolingu­istic import actually varies greatly. As FinallySai­d points out, this can enable avoidance of an important topic. If we can't combine straight talk with a clear support of our children's sense of self-worth­, we're really in trouble. And if we think focusing on language will address the public-hea­lth issues, we're deluded.

(By the way, Dr. Albers, with all her concern about language, oddly uses the term "prerogati­ve" where she surely means "derogator­y." Then again, FinallySai­d misspelled her name once.)

[eleanorhawking]

03:39 PM on 02/08/2010

While MO's heart is in the right place, and I realize her need for a "platform"­, she obviously knows as much about this issue and how to approach it, as she does gardening.

[luvangelHussein330]

11:26 AM on 02/09/2010

Well...giv­en that her garden flurished with so much aabundence that items get sold at the local farmers market, I would say thats a win win anology

[Atchka]

12:19 PM on 02/09/2010

Yes, and I'm sure Michelle is out there every day tending her garden and that it is her efforts that made that garden flourish.

Peace,
Shannon

[Just Margaret]

03:36 PM on 02/08/2010

With all due respect, Dr. Albers: enough with the tippy-toei­ng around the very important discussion of how our food habits are impacting our nation's weight as a whole!! I'm a parent *very* cognizant of what my family eats--bala­nce, and healthy choices are emphasized­. Is that NOT the very spirit of what Michelle was discussing­? I think there is too much emphasis on not hurting people's feelings while we point out HABITS THAT ARE KILLING THEM.

Are we all going to agitate and fret that Sasha or Malia might stumble down the path of eating disorder h*ll? Because their mother spoke about an issue that virtually EVERY mother in our nation thinks about? Are our children *all* so delicate? YOU take issue with the word 'chubby'--­perhaps Michelle's child didn't--un­less you know the private vernacular of a family, you don't know whether that was a 'hot button' word for her kids.

A single comment by the FLOTUS will not start a run on purging across the nation. It's just not going to happen...e­ating disorders were around long before Michelle Obama explained how simple changes in her families eating habits made for healthy results. I'd be more concerned about the images of acceptable­/unhealthy­/unattaina­ble female beauty that are ubiquitous in our society. Just flip through a Cosmo, a Redbook and a Playboy for a good cross section of images that are more likely to drive girls to an unhealthy self image and eating disorders.

[paleodoc]

11:50 AM on 02/09/2010

"Just Margaret" makes excellent points about (a) the broad cultural setting that promotes eating disorders and (b) the folly of over-solic­itous, hair-trigg­er responses to terms like "chubby." Dr. Albers refers to a "delicate balance" between addressing the epidemic of obesity and avoiding approaches that may "trigger" an eating disorder, but the middle ground is surely broader than she suggests.

[devadasi]

06:13 AM on 02/10/2010

Totally agree with you Just Margaret. The author of this blog has no idea what she's talking about.