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
Sunny Gold: Binge Eating Disorder: The Emotional Roots of a Physical Condition
Chevese Turner: Open Letter to the First Lady and the 'Let's Move' Taskforce
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.
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
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.
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).
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-
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.
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
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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
(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.)
Peace,
Shannon
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.