But to be fair Steve you've got one group of people telling you that eating fat makes you clog your arteries and to cut it out completely and you've got another group of people telling you that fat plus high carbohydrates will clog them up --- so who's camp do you want to be in? I know where I stand but just like in the homeschooling camp there are people who violently oppose what I believe in for food choices. It is actually a matter of who is in control and who can pass the most laws - which we don't need any more. I agree monitoring BMI's, cholesterol, blood sugars is NOT something I want MY government to be doing, don't they have bigger issues on hand?? I want their fingers off my food, my education and my Constitutional freedoms. It all intermixes together whether we like it or not.
About the census...I had a friend who wouldn't give the info to the census worker. The worker then threatened to get the info from the neighbors! So much for privacy, huh. About the BMI thing...in a way, doctors have always used this method to determine wether or not you get the "lose weight" speech. We only recently have started referring to BMI in everyday conversation. I fall into the category of "built like a football player". That combined with a bad thyroid led to gaining a lot of weight in a matter of a few years. I changed my eating habits and only lost 15 pounds, although I did keep it off. I have to exercise like a maniac to lose any more weight, so I opted for gastric bypass. I am not against keeping track of maintaining a healthy body composition, I'm just not for a one-size-fits-all method of doing that.
maybe I've been living under a rock but, how in the world do you check this,why would you check it for a kid, and what does it mean? I know what BMI stands for, but I dont guess I understand the significance of it. sorry if this is a stupid question.
In honesty Steve, most of us don't keep track of the grades our kids receive, many do not grade at all, so this would fall into that area as well. More so because it is so personal. I might if we were doing a health section find those numbers out for my kids but I wouldn't "keep them on file" on a yearly basis or anything like that. But then again I didn't even like the idea of the baby growth charts. They tried to say my dd was under weight when she "fell off the chart" She was perfectly normal when you look at our family, she is just short and skinny
I had a friend who has a son who was like that. The pediatritian told her that since he wasn't gaining enough weight he needed to be seen several hours away in Iowa City (that's the University Hospital you send patients to around here for major health issues). Anyway, the boy was thriving, he just comes from a family of very petite men and women. Well, combine the long trip with my friend's husband being out of work, along with a child who is obviously not sick.....needless to say, my friend could not justify nor afford the trip and canceled the appointment. Her pediatritian found out she had canceled the appointment and made another one for her. Then he told her that if she did not take her son to Iowa City he was turning her in to DCFS for medical neglect! They borrowed the money to take him (at that time he was their first child and under a year old), and found out that indeed there was nothing wrong with him and he was thriving. When the government steps in, you can bet it will be on a much more intrusive scale than this rogue pediatritian.
And what did the ped say about THAT? Was HE willing to pay for the bills? My friend had the same problem with her son. Jason's a small kid, that's all. They wanted all kinds of tests run on him. She had a hard time explainining to the ped that ALL her children were little.
At my DD's 5 year check-up they wrote her BMI for the first time. I didn't really pay attention to it honestly. I think for most people we have the sense to know and don't need a formula to help us out. I do have to say that some people don't have that sense. I have a very good friend who was very upset recently after her 7 year old DD's check-up. They told her that her DD's BMI put her in severly obese. She was upset because she thought her DD looked just fine, maybe a little chubby for her age. Then she told me she weighed 117 lbs and did I think that was alot for 7? I didn't know what to say so I just said I wasn't sure.
The same thing happenned to me with my 5 year old when she was 15 months old. We were lucky enought to find a great ped who had really small children also. It's almost been nice that my second DD is a chunkster and is on the growth chart.
Some parents aren't actually that clueless, they are just in denial. My dd was/is hefty, but we are working on it. I know how I struggled with weight as a child, so I approach it very delicately. We focus on health, nutrition and exercise as opposed to weight, which is why I am so sensitive to BMI. I know that, even after gastric bypass, daily cardio exercise and eating extremely healthy now, I am still 5'6" and weigh 218 lbs. My BMI is around 35 which would still qualify me for gastric bypass surgery. :roll: If I get denied health insurance after all the efforts I put forth to be healthy, I will literally scream.
Congrats on your success. You know how far you've come so don't let anyone make you feel like you haven't done enough!
I think focusing on health is the way to go. I'm not sure if my friend was clueless or in denial. I avoided the subject entirely because I couldn't see what I could say. I know that clueless people are out there because I had this other friend at work who went on a diet (though she looked great to me) by switching her daily doughnut for a dozen doughnut holes. She was shocked when I showed her they were more calories.
Anytime the government has control of any of us is a bad thing. They have no business sticking their nose in this and frankly neither does the schools. This upsets me greatly. BMI means not a whole lot. My dh's BMI shows he is obese, because of of his height and weight, but his dr laughs because he's is hugely muscular and has some pretty huge bone structure. This is a joke. More government interference (sp?), not to mention it's not the schools' job either.
Also, BMI is not universally accurate. For example, many Olympic athletes or short, muscular people (such as Tom Cruise) are considered overweight or obese according to the BMI charts because of their body type. But, even if it was completely accurate and proposed with the best of intentions, the government has *no* right to dictate lifestyle choices that don't endanger/infringe upon the constitutional rights of another, not in regard to food or exercise or fill in the blank. Should people be educated on good health and nutrition? Yes. But, implementing requirements (laws) and government monitoring are on an entirely different level, however. This is just another example of government forgetting its role and overstepping its bounds. The 10th Amendment to the Constitution states: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Okay, I'm done ranting....for now:wink:
I don't want my kids hooked on numbers such as weight and BMI. I am trying to teach them to be healthy by making good choices. I agree that BMI doesn't necessarily tell you whether or not you are healthy.
Well, I am always opposed to government control...especially on this. I have to loose about 30 or so pounds myself...guess I will be cast out of society..lol. I have two kids of normal weight and two that are considered overweight. My son is considered about 10 pounds overweight. He does gain weight easily but then looses it as he plays sports and then packs it in while he doesn't. UGH. My oldest daughter struggles with weight. She doesn't look terrible..and she is bigger boned and a wider girl...but she could stand to loose 15 or so pounds. Seems the only thing that kept her weight down was karate. Sadly, we cannot afford it. maybe the government will pay for that? LOL. Can I get a prescription for karate classes? Geesh...I don't know. I can't stand the government sticking their noses in my any of my business. BMI is flawed anyway.
If I'm shunned from society - do I have to work to help pay for everyone else's health insurance? I wanna be shunned!
