I can't believe the special news report I just saw! A new study shows that 1/4 of all amercian children are considered obese! The kids are so fat that they can not fit into regular sized child car safety seats; so "quick to make a buck" two seat manufacturers are making new "hefty size" seats for fat kids!
From the Associated Press (because I don't make this stuff up!)
Updated: 7:39 p.m. ET April 3, 2006
CHICAGO - Many young children are too heavy for standard car-safety seats, and manufacturers are starting to make heftier models to accommodate them, according to research on the obesity epidemic’s widening impact.
More than a quarter of a million U.S. children ages 1 to 6 are heavier than the weight limits for standard car seats, and most are 3-year-olds who weigh more than 40 pounds, the study found.
Unless exceptionally tall, a 3-year-old weighing more than 40 pounds would generally be considered overweight.
Lead author Lara Trifiletti said researchers at a safety center at Johns Hopkins Hospital became interested in the topic because they saw children “who were very obese and our car-seat technicians were having a hard time finding car seats to fit them.”
She did the research at Johns Hopkins but now works at Ohio State University’s Children’s Research Institute.
Using inadequate car seats for heavy children could put them at increased risk for injury in a car accident, the researchers said.
“We don’t recommend that a parent use a restraint system for a child that has outgrown that system,” said Eric Bolton, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “It is risky.”
Based on national growth charts and the 2000 Census, at least 283,305 children ages 1 to 6 are too heavy for standard safety seats. That includes nearly 190,000, or almost 5 percent, of U.S. 3-year-olds, the researchers said.
These kids are going to grow up and suffer the same obesity related diseases in their teens that adults do now:
Type II diabetes (Type II diabetes -USED to be called adult onset diabetes, but no more due to the rapid increase in teen diabetics!)
high blood pressure
heart disease
Cancer
What's the problem? It is twofold: Parents who do not care or know what healthy food and good exercise is (easy way to see this - look at people on the street, do they look fit and healthy??) I firmly beleive "you can only teach what you know" If parents don't know how to be healthy, how can they teach their kids??
Second, you have the damn FDA food pyramids and university nutrition courses created and funded by General Mills. So of course who do think is going to dictate what healthy food is (its not that processed crap that comes in boxes, cans etc.!) and of course the research supports the FDA because it is funded by ....... General Mills and other multi-billion dollar industries!!!
I will post lots more with references on this later! but for now here are some simple nutrition guidelines that you need to follow:
If you can't pronounce words on the label - DO NOT EAT IT!
If it wasn't living or growing 10,000 years ago - DO NOT EAT IT!
Your body is approx 70% water, you need to drink clean water daily! There is no clean tap water (EVEN WITH WATER FILTERS!)
You must convert all the food you eat into your own organs & tissues (we replace all the cells in our body once every 7 years), the poorer quality your food intake, the poorer the quality of your own body and internal organs. The less processed foods are the easier it is for your body to make them into new tissue and the healthier that tissue is (this is a major reason 80 million people have low back pain!)
Remember "YOUR HEALTH IS IN YOUR HANDS!" Do you really trust big business and the government to tell you what healthy foods are? It would ruin the economy! You must become informed and educate yourself or you will suffer the same fate as the rest of the population: Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, auto-immune disorders etc.
Hope this gave you something to think about!
Gordon
About the author: Gordon Waddell, PES, CSCS, CES is an Exercise Physiologist and Health & Fitness professional with over 10 years industry experience including personal training, strength & conditioning, performance enhancement and injury rehabilitation. He holds a B.S. with honors in Exercise Physiology and is currently completing a Masters degree in Exercise Science. He is studying corrective exercise kinesiology through the CHEK Institute and Neuromuscular Therapy through The St.John Institute.
He is available for personal training, ergonomic consulting, program design, workshops and seminars. He can be reached at: Gordon@Advanced-Fitness-Concepts.com. www.Advanced-Fitness-Concepts.com
