No Mystery About Childhood Obesity Here

[OmahaBlueDog]

Everybody, it's time to alert Michelle Obama.

I was watching a show on Food Network hosted by Giada DeLaurentis called "Let Them Eat Cake"

http://www.foodnetwork.com/giada-at-home/let-them-eat-cake/index.html

She made a "kid friendly" recipe, which I'll admit sounds yummy. It is one of those "hide the veggies" recipes. It's a panini sandwich with chopped spinach hidden in a mixture of two kinds of cheeses with salt and butter served on country white bread. Maybe it's just me, but by the time you figure the fat from the cheese, the sodium from the cheese and the panchetta, and the carbs on this recipe, I can see why our kids are all overweight.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/grilled-cheese-with-spinach-and-pancetta-recipe/index.html

I'm overweight, and even I was apalled.

For even more nutritional shock, you can check out the berry punch recipe she proposes. Again, maybe it's just me, but I think straight fruit juice might be a better call here.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/berry-lemonade-recipe/index.html

[CountAllVotes]

1. people must learn to read labels

if they read them and understood what is in the food being sold, maybe they'd wise up.

Being FAT is a direct consequence of eating too much junk food with little nutritional value IMO.

Folks need to also learn how to cook again. Far too many people live on frozen pizzas and frozen dinners. They become horrified when they become diabetics.

This sad situation and I am glad that Mrs. Obama is addressing this very serious problem.

:kick:

[Skittles]

28. I never cook and I have never been fat

I am, however, extremely active

[JHB]

2. Hmmm. My biggest objection would be to the white bread...

Seems to me the rest would help make it feel filling. Just keep an eye on the portions.

To me, a bigger factor in obesity is all the empty calories and added sugar and sodium from sodas, chips, processed "convenience foods", overlarge portions, etc.

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. I would think a regular grilled cheese with a side of carrots and ranch would be a better choice

I look at the salt, butter, and panchetta and see a lot of fat and sodium.

[JHB]

18. I guess the real deciding factors are...

...what the rest of their diet looks like, and how active they are.

If the rest of their diet is basically healthy, this isn't going to cause any problems. If the kids are very active, the additional fat and salt
might actually be a plus. If their diet is already loaded with fat and sodium from processed foods, and/or the kids are more sedentary, then I'll agree with you in full.

[OmahaBlueDog]

25. Fair enough

..all things in moderation.

[Skittles]

29. actually, the biggest factor is lack of movement

[jobycom]

31. Tell that to my teenager.

She was very active as a kid. When she hit puberty she started eating a lot of junk and gained a lot of weight, and is basically obese now. As she gained it, she slowed down a lot. That's the correct order, too. She started gaining weight and then she started slowing down and becoming less active.

I ate a lot as a kid, but nowhere near what kids eat now, and nowhere near the junk level. I had cokes now and then, my kids can get them five times a day even if they don't drink them around me. The little 12 oz bottles we drank are now 20 oz bottles. Whereas I ate a meal of a sandwhich and small bag of chips, kids now eat two or three sandwhiches, a large bag of chip, a cookie, and a soda. I took my two kids out for pizza recently. They ate a 14 inch pizza between them, after an appetizer of battered fries and two very large sodas. When I was a kid that pizza would have fed four of us, including my parents.

Not to mention, I ate apples for a snack, and most of our meals were mostly vegetables. They eat pastries or even dry cereal for a snack, and they can go days without an actual vegetable. I've asked them before to name the last vegetable they ate, and they'll have to think back several days. When I cook for them, they almost never touch the veggies unless I load them with butter or cheese first.

It's not just inactivity. The whole concept of food has changed. What used to be a rare treat for us are there basic meals, and what used to be a huge portion for us is barely a first serving for them. We never had to watch what we ate because we couldn't afford the junk they eat now, or the size of the portions they eat now.

And I was extremely inactive for a kid. My idea of a workout was reading a book. My family would go swimming and I'd sit on the bank and read. My teenager was way more active than I was when she started gaining weight. After a while being that heavy killed the activity, though, and that probably made it worse.

[Skittles]

32. my dinner tonight is baconator, fries and twizzlers

I also exercised 80 minutes before work and average 14,000 steps a day

[Odin2005]

3. "Kid-Friendly" = lots of sugar and saturated fat.

Kids are propagandized into thinking fruits and veggies are disgusting and tasteless. The food industry and the Corn Lobby gets us hooked early. It's a good part of the reason I'M overweight.

[crim son]

5. Even straight fruit juice has more calories than are worth

it for the nutritional value. I say, eat the whole fruit. I know many adults who think that if they don't eat fast food more than once a week, and limit dessert to once a day, then they are eating well. Cooking is a lost art, yes, but so, apparently, is thinking.

[KT2000]

6. TV viewing includes

many ads for high fat, high carb foods.
People who watch tv, then get up to fix a snack probably do not realize they are responding to the constant flow of ads for tasty foods.
When i did a fast, I had to stop watching tv because so many of tghe ads are for foods - juicy burgers, melting cheese, salty chips, sweet cereals. No ads for carrots, celery or swiss chard.

[OmahaBlueDog]

24. It's not just TV

In South Florida, there used to be (and may still be) a wingnut radio host named Steve Kane. He had a gift for reading spots for restaurants. He'd start describing the fresh seafood and succulent prime rib and by the time he was done I was starving.

[KT2000]

30. Exactly!

We are all susceptible to these suggestions and respond just they way they want us to.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. That's too much hiding of the veggies.

[Madam Mossfern]

8. I can't believe I saw the same show today

OK- I was getting a mani/pedi- and it was on the TV there. When she was describing the ingredients (cheese and more cheese and lots of butter and fried some sort of meat but you could use bacon and white bread and salt and hey! there's spinach hidden in there somewhere-god forbid the kids actually eat real veggies. (I know-run on- but this is stream of conciousness)

And I thought to myself "What the HELL?"

I'm glad that someone else who saw it feels the same way.

[OmahaBlueDog]

20. I was mostly really surprised

If it had just been the cheese and butter, I might not have been so surprised, but the cheese, butter, panchetta, and whitebread seemed like overkill to suggest to serve to a kid -- especially with so much buzz about childhood obesity. It seemed tone deaf - especially for the Food Network.

I will admit...it sounded yummy.

[Hannah Bell]

9. that punch = sugar in the lemonade, sugar in the simple syrup.

the simple syrup is apparently to sweeten the berries -- but berries are already sweet, & kids like them.


waste of time, too much sugar. kids will drink lemonade, kids will eat berries. stupid.

[Madam Mossfern]

10. Dupe

Yeah, I was that outraged.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Ah my nephews... they eat a lot of CRAP

and I partly blame sis, but I also blame the media. They are TAUGHT to think an apple is yukky, while apple sauce is good.

Don't get me started.

As to Giadda... this is the time to start making "kid friendly" that is also nutritious and not that fatty and salty.

[OmahaBlueDog]

23. As I wrote in another post:..

The Food Network, in general, seems to be on top of trende. They seem to have missed the boat on the fight against childhood obesity.

[d_r]

12. children need to eat fat

and children need to eat carbohydrates. Junk food filled with high fructose corn syrup plus sedentary lifestyles = childhood obesity, not cheese and bread. Like adult obesity for that matter. Children need to eat fat for brain development (mylenization), muscle and bone development, and a shiny coat. They don't need to be on low-fat diets, they need to be more active, and cut that hfcs.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Yes they need to eat fat

but white bread is not that good for kids... and there is a limit on how much they need to eat.

Why NO dietitian recommends low fat or non fat milk for kids at two or bellow... that said, they don't recommend full fat either after oh five...

And the problem with the sandwich is that it points to a problem we have in the US. Kids do not learn to eat veggies and fruit and that usually translates to adult eating habits.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

16. Yes, children need to eat fat, but I think this is a little excessive

Here is the recipe, which makes 8 sandwiches
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/grilled-cheese-with-spinach-and-pancetta-recipe/index.html

* Vegetable oil cooking spray
* 6 ounces pancetta, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
* 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mild Cheddar
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil, plus extra, as needed
* 2 packed cups coarsely chopped baby spinach
* 16 (1/3-inch-thick) slices country-style white bread

[XemaSab]

26. A one-to-one ratio of cheese to spinach alone is hardly healthy

And seriously, how would that sandwich be any less flavorful with whole-wheat bread? (To straighten the deck chair there.)

[OmahaBlueDog]

21. You're correct - none of this would be an issue if kids got out more

In the 70s, we played frisbee, pick up baseball, rode our bikes -- all while chewing Bazooka bubble gum, drinking slurpees, and eating potato chips.

"and a shiny coat" LOL :)

[Crystal Clarity]

13. "I'm overweight but even I was appalled"

If you are overweight as you claim to be, maybe you might want to refrain from commentaries about other people's choices as to what they believe to be kid-friendly healthy meals.

Sorry, but moralizing of any sort tends to rub me the wrong way. Particularly among folks who don't seem to practice what they preach. The Christian Right being a glaringly obvious example... But for some inexplicable reason, I see it on the left at times too.

[OmahaBlueDog]

19. As I claim to be?

"If you are overweight as you claim to be"

I am, indeed, overweight, as I claim to be. Why would I lie about that? What do I gain? You think I'm sitting behind my keyboard saying "hmmm...I know..I'll present myself as overweight...that'll fool 'em?"

"maybe you might want to refrain from commentaries about other people's choices as to what they believe to be kid-friendly healthy meals"

If the meals were being presented as something for me to eat, I might agree with you. The meal is being presented for something for kids to eat. As a parent, I have the absolute right, endowed upon me by the Creator, to be critical of that which is being presented as an option for kids.

"Sorry, but moralizing of any sort tends to rub me the wrong way."

a) you are not the least bit sorry. It's like starting out a sentence "With all due respect.." before saying something disrespectful or "That having been said..." before engaging in self contradiction.

b) I'm not moralizing. I'm criticizing. There is a difference. In my opinion, as a parent, Giada DeLaurentis is not presenting a very logical way to introduce my kids to spinach, or to get them to eat veggies, by hiding chopped spinach in cheese, butter, and white bread.

"The Christian Right being a glaringly obvious example... But for some inexplicable reason, I see it on the left at times too."

Again..I'm not suggesting they are offering me, an (allegedly) overweight person a bad choice. I'd agree, that would be hypocritical. That would be like me preaching that fornication is evil, and then getting caught in bed with a cheerleader to whom I am not lawfully wedded. I'm saying that the Food Network is suggesting bad choices for parents to serve to their children, which is much more akin to criticizing tobacco ads seemingly aimed at teenagers or liquor commercials aimed at enticing minors.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

15. lol! I saw the beginning of the show and when she said one stick of butter

to mix in with all that cheese, my stomach turned. And I'm very overweight, and that meal just gave me the shivers!

[SoCalDem]

17. Reverse psychology works for little ones

I used to cut up cauliflower, carrots, cukes, tomatoes, etc & put them on a fancy plate & then set them on the counter with yogurt dip & tell my boys to "leave it alone..it's for later"..they would sneak in & out of the kitchen grabbing bits off the plate:)

I had a garden:)

and when I planted it, I gave each on their own row & they loved eating THEIR veggies.

If you don't give them junk or buy junk, they won't eat it:)

[OmahaBlueDog]

22. Those are both good suggestions

My 6yo is queen of the picky eaters, but she'll eat cherry tomatoes from the garden.

The reverse psychology idea is great.

[SoCalDem]

27. You should have seen one hundimger of a sibling argument

when Steven ran in accusing Michael of eating HIS tomato..the very one he was going to pick and they both suspected their older brother of picking their carrots..(it turns out there was a rabbit in the neighborhood who got into some gardens:rofl:

My husband and I laughed our asses off at the spectacle of our three rowdy boys arguing over vegetables:)

[Mimosa]

33. Giada DeLaurentis is not an expert chef

I suppose she got the gig because of her looks and connections. I've see a couple of episodes and thought 'amatuer hour'. I'm not impressed by the over worked panini recipe. Blah.

[Hello_Kitty]

34. It's not that the diet I ate was super-healthy when I was a kid in the 70s

It was mainly meat and potatoes and white bread crap. Probably not optimal but the main difference, I think, was smaller portions and we didn't snack all day long.

[LWolf]

35. If "kid friendly" recipes

contain sugar and use over-processed foods, they aren't "friendly."

Kid friendly? Water. Whole fruit. Fresh green things, whole grains, nuts.

Flour-less bread. Is there a flour-less panini?

Cheese? Fine. The healthiest cheeses are raw and come from grass-fed, organically raised animals. If you can find them. In addition, soft cheeses tend to have less fat and sodium than hard cheeses.

Nut butters? Buy the raw, organic nuts and grind your own.

Jam? Fruit-only, or make your own without sugar, or just put fresh, ripe fruit on your bread. Works with raspberries and blackberries, anyway. ;)

Meat? Fresh, organic, locally raised if possible, no processing past butchering.

Meals would be a hell of a lot "kid friendly" if everything they eat didn't have to contain sugar.

Sweets? Save them for a treat once a week, and make them at home.