… [A] recent survey found that the most severe hunger-related problems in the nation are in the South Bronx, long one of the country’s capitals of obesity. Experts say these are not parallel problems persisting in side-by-side neighborhoods, but plagues often seen in the same households, even the same person: the hungriest people in America today, statistically speaking, may well be not sickly skinny, but excessively fat.
via The South Bronx, Plagued by Obesity, Tops a Hunger Survey – NYTimes.com.
When I taught daycare there was a child in our class who was fat and who was always hungry. His mother, acting on the advice of their pediatrician, told us that he was not allowed seconds at lunch. He got one serving of the (mostly) balanced meal and one serving of the Goldfish crackers or raisins or cheerios at snack. One serving and that was it no matter how much he begged.
He was fat but he was hungry.
I remember one time when a substitute accidentally gave him seconds.
“Dawn, Dawn!” he called, his 3-year old face lighting up. “Look! I got more!”
Eventually I started babysitting for him in his own home and that’s when I realized why he was hungry.
There wasn’t much to eat in his house and what there was to eat was processed foods. Fruit snacks instead of fruit. Frozen meals with processed cheese food sauce instead of fresh vegetables. Packages of ramen. He was fat but he was probably also malnourished. His mom was so skinny that I bet she never ate (to save money maybe?) and judging from the ‘fridge and cupboards, her son was the focus of her grocery list since every happy-looking package was pasted up with kid-friendly slogans and graphics. No wonder he wanted seconds on our (not much better but at least USDA-approved) lunches at daycare!
I was only twenty and dumb and didn’t know I could do anything about this (like find some nutrition information to share with his mom) so I didn’t. But I thought of him later when I met fat clients at the shelter who were getting their meals from food banks (boxed dinners, canned spaghettio-s). And I also think of him when I hear about doctors taking a glance at a kid’s growth chart and advising, “Don’t let him eat seconds” instead of having the time and inclination to sit down and say, “Now what all do you folks eat in a regular day?”
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I don’t think the problem is totally lack of knowledge of nutrition, it’s lack of money. 5 bags of Ramen is less than a dollar. A decent apple is 99 cents a pound (at least) and you probably can only get two or three for that dollar. Ramen is more filling. Good food costs more.
We substitute with crap a couple of nights a week to help the budget. Grilled cheese and tomato soup, ramen with tofu, frozen veggies and a drop of chili sauce, mac n cheese with peas and smart dogs. Most of the time a salad is added on the side, but not always.
Oh yes, the article makes that point and I should have been more explicit re., that mom. But I meant that she could buy canned fruit instead of fruit snacks, too. And then also your last paragraph speaks to making cheap food more healthy and we could have shared info on that as part of a daycare newsletter. This mom was depressed, too, with good reason. I really liked her and I really liked her son.
So sad, so common, so preventable. With all this attention on childhood obesity, we have to be careful not to do more harm than good. Whether a kid is not getting enough food because of economic factors, or doctor’s orders, the result is likely to be obsession with food and weight gain. I am a childhood feeding specialist, and I almost always find that kids aren’t getting enough breakfast, or enough protein and fat with snacks. They worry they won’t get enough to eat, they experience rapid highs and lows with cheap carbohydrate foods, and they are hungry. Parents are surprised that my advice usually begins with, serve more food, serve a better variety, sit and eat with your kids, serve food about every 4 hours. It’s structure and permission, not avoidance and dieting. Ugh. Again, sad…
Great post, Dawn. What frustrates me is how difficult it is for food security programs (programs that guarantee people access to nutritious food) to maintain their sources of funding. The work they do is in everyone’s best interest and yet they often aren’t a funding priority for governments.
I remember the first few grocery trips I made after the layoff I’d get to the produce section and the realize I could no longer afford fresh veggies and fruits. I grew up in a household that got by on meals like hamburger helper, ramen, or mac n’ cheese and fish sticks so it wasn’t a complete “culture shock” but one of the things I am looking forward to once I find a job is shopping in the produce section…well that and a new pair of shoes.
I have significant food allergies related to food preservatives, which means little to no processed foods in our house. When the Tongginator does have access to processed foods on a regular basis (such as visiting relatives over the holidays), not only is she more hungry, her behavior also spirals downward (and not just from the spoiling – because when we travel to see relatives AND have control of her diet, she does much, much better). I find myself increasingly frustrated, since I truly can’t eat canned foods, frozen dinners and the like. Our food budget is astronomical. But what really frustrates me is that these sulfites, dyes and preservatives are sneaking into more and more foods. I seriously cannot eat them or I will end up in the ER. *sigh*
The Fat Nutritionist has a great post about this – http://www.fatnutritionist.com/index.php/if-only-poor-people-understood-nutrition/
Food is so stupidly expensive, especially healthy food, and especially after we (in Australia) have had years of drought (a single banana cost more than $4 at one point here). I don’t understand how many people afford to feed their children when I see how much it costs us to buy groceries for the two of us. Thankfully we now have Costco that saves us a lot of money, but since you need $60 to join up not to mention the petrol to drive into Docklands, I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who can’t afford the membership or to even get there.
We had problems with a 5 year old foster kid who’s parent only provided one meal for her – a sandwich – each day. They would sometimes serve dinner, but she was often locked in her room for being naughty then and would eat anything remotely edible in her room (i.e. her treasured lip gloss). Two weeks after she went home following a month eating salads and fruit at our house, she lost two dress sizes. We couldn’t get anyone to take us seriously. I think it’s because we’re fat, so obviously we must have been feeding her shit. We have a problem over here with starving children being left with their families to die. Nutrition is so important, children have the right to food and I believe parents do need to be told how much and what kind of foods their kids need to eat every day. If they can’t afford to that’s one thing, but I feel a lot of parents have no idea what they should be doing. It’s so much more complicated than that, but I think someone needs to start talking about the basics and ignore the obesity epidemic bullshit for a while.
Jack’s birthmother was telling me that now fresh fruits and vegetables were covered by WIC. They weren’t before. They could get peanut butter and milk, but no fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, or bread. How insane is that? Our local Farmer’s Market takes WIC now, or at least, some of the vendors do. Crazy whacked out priorities.
Glad you posted the link. There is so much in the New York Times it is easy to miss articles.
What I find most fascinating about food and weight in our culture is how much standing in judgment of others is a part of it. Of course it is easier to judge than it is to address far more significant concerns like our own fears and vulnerability about weight, the worry we feel about our insecure food supply and the guilt we feel knowing we have plenty when others have nothing.
For what it is worth, I was a parent of a version of that three year old. Due to good fortune of decent income and level of education (including years spend working as a nutrition educator) our son had access to excellent whole foods nutrition including plenty of organic, fresh food. Despite this, he never stopped eating of his own accord (without adult intervention he would eat to the point of being sick again and again). Our pediatrician too advised that we deny seconds and thirds not just due to the obesity but due to the fact that he shouldn’t spend his life with a stomachache. And, you know what, she was right. For medical reasons he was not a person who ever felt full, Denying the seconds and the thirds was the road to him learning to eat an appropriate and healthy amount of food and to have the freedom to enjoy a meal without anxiety. I’m glad we listened to this advice. I’m sure looked bad to random strangers at playgroup and preschool (perhaps they are blogging about it right now too) but the more important thing is that it was the right move for our child. What was important was not doing what was right for most kids, or the kid we thought we should have, but instead for the kid we actually had.
I strongly agree it is really unfortunate when foodbanks have to relay on stuff like spaghetti-os and ramen. Those who feel moved about this, please donate healthy foods to your local pantry. The need is great and it is a constant struggle to provide appropriately balanced food boxes. Fruits and protein foods are especially good to donate.