ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
Absolutely.

There's always the brown bag, but its easier just to send your tot off to school (day care) and blame 'them' when their child is malnourished.

 Romulus wrote: 
Let's not forget 'parents' in there...

 cc_rider wrote: 
replace 'corporations' with 'governments'. These are public schools, even though they have some local control, they are still funded by the Dept of Ed and state govt.

 cc_rider wrote: 
The same people who make food for the prisoners. No more "home cooking" in these places, it all comes from GFS or some such place.

 kurtster wrote: 
School lunches are primarily supplied by large corporations with huge contracts. Those corporations make every effort to maximize their profits. The health of the schoolkids is at best a secondary consideration.

Nothing surprising here: Americans eat like pigs and sit on their asses in front of TV's and computers.

 kurtster wrote: 
The school lunch program is more than likely a huge factor in their childhood obesity.  That being said and sadly enough it might be and often is the best meal the child had that day

 rosedraws wrote: 
27

Mrs.HobieJoe wrote: 
I'm at 32. I hate BMI.

 duchamp wrote: 
I can't disagree. Except I skipped the lunch line and went straight to the snack bar. Dolly Madison and orange drink every day from 9th-10th grade.

Most School Lunch Programs set the lifelong stage.

 Yibbyl wrote: 
I have to disagree there. Nowadays, food makers are loading up our products with MSG, HFCS, Sucralose, Asparatame and all sorts of money saving, taste enhancing ingredients that make you fat AND hungry!

I cut out ALL high fructose corn syrup out of my diet and my cravings for snacks were gone. Of course now since the backlash, makes are using real sugar in products - imagine that! But they have their tricks, they just rename it "corn syrup" or something else.

So yes, its our diet and they (the big mega food corps) are genetically engineering and adding synthetic crap in everything. Boycott it. Don't feed it to your kids. Eat raw, fresh and organic when you can.

My wife lost over 30lbs that way. And her father in law lost almost 80 from diet alone.

Mrs.HobieJoe wrote :Very depressing. I have been making a good effort to stay out of these stats and although my bmi is still over 25 it is staying below 30.
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It already is a huge social problem and in a few years time it will cost a bundle and cause millions of much too early deaths.
Sad indeed.

 HazzeSwede wrote: 


Very depressing. I have been making a good effort to stay out of these stats and although my bmi is still over 25 it is staying below 30.

Look out US,the old world is catching up !

UK women are 'fattest in Europe'

 Yibbyl wrote: 
Near where I work, the city of Durham built a skateboard park where there once was just a slab from a demolished building.  I remember some folks complaining about it attracting "a bad crowd" or leading to too many injuries and the possibilities of lawsuits, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Sure, kids might get scrapes and bruises once in a while from falling, but at least they're out there engaging in real physical activity. 

I think the main reason obesity in America has increased has less to do with our diet and more to do with our lifestyle.  When I was young, there may have been fitness centers, but I knew of none, unless you count the YMCA.  Those businesses arose because our lifestyle was already changing.  We were becoming more and more sedentary and those places were designed to assist us in burning calories.  We started watching more TV and playing less.  Our bellies became larger, so we sought out others who could assist us in some sort of organized exercise rather than just going outside to play.

As a child, we didn't exercise, we played games like kick the can, hide-n-seek, tag, dodgeball, jumped rope, basketball, baseball, football, tennis, badmitten, bowling, rode bike, hiked, went hunting & fishing, etc.  Now kids talk about "playing" those games on an XBOX 360.  If you have children, ask them how they hit a fastball and they'll probably respond with "press X while simultaneously pressing the up arrow"!  The preference of playing with electronic games has replaced the actual physical activities and is even replacing watching TV!  Want proof?  Next time your child does something wrong, ask them which punishment they would prefer, not being able to go outside to play or not being able to play on a game system or computer.

One of the ironies of the shift to playing simulated games is that when families set aside even just one day per week where electronics are forbidden and instead replaced by a game or activity outside participated by the whole family, after a while, the children and adults both report a more satisfying family dynamic.  It becomes not only a way to burn calories, but a bonding experience as well!

Perhaps school children receiving subsidized lunches should have to weigh in before getting there lunch.  If they are over a certain parameter, then they get something conducive to losing weight.  We don't want the government contributing to their obesity, do we ?

King Obesity's Realm
by Ralph Nader

The Buddy System: How Medical Data Revealed Secret to Health and Happiness