OVERALL NUMBERS FLAT, THOUGH …
New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released this week reveals a stunning 43 percent decline in early childhood obesity (i.e. obesity among children ages 2-5).
In 2003-04, 14 percent of children were classified as obese. By 2011-12, that number had dropped to 8 percent. The broader childhood population – ages 2-19 – showed no statistical changes in obesity, but the results do offer some hope for the future.
U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama – who has spent millions of tax dollars fighting childhood obesity – rushed to take credit for the good news.
“I am thrilled at the progress we’ve made over the last few years in obesity rates among our youngest Americans,” Obama said. “Healthier habits are beginning to become the new norm.”
Obama also unveiled new federal mandates aimed at restricting advertising for sugary drinks and unhealthy foods on the campuses of government-run schools.
“The idea here is simple — our classrooms should be healthy places where kids aren’t bombarded with ads for junk food,” she said. “Because when parents are working hard to teach their kids healthy habits at home, their work shouldn’t be undone by unhealthy messages at school.”
Hold up … since when did the First Lady craft new federal regulations?
And where is the evidence that government policies have had anything to do with this decline?
And even if the decline could be directly attributed to government policies, does that make fighting obesity a core function of government?
We think not …
This website isn’t going to waste much time decrying federal mandates in government-run schools. Those institutions take federal money, so they’re in a “live by the sword, die by the sword” situation as far as we’re concerned. Our problem is the failure of government to let parents use more of their own resources to make a choice in the education marketplace – effectively trapping them in top-down academic settings that aren’t meeting their needs.
Given the increased focus on diet and exercise in recent years, schools that offer a healthy eating environment for their students will no doubt gain an upper hand in the marketplace over schools that don’t … which is no doubt one of the goals of these new regulations.
But that’s just the thing: All of this should be driven by the marketplace, not by mandates from Washington, D.C.
31 comments
First we’re told unemployment is way down. Then we’re told the housing market is on fire, healthcare is accessible and cheaper and the Unions are coming back. Now the country is adhering to an anti-obesity campaign.
It would be wise to take a look around. What are you seeing? Has this country been transformed into all the great things reported by FITS and the media????
If so: I’d like to hear some HONEST examples….
First we’re told unemployment is way down. Then we’re told the housing
market is on fire, healthcare is accessible and cheaper and the Unions
are coming back. Now the country is adhering to an anti-obesity
campaign.
It would be wise to take a look around.
So what you’re saying is that somewhere in SC there’s a fat, uninsured manchild who lives in his mother’s basement and is unemployed because he didn’t have union representation to help keep him from being fired whatever number of years ago?
Well, isn’t that what many of the commenters here imagine as… you?
You did ask for an honest example. :)
I’m not going to pick on the GrandTurnip this week…..
I want to feed my kids and family junk food. The gubmint needs to STFU and let us kill ourselves and run the cost of health care sky high.
So you’re too stupid, or don’t are enough about your kids’ health, to take care of them yourself…
We have way too many mothers like you…and that is THE problem…
And we have way too many people like you who are to stupid for words, and that is THE problem.
Originality…F- (what’s new?)…..
The last original thought that you had was 1952. Spewing talking points and hate rhetoric is your forte. One of which I’m sure you, but no one else, are proud of.
He had an original thought in 1952?
I hope you can document that. Damned Tango’s integrity is on the line!
I really hope you don’t think that normal level headed conservatives align with GT.
The last 10-12 shopping carts I saw being paid for with “Gubmint” assistance were piled high with sugary drinks, sugary food, fatty meats, fatty snacks… processed everything. I think the “Gubmint” is doing just fine making sure that the poor decision makers in America have plenty of money to supply their offspring with the worst of the worst in dietary intake.
Unfortunately the crappy foods cost less than healthy foods and “Gubmint” assistance isn’t enough to feed a family.
I feed my kids healthy balanced meals on less money than a family of four gets in assistance a month. You’re clearly just here to perpetuate the myth that the government isn’t doing enough for the disenfranchised. Proper planning, portion control, preparation and knowledge is all you need to feed a family of four, for about a hundred dollars a week.
Tell me your secret for feeding a family of 4 on $100/ week.
Are you kidding me? I thought you were smarter than that SCBlue. #1. don’t fucking eat out. #2. buy in fucking bulk, #3. don’t be a fucking glutton. It’s really not that difficult.
I buy local and fresh from the farm. No processed foods and no chemicals. Only fish and chicken. I can’t feed 4 for $400 a month feeding fresh/wholesome. We don’t eat fast food ever. We aren’t fucking gluttons and we are athletic. I’m evidently “smarter” aka more intelligent than you.
Where did I say I purchase processed food? I eat fresh sc fish twice a week. What the fuck are you saying woman? You talk and talk and never say a fucking word. You’re another brain damaged liberal who thinks because you say it, it has to be true… (ie: your declaration that you’re smarter than someone you don’t know). Get the fuck over yourself.
Bless your heart. I was just responding to your vile post. You need to get the fuck over yourself, you prick. I was saying what I buy to eat, not inferring what you bought. In fact, I asked you how you fed a family of 4 for $400/mo. You suck, just saying. You seem to be the brain and dick dead one in this conversation. Again, bless your heart.
Again, brain and dick dead because a cunt from myrtle beach says so. It MUST be true.
And there you have it ladies and gentlemen. The reason the GOP will not win a national election in the near/distant future. I’ll bet you’re not married either.
More baseless inane statements from SCBlueWoman. Must be a another day that ends in the letter y.
No, he is married or was. In fact he got pissed at Obama because his wife lost her “gubmint” job. So they are no longer living on the back of the taxpayers they way they were. Probably have gotten significantly more from the taxpayers than anyone who is receiving food stamps, however.
It warms the cockles of my heart to know I have some creep on here stalking me. Comparing a healthcare professional contracting for the government to someone sucking the life out of American taxpayers, gobbling up all the entitlements they can possibly qualify for, is ludicrous.
Public education is a core function of government, and since schools are responsible for serving millions of kids lunch (and sometimes, even breakfast), as well as giving them some form of physical education, fighting childhood obesity in that regard is not outside of that core function.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with regulations that seek to improve nutrition or exercise within the schools themselves, albeit I’m sure many will argue whether that should be in the hands of the feds, states, or local school districts. I personally believe it is a mix of all three, where the feds can set a simple foundation, local school districts build from there, and states monitor local school districts to make sure they are at least trying to do a good job.
As far as fighting it outside of the school, that is a far more difficult battle, one that I doubt government really can tackle. Schools only get kids for a few hours out of the day, and very little of that time can be spent on exercise and good eating habits. What good one can do at school can be immediately undone at home, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth trying.
Let me respond for Tango – “That’s the dumbest pill of %)$% I’ve ever read. You are dumber than a high school graduate from Jasper County you $%#).”
You didn’t say anything about Dumb@$$es, Obama, Liberal- Tarians or [metaphorically] sucking dick….
*TBG has a David Alan Coe moment*
When I was in First Grade I received a badge for Presidential Fitness. It included a letter from President Richard Nixon, and it was a huge program pushed by the Republican President to make children healthy. Everyone agreed it was a good idea. Now the FLOTUS does the same thing to attack a growing problem with our kids – and she’s a commie gorilla. Let’s see – if a white crooked GOP President does it – it’s a great idea, if a respected First Lady who happens to be African American does it – it’s bad. I suspect if Obama announced tomorrow a cure for cancer, posters here would proclaim it’s a commie plot to make us docile. “Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face.”
It’s not a bad idea, it’s just unoriginal and ineffective. You should be ashamed of yourself for calling an African American a gorilla though, totally uncalled for.
They are just misunderstood.
If we want an effective government plan to get rid of childhood obesity than we can start by getting rid of welfare. That should slim some fatties down.
If burgers weren’t legal, they would be on schedule II.