Originally published July 7 2005
Pressure, humiliation improper tools to combat childhood obesity
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The problem of childhood obesity is seeing increasing attention from the media and parents, but Abby Ellin, author of Teenage Waistland, says that all the shame and pressure put on these kids is completely ineffective, something she knows from personal experience.
But while the obesity crisis is often reduced to sterile medical statistics and clinical observations, it's easy to forget that there are breathing human beings struggling to control their weight every day.
And despite what the thin crowd might believe, those who are overweight, especially children, are painfully aware of their plight, Abby Ellin writes in Teenage Waistland: A Former Fat Kid Weighs In on Living Large, Losing Weight, and How Parents Can (and Can't) Help.
There is no benefit from pressuring or humiliating overweight children, writes Ellin, who knows from personal experience: Her family and friends badgered her first for being too thin, then for becoming heavy.
Weight-loss camps helped her lose weight temporarily, but she also learned unwanted skills: how to hoard, lie, sneak, binge and obsess over food in ways that have haunted Ellin her entire life.
But Teenage Waistland (PublicAffairs, $25) is not just about Ellin's personal experiences, it's more about the emotional effects of the various solutions, which range from "fat camps" to stomach stapling.
Alas, most methods for losing weight not only don't work, she warns, they usually result in an even higher final weight.
While Ellin approves of hospital-based behavior-modification weight-loss programs, she argues that those who succeed often gain the weight back at program's end, and insurance often doesn't pay the bills.
Perhaps the most drastic method of losing weight is bariatric surgery, commonly known as stomach stapling.
By closing off or removing parts of the stomach and intestines, adults and teens often lose more than 100 pounds, although the possible complications from the surgery can be severe.
Parents might feel even more despair over Ellin's insistence that genetics are much to blame for America's obesity problem.
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