CHILD OBESITY = CHILD ABUSE

Those who know me will tell you that thinking before I speak is not one of my strong points. A thought pops into my head and 3 seconds later I speak it, regardless of the topic, regardless of who's involved or to what subject it pertains.  I think it's one of my best characteristics, brutal honesty, but most beg to differ.

This article was going to be no different.  I have very strong views on the subject of child obesity and planned on sharing them in my usual no holds barred, take no prisoners approach. However conversations during the week with different people have led me to thinking that this subject need be handled with a touch more diplomacy.  So I will try.  i will attempt to allay much of the controversy by using as much medical evidence as possible but in the end, if you are offended by what you are about to read, you're in denial.  Shit! I did say i would try... oh well...

Child obesity is child abuse.  Plain and simple.  Given the indisputable evidence in relation to the physical and mental health risks associated with being obese, I dare someone to argue.  These risks are amplified when talking about children, as the damage they accrue now, will be with them for the rest of their life, if not physically, definitely mentally in some form.  By allowing your child to become obese you are setting them up for bullying, depression, lack of social development and a list of physical issues that is too long to list and quite frankly, shouldn't have to be listed.  Everyone knows that obesity causes heart disease, hypertension, diabetes etc. YOUR CHILDREN ARE NOT IMMUNE!

Every day, people are held accountable by law for the abuses they perpetrate, whether they be physical, sexual, verbal or psychological and parents are punished for neglecting their children or housing them in an unsafe environment.  I strongly believe that is not before the time we treat negligent obesity the same way.

Now before you start with the hate, please note that I said NEGLIGENT OBESITY.

By that I am referring to Parents who despite knowing better, continue to feed their children terrible diets and allow their inactivity.  Parents who have been educated in what's good and bad for a child's body and still choose to ignore the fact that their child is obviously obese and continue the same practices.  I am not talking about those who acknowledge there is a problem and actively go about fixing it.

 The biggest challenge I have faced whilst trying to educate parents on this subject is their sheer state of denial. They have every excuse under the sun and refuse to take responsibility for the fact that they are harming their kids.  It's always genetics fault or a refusal to admit there even is a problem.  "I was raised like that and I'm fine so what's the issue?" Sound familiar? That is a cop out and you know it. Deep down you do. Your parents raised you like that because there wasn't the same information about how the body worked back then, we now know better. Your kids will not "grow out of it" and no, they are not too young for you to be concerned.  The longer you fail to act, the deeper the issues will become.  I don't care who or what you try and blame, you the parent are solely responsible for what food goes into your child's mouth and you the parent are solely responsible for how physically active they are. YOU! No one else.  Not the schools, not the government, not TV advertising, not some imaginary "FAT GENE". YOU!  

Medical Info:

Children's bodies do store a lot of energy at different stages to supply the huge demands caused by growth.  This means that at different times, usually before a growth spurt, kids will look a little "chubbier" then usual.  This is not obesity.  I encourage you all to look up CDC growth charts and BMI charts for kids to get clarification on what is deemed obese.

THE FAT GENE:

There is no such thing. Easy. Research has shown that obesity itself is not hereditary.  If there is a family history of obesity, this can mean that children MAY be genetically predisposed to being obese. PRE-DISPOSED. The same way that my Mother had melanoma cancer so I may be pre-disposed to getting it. It does not mean that I will get it.  It does not mean that I don't need to take care in the sun because I'm going to get it.  It means the opposite!  It means I need to take more care in the sun and be more vigilant about getting checkups.  IF YOU ARE OBESE THIS IN NO WAY PROVIDES ANY TYPE OF EXCUSE FOR YOUR CHILDREN TO BE! Obesity is caused by poor diet and lack of activity.  We the parents are responsible for that. In the same way I need to take care of my skin, if your child is predisposed to obesity you need to take more care of their diet and exercise habits.

MEDICAL CONDITIONS:

There are a couple of medical conditions that may cause obesity in children. Prada-Willi syndrome is a genetic condition that causes an insatiable appetite (meaning the child is always hungry) and mental retardation. After consulting with a doctor and clinical nutritionist about this article, this was the ONLY CONDITION found that has definite links to obesity in kids. Two other rare causes are Cushings syndrome and Hypothyroidism.  That is it.

So if your child is not suffering from one of these 3 conditions and is obese, guess what, IT'S ON YOU!

If you are caught buying your child alcohol you are accountable by law, if you are caught supplying cigarettes you are accountable by law, if you leave your child unattended in a car you are accountable by law, but for some reason if a parent takes their 75kg 5yr old to McDonalds we say and do nothing? Please stop kidding yourself by saying that the consequences of such actions can't be compared, they can and should! 

Schools have an obligation to report suspected abuse victims amongst their students. I want obese kids added to that list.

I want some sort of program installed whereby at risk children are identified and their parents are made take a course in nutrition and exercise for children.  And if still no effort is made to rectify the problem, the penalties should be as harsh as other forms of abuse.  Child obesity is child abuse!

Our children have no control over what we are doing to them.  That is why destroying their insides, letting them be physically inactive, putting them in a situation where they WILL be bullied and setting them up for lifelong struggles with health  and mental issues such as obesity and depression, is an abuse.

This may seem harsh. I don't care.  I am a parent.  I was a kid once too. I have seen firsthand how hard obese kids have it at school.  There are stories in the news about young people killing themselves because of bullying every week.  I am now work in the health and fitness industry. I see adults day in and day out struggling with their size and the mental problems that go along with it. A lot of them have been big since childhood.

 Why would you want this for your kids? How can you possibly excuse it? 

Most of us probably think we would never hurt a child. But by feeding them shit food and letting them live in front of the playstation, guess what, YOU ARE.

Child Obesity is Child Abuse

Peace

THE SCURGE OF THE SCALES

The greatest health related myths, the most misleading advertising and the worst piece of gym equipment ever invented, the scales, all revolve around one term, "WEIGHT LOSS."  Whenever anybody talks to me about their health and fitness, the term "WEIGHT LOSS" is inevitably thrown in there somewhere.  Every new diet, every new Ab busting machine and every reality "WEIGHT LOSS" shows  biggest selling tool is the term "WEIGHT LOSS."  We are obsessed by it but we are confused by it.  It is so engrained in our sub conscious that it has lost all meaning and thus is associated with everything to do with being healthy.

Weight is a unit of measurement yes? Kgs or Lbs, that is all. So when we are talking about the human body, what does our weight tell us? How much muscle we have? No. How much bone mass we have? No. How much water we are holding? No. Our percentage of body fat? No.  Our BMR (Basil Metabolic Rate)? No. Our resting heart rate? No.  Our blood pressure? No. Nutrient levels? No. Our VO2 max? No. How we look in that dress or that pair of Jeans? NO NO NO NO NO!

SCALES TELL US HOW MUCH WE WEIGH. THAT IS ALL!!!!

So why do we insist and obsess over our weight?  When you get on the scales what are you learning? The problem is, as I stated previously, every health and fitness product advertised by mass media sells "WEIGHT LOSS." They brainwash you into associating what the scales tell you with how fit you are, how good you look and most dangerously, how healthy you are. Why? Because it is much easier to lose "weight" then it is to lose FAT.  I am yet to see a new fad diet promise FAT LOSS, which is exactly what everyone is after. FAT LOSS PEOPLE, FAT LOSS!

The irrelevance of scales is highlighted when we look at how many people in the community actually NEED to track their  body weight.   So far I've come up with Jockeys, and any other sport that has weight divisions.  That's it!  Someone else suggested fighter pilots, but I haven't been able to confirm this, regardless, this is a frighteningly short list of people who actually NEED to use scales! What percent of the population do you think is made up by Jockeys, Pro Fighters and Weightlifters? And yet all of us have a set of scales in the bathroom,  The Biggest Loser and shows like it use the scales as their only form of assessment, and every product on the market promises weight loss, not FAT LOSS. 

When we get fitted for clothes, does the shop assistant weigh us or measure us? hmm But so often we relate our weight to looking good.

We need to start thinking in terms of FAT LOSS, not weight loss.

Here are a couple of facts about how the makeup of your body relates to the number on the scales:

Fact:  Muscle weighs more than fat... sort of... what this really means is muscle is much more dense than fat, so 1kg of muscle is much much much smaller in size than 1kg of fat.

Fact:  Fat is one of the bodies fuel sources, along with protein and carbohydrate.  To use more fat we must burn more energy then we consume i.e. If you eat 2000 calories a day, you need to burn more than that to have an effect.  To burn more energy we need to increase our base metabolic rate ( the rate at which we burn fuel at rest) . This is done through exercise and muscle mass. Muscle needs a lot of fuel. The higher your muscle mass, the higher your metabolism.  Oh but the scales won't like that because muscle is heavy.

Fact: Muscles work on a supply and demand basis.  If there is no demand for them i.e. If we don't use them, they atrophy (shrink, waste away).  So yes, you will "weigh less" as a result of not exercising.  Will you lose fat? NO. Will your body fat percentage go up? YES. With less muscle, more of your body composition will be made up of fat. 

Fact: The body is made up of 80% water, so stop drinking it and yes you'll lose "weight".  First you'll get headaches, then back pain, then your vital organs will begin to shut down, but the scales say you weigh too much so who cares right? This is most relevant to females.  Depending on where you are at with your cycle ladies,  hormone levels will cause water retention, every litre of water weighs 1kg.  With this in mind, ask yourself again, Why is my weight relevant?

Fact: A flat stomach has nothing to do with what you weigh, it's how much body fat you have covering the six pack that all of us are born with.  Yes that's right, we all have a six pack, some are just better insulated then others. 

Fact: Your Jeans do not know how much you weigh, they know how big your waist is and how toned your butt is.

Fact:  A set of scales is not going to tell you if all those bicep curls you've done have been working.

Fact:  A set of scales will not tell you that your about to drop dead from an artery blockage.

Using the term" weight loss" and the use of scales is the most dangerous, misleading, overused and overrated practice in the health and fitness industry today.  I'm on a mission to change your mentality from weight loss to FAT LOSS, and get scales out of everyones fat Loss tool box.

Get skin folds assessed, get a body scan, get a bio electrical impedance test done, take girth measurements.  Do anything but get on the F'ing scales! Make your goals clothing size or performance related.

The next time you see or hear  an ad for losing weight without exercise, or dropping 10kg in the first week or your money back, read the muscle and water facts again and think about what these idiots are actually trying to sell you.

If your trainer or doctor has put you on the scales (except if you are pregnant) they have already failed you. Find a new trainer, find a new doctor.  Better yet, ask them how your weight is relevant and watch them stumble over an answer.

A NUMBER ON THE SCALES WILL NOT MAKE YOU HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR!

Peace

PUTTING LIVES AT RISK FOR RATINGS- THE BIGGEST LOSER

I've read that one of the keys to writing a good blog is to keep it short to cater for this generations increasingly short attention spans.  This is fine in theory but when it comes to discussing everything that is wrong with The Biggest Loser in a succinct fashion, I am struggling, BIG TIME!

When The Biggest Loser first graced our televisions many years ago, I was like many of you, enthralled, inspired and grateful that finally someone was using reality television to do good.  Then I became educated, about the human body, about weight loss, about fitness, about the psychology of training obese clients and about the damage caused by going about things the wrong way.  I had to stop watching.  I have been disgusted and appalled ever since.

The simple fact is, the Biggest Loser feeds into the laziness of us humans by providing yet another quick fix.  Just like the latest pill or surgery or fad diet, The Biggest Loser gives the impression that it's possible to lose huge amounts of weight in a short period of time and that at the end, you'll be healthy, fit and cured of all the issues that led to you being obese in the first place. WRONG!

Fact: Muscle weighs more than fat.  So when we look at the scales, what are we measuring? The number we see tells us nothing of how much body fat we have. It bears no reflection on how fit we are.  Our weight has nothing to do with whether or not we are getting enough nutrients from our diet  and yet this is the sole mode of assessment used on this show.  My clients are not allowed on the scales. When they tell me they want to be 65kgs I ask them why?  "Because that's my healthy weight range". Forget what a piece of paper says. How about looking the mirror and being happy with what you see. You might be 100kgs, morbidly obese according to your BMI, but what if your 100kgs of ripped muscle and can bench press a truck?  I am yet to see 1 winner of The Biggest Loser that didn't look like they had an eating disorder.  They look drawn with no muscle tone and like they could fall down at any moment, but the scales say they're healthy. Throw out your scales.

Safe and Healthy weight loss is considered 1-2kg a week.  Much more than this places huge amounts of stress on a body that is already under the pump.  We need time to adapt to our new energy output and fuel supply or lack thereof.  Losing 10kg a week does not allow for this adaptation, leading to the body going into shock.  All of our systems slow down instead of speeding up as we go into survival mode. And let's look at this 10kg that these people are losing.  Fact: 1 litre of water = 1kg.  These people are not losing 10kg of fat! It is not possible to do so in a week.  They are losing water weight.  Due to their sedentary lifestyles and poor nutrition, they are bloated, retaining water,  and as the only aim is to get big numbers, I can guarantee that they are all dehydrating themselves intentionally.  Safe and Healthy?

The last time I watched The Biggest Loser was a few years ago.  The very first day of training they made these poor people run 5km. I haven't watched it since.  To explain what is wrong with this and indeed most of the training on this show, I want you all to lay down on the ground and get your partner to lay on top of you with all their weight. Hard to breath? Feel your heart rate rising? Feel the pressure in your head increasing? Now imagine trying to exercise feeling like this.  If this is what it feels like to be lying still while  obese, how is the cardiovascular system supposed to cope with running 5km? How are their ankles, knees, hips and back supposed to cope with the force created by in some cases 190kg pounding into concrete?  They don't.  Case and point, last week the entire black team on this years series was injured! Every single one of them!  The damage done to joints and muscular structures by training in this fashion does not disappear when they leave the house. Clients in this kind of shape need thorough movement and postural assessments, a joint stability program and to be eased into their exercise program.  The unfortunate fact is that joint stability exercises, proper movement assessments and slow walks around the park don't make for "good television".  The injuries can be chronic and in some cases irreversible and if your heart goes, well...   The waivers that these people are forced to sign must be 100's of pages thick. which leads me to the next point.

 Unfortunately, we can't even take the inspiration from the show that they try and sell to us. "People rising against the odds to lose weight and change their lives."  Here's why.  If I locked any of you in a house for 3 months, didn't give you access to any of the temptations of the real world, starved you and gave you access to training 24/7. Guess what? You'd lose weight! These people aren't rising above anything! They are provided with EVERYTHING and motivated only by the money at the end.  To be successful motivation needs to be intrinsic, meaning that it comes from within you, not from external sources.   They need a counsellor not a Personal Trainer. This is proved by the fact that once out of the house and all the FREE help is no longer there, most end up bigger and heavier than before the show.

The producers of this show, know all of this. Worst still, the trainers on this show, who are now worth millions, know all of this! They have completely sold out as health professionals and I'm not sure how they sleep.  They are part of a mechanism that feeds false hope and places unrealistic expectations on millions of people around the world each year. They are putting lives at risk, they are causing more harm than good and they are getting away with it. It's a disgrace. 

We need to stop buying into this shit and being so F'ing lazy people!! THIS SHOW IS MAKING BIG LOSERS OUT OF ALL OF US! There is no quick fix! Leading a healthy lifestyle is a full time job. No magic pill, potion or TV show is going to do it for you, regardless of what they claim.  Get proper advice! Not from a magazine or someone that's  being payed millions to make "good television".  FIND THE MOTIVATION TO BE BETTER AT LIFE WITHIN YOURSELF AND STOP LOOKING FOR SOMETHING OR SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THE HARD WORK FOR YOU! Peace

AUSTRALIAS MOST WANTED

Forget terrorism, the biggest risk to society as we know it is still on the loose.  There for all to see, in every State, in every City, in every Suburb on every second street corner.  We know it's there. The government knows it's there.  Yet whilst we send thousands of troops overseas and spend millions of $ trying to protect us from threats on the other side of the planet, this vicious killer is allowed to roam free.  Feeding off our weaknesses, growing unabated  into the supreme killing machine.

I logged onto facebook the other day and noticed someone had put a link on my wall to MacDonalds giving free food vouchers to users.  Then I turned on the television to watch the cricket, the KFC sponsored T20, when i saw an ad for $1 cheeseburgers at MacDonalds and I thought, WTF is going with our country when you can buy a cheeseburger for less than a mango?

Obesity linked diseases are by far and away the biggest cause of death in Australia.  As a nation we have now overtaken the US as the most obese per capita in the western world. The cost to our healthcare system in treating obesity related diseases is in the billions of dollars and yet despite this and a myriad of other obesity related issues, fast food giants can still sell cheeseburgers cheaper than water.

Enough is enough, surely?  Solutions to the problem form a list as long as the issues themselves but for the purpose of this article I want to focus on only one.  A Fat Tax on all fast food companies.  In Australia we tax Gambling, Tobacco, Alcohol, Petrol and we're even about to start taxing mining which does nothing but provide jobs and prosperity for the nation and yet fat food giants, who are at the very least guilty of being an accessory in the deaths of millions of Australians get off scot free. 

As a Personal Trainer, if I know an exercise is bad for a client, but I perscribe it for them anyway and they injure their back, I am liable for negligence.  In fact in almost all facets of all industries, this is the case. Not fast food!

Why are Fast Food giants not made to compensate the billions of $ taxpayers are forced to pay out to clean up the mess  that they create?  Why are we not taking a portion of their profits and putting it towards educating parents on the harm they are doing to their children? Why are we so focused on gambling when being able to pay $1 for dinner is only leaving more money in pockets to be used on other addictions.

Taxing Fast Food will not stop people eating it.  It will not stop obesity.  It will however provide some form of accountability on these mass murderers.  It would ease budget pressures. It would allow for more health programs to be funded.  The longer the government fails to act the more of a murder accessory they become.

IMPOSE TAXS ON FAST FOOD NOW

Its War!

My name is Cameron.  I am the owner and Head Trainer of B-FIT FUNCTIONAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS.  A personal Training and group fitness studio on the central Coast of NSW, Australia.  I have over 15 yrs experience in the health and fitness industry and I have a Bee in my Bonnet! A few Bees actually.

As a personal trainer, I deal with the damage false media reports, sensationalist marketing, incompetent government policies, dangerous TV shows  and societies perception of health does to people on a daily basis. Every time I see the biggest loser or the latest ab sculpting machine or weight loss product advertised, a few more of my brain cells explode. The time has come for these scammers to feel my wrath and to try and educate you guys on what is real, what is fake, what is funny, what is sad and what is downright dangerous in the world of health and fitness marketing and policy making.

While the tone of my articles will be mostly opinion based.  I will back my opinions with science and the most important thing of all, common sense.

Please feel free to comment, debate, disagree.  The more we talk about these topics the more awareness we are creating of a nation in trouble.

Thanks