"war on obesity"

   I've been involved in a lot of conversations lately about this "war on obesity" and I've listened to both sides of the arguement and I understand what the government is trying to do I just don't agree with the way its being done. The main thing that everyone is focusing on is childhood obesity which means taking action at schools and talking to kids about the ever so fragile subject as weight. Now, I have a sister who is only ten years old and attends a private school and she told me the other day that they are taking out the fryers at her school but she doesn't feel like they are taking anything away from her, but she has been told by people that some foods are good and some foods are bad and if she eats the bad foods like pizza she could get fat. At ten years old my sister told me that she thinks she could stand to lose a little bit of weight...my jaw hit the floor when she said this because I immediately became scared that she was headed down the same path I went down. I started out as an overweight child who was constantly tormented about her weight and had a mom that spent all of her time criticising me and telling me when I lose ten pounds I could buy a new wardrobe. Infact my mother use to give me tips that I didn't learn were eating disorder behaviors until my first treatment center. The only comfort I have is that my stepdad watched me battle my anorexia and saw how it began and I know he knows what to look for with my sister and right now she has a slight body image issue but still eats fine and isn't engaging in any behaviors...thank gooodness.
   One of my biggest issues is telling kids that there are good a bad foods and trying to convince them that if they eat cake or pizza they are going to get fat. One of the things they teach you in treatment is there are no such things as safe and unsafe foods because it is a common characteristic for people with eating disorders to have fear fooods which are generally foods higher in fat and calories. In treatment you are asked to face those fears and realize that a piece of cake or a cheeseburger arent going to make you fat or out of control. Its about moderation, we should be teaching kids that its okay to eat a piece of pizza and that its even okay to eat two, but you don't need a whole pizza and you don't need one everyday. Its about teaching kids to make good choices but not deprive themselves or be scared of food. What would a sixth grade slumber party be like without the cookie dough and pizza?
   I know what its like to be on both ends of the spectrum and by focusing on weight especially at such young ages, telling kids they are fat and all this puts the overweight children right out there to be bullied because most of the time they are portrayed as lazy people who just sit around and eat big macs all the time....they are torn down to the point of having no self esteem whatsoever and its happening to kids as young as first grade. Then there are the kids who see the overweight kids getting made fun of and they start getting this fear of becoming fat, this fear of being like that kid that's being called names so they stop eating. Its really easy for the First Lady to come out against childhood obesity and come up with all these plans to change things but she doesn't understand what putting so much worth into someone's weight does, I doubt she has been to a children's eating disorder unit where six year olds are being tube fed.
  Weight is a very touchy subject and some people don't understand how it can become such a problem for people. My mom always talked about weight and food and cared about how thin she was up until the day she died while my step mom has always expressed a confidence in her body image. Looking back I see that my eating disorder started very young, I did a lot of things as a young child that I now see were disordered. I am just so frustrated with this topic in general because its true that there are a lot of obese children and adults and they need to get healthy to avoid diseases like diabetes and heart disease but I also hate labeling people and making them feel like they have no self worth. Not all overweight people are overweight because they sit at home and eat greasy food, I was overweight and played competitive sports and I know many others who have done the same. I spend so much time telling people its not about the number and then everything ends up being about the number, I guess what I'm trying to say here is that the number doesn't need to define you...it has taken me years to understand that my selfworth does not lie in the size of my body. I'm coming up on three years of recovery and I will admit that sometimes I still struggle with my body image especially since having my son, but I can now deal with it and all my other problems without starving or purging. I just think that this "war on obesity" needs to also remember they are dealing with people, young people especially and its such a fine line to tread. I don't think people realize how quickly an eating disorder can develope and turn into a life threatening problem and then the struggle to pull back out of it.