in 1946, president truman instituted the federal school lunch program when he learned that many teenagers showing up for service were malnourished. too skinny to swarm the normandy beaches and too weak to haul big guns and ammo through german forests. it was a matter of national security to fatten these kids up, and no surprise that many of them came from rural and inner city areas. too poor to dodge the draft and just not enough pennies in the cabin or tenement for 3 squares a day.
this past week, daniel ruf died trying to make weight and join the marines. he was at the gym in a plastic bag, worn over a scuba suit, working out in a 100 degree room. he had also been taking diuretics and diet pills.
an autopsy determined multi-organ system failure due to hyperthermia, dehydration, and "exercise with occlusive gear" as his cause of death. the coroner's report also said ruf was "moderately obese;" his bmi was 34.3 and he weighed 226 pounds—45 pounds over the military cut-off for a 5-foot-8 male. the marines will accept you if are 10% overweight . they'll burn and shame that excess off you in boot camp.
at this point, 2 out 10 young men and 4 out 10 young women are too fat to join the service.
childhood obesity has tripled since 1980.
talking to a mom the other day, she is required to pack 2 snacks for her child for the school day, and this is in addition to whatever she eats at lunch. so that is eating 3 times between 8:00 and 2:00. my friend is slim and so are her kids. she's hoping they stay that way.
on the train last week, i saw two very fat moms (sisters, by the look) and their roly-poly kids, who were bouncing off the walls, seats and doors. this was to be a 45-minute trip that began at 11:15 in the morning. safe to assume the kids had already had breakfast and lunch wouldn't be too long in the future, right? both mothers had "snack" backpacks. one bulbous little boy was eating a cupcake and doritos at the same time, pausing only to guzzle gatorade. another of the tubby tykes had fistfuls of twizzlers and there were tiny ritz sandwich cookies being gnawed. i'm no candy nazi and there was plenty of junk food in my house growing up, but do these moms ever put a cover on the feed trough? if the kids are all overweight now, which was unquestionable, all that's left is to develop even poorer eating habits and get fatter. and sicker.
over the last few decades the idea has come about to "graze" and eat all day. small meals. i have my low-carb arguments about why this is a terrible idea, but even adhering to conventional wisdom, it's clear nobody knows what a small meal is anymore. a cheeseburger, small fries and small coke at mickey d's is 810 calories. a big mac, large fries and large coke is 1350. which do we think more people order for lunch? have you seen the size of apples in your local market lately? except for the macs in bags, i stopped buying them a few years back because they were too damned big to finish. those green and red monsters are close to 200 calories. that's a "snack"?
even on the subway, when i see infants and toddlers, more often than not, they are eating something -- something carby. cookies, crackers, cheeze-its, those nutri-grain bars, raisins, and/or drinking something fruity. lots of times i see very small kids with sports drinks! is sitting in a stroller really plowing through that kid's electrolyte stores? really, momz?
the mother of the boy who sweated to death is suing the marines, even though her boy was not yet one. it remains unclear if this kid died due to his own irrational desperation to make weight, which if this is the case he's about as a sharp as a sponge and we're all better off he was never issued deadly weapons. if, however, it was the result of a recruiter desperate to make quota, it's a whole other enchilada.
in the sugar-and-salt-dusted face of that little fat boy on the train, i see the wide and bloated visage of the now dead young man only about 10 years older whose mother likely fed him all day long too. these kids don't just blow up from american chop suey and tuna melts from the lunch lady. it's the parents who need the learnin', 'cept nobody done gone talkin' 'bout dat.
school lunches have been a popular punching bag for years now, and i know michelle obama has her finger in that pie to make cafeteria fare more healthy. but that's only 1 thirty minute period of each kid's day.
there are people who are too fat to fit in roller coaster and ferris wheel cars and too wide for baseball seats. how long before we have to butter kids' hips to squeeze 'em into the tank?
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