THE FIRST LADY’S FIGHT AGAINST CHILDHOOD OBESITY HITS CLOSE TO HOME
First lady Michelle Obama’s fight against childhood obesity hit close to home recently when the family’s pediatrician warned that her daughters Sasha,8, and Malia,11, were “getting off balance”.
“In my eyes, I thought my children were perfect,” the first lady said on Thursday at an event at a YMCA in Alexandria, VA. “I didn’t see the changes.”
Michelle may have not seen the changes, but her kids’ pediatrician did and “warned that he was concerned that something was getting off-balance.” The doctor “cautioned me that I had to take a look at my own children’s BMI,” or body mass index, the first lady said.
“Even though I wasn’t exactly sure at that time what I was supposed to do with this information about my children’s BMI, I knew that I had to do something,” she added. “I had to lead our family to a different way.”
After a few months of watching portion sizes, drinking Low-fat milk and water, and eating fruits and vegetables, Mrs. Obama began to see significant changes in her children.
“It was really very minor stuff, but these small changes resulted in some really significant improvements, and I didn’t know it would,” Mrs. Obama said. “It was so significant that the next time we visited our pediatrician, he was amazed. He looked over the girls’ charts and he said, ‘What on earth are you doing?’”
Mrs. Obama says that she hopes to spread the message of “small changes can lead to big results” in her anti-obesity campaign.
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25 Comments to “THE FIRST LADY’S FIGHT AGAINST CHILDHOOD OBESITY HITS CLOSE TO HOME”
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I hope the First Lady it not beating herself up about the girls’ BMI. They don’t look overweight. People think I am skinny (I even modeled), but are shocked when I tell them how much I actually weigh. I weigh about 30 pounds more than I look, with above average strength and bone mass. Everybody’s different.
Malia weight be a little big but she’s tall. My 12 year old is 5’5 and ‘thick’ with the hips, but she’s not overweight at all. Sasha has a little baby fat, but she’s ok too.
Tall and thick (ecto-mesomorphs) can weight a little more than average and still be fine.
Are you serious? They are tall children. They get plenty of exercise. Someone said it above…the BMI is a serious joke. The person who came up with it, is probably the same one who came up with the idea of what a model should look like.
Sherley: are you a scientist or a physician? how do you know that bmi is a joke? do you think the high fatality rate for black women for obseity-related diseases is also a joke?
the bmi metric is less rigid than former metrics that were in place in the 70s or 80s, where the suggested weight was even less than that suggested by bmi. honestly, black women need to come out of denial and face the fact that many of us are overweight.
moreover, i don’t know how you would know whether sasha and malia exercise. i think that their mother and doctor would be in the best position to know whether they’ve put on more weight than they should or are not engaging in enough physical activity.
Miss Char, I agree with you. When I was a child/teen, I ate anything I wanted. There wasn’t one store near my school that wasn’t packed with kids buying candy, potato chips and all kinds of junk food. I was a junk food junkie and was skinny as a bone. However, I don’t remember many of my classmates being overweight. The difference then an now is that we didn’t sit in front of the TV, computers, Wii’s, Playstations, etc. We exercised. We used to ride our bikes, skate, run, hop, skip, and jump. We were always outside until after the street lights came on. Many kids today aren’t active, thus they are overweight.
And these comments reflect why black women are the most overeight category of women in the most overweight country in the world. There’s nothing wrong with healthy self-esteem, but unless you are a doctor, you should probably follow your doctor’s advice. Black women have the highest rates for just about every obsesity-related illness. You don’t have to weight until you are obsese to make healthy changes to your lifestyle, including monitoring your weight.
I agree with Annie. Just by looking at Sasha and Malia, clearly there is nothing wrong with their weight however, there was a bit of cause for concern. The First Lady took that information and made some small changes that made the difference. She took a preemptive strike.
Good Mrs. Obama, don’t wait until it’s hard, train them now to eat well/healthy and watch their weight.
Kids who control their weight grow up healthier, they avoid High Blood Pressure, Hypertension, Diabetes, and a whole host of problems, also the more weight you have the older you look.
FACTS:
Slim people then to live longer and healthier lives, and they tend to be happier about their body.
Kids with a healthy diet and a disciplined approach to food and chores tend to do better in school, College and maintain that diet and discipline throughout adulthood – Why would a parent deny their child/ren that kind of advantage?
Being slim doesn’t necessarily mean being healthy. One doesn’t have to be slim to be healthy. There are a lot of people who don’t fall into the category of being slim (including me) who have a very clean bill of health. BTW, I have a very healthy self-esteem, am very happy, and am living life to the fullest, and I am not slim.
Michelle don’t let the doctors tell you your kids are fat. Nothing wrong with eating healthy. But I wouldn’t have told everyone what the doctors said. This is how eating disorders start. I know first hand because I am anorexic and bulimic and 5 months pregnant. It started when I around Malia’s age if not earlier and i have battled it for over 17 years. I wish I could say it disappeared when I got pregnant but it didn’t I am a 117 pounds the most I have ever weighed and I feel huge. I freak when I gain a pound. So I say to the doctor so what don’t give these kids a complex about their weight. Just keep them active and having fun and slip in a few healthy meals.
Malia won’t necessarily be much taller than this. I’m 5’10″ and I stopped growing around 12.
Going through puberty is tough enough, but going through it in the public eye must be extremely difficult. That’s probably one of the reasons why so many celebrity children and child stars end up with so many issues. I just wish these girls the best and I’m glad they have a great mom to guide them.
They looked a healthy weight to me, but I suppose.
WOW THEY GROWING UP FAST MALIA LOOKS 14 SASHA LOOKS 10 CUTE GIRLS THO.
i can’t believe haw tall malia has gotten, she does not look 11
Malia will be about Lisa Leslie’s height and size. Sasha did look a little chunky. But she was only 7!
I love my Black First Family, Michelle has so much class and is beautiful.
Way to go. I love Black people
Those children seem perfectly fine to me. Why is the term normal weight used so often, when we are uniquely created? I am not the same as anyone else my height, age, or race! BTW…Malia is going to be really tall! She’s only 11 and is towering over Michelle! The girls are beautiful!!!
I cosign 100%.
I think that both girls are in their growing stage. But I don’t think they are obese. People can look just fine, but still have health problems. You have to be skinny not to be healthy.
Sasha and Malia appear to be of average build. In their cases, I would take the advice on BMI with a grain of salt. It did at least get the First Lady to examine their diets a little more closely even if one would be hard pressed to site a weight issue with either.
Many of us can stand to improve and monitor a little more closely what we eat. Healthy eating isn’t just about trying to maintain a certain BMI or appear slim.
I think they’re going to be built like their mother.
looking at the oldest girl of the obamas I don´t see any problem at all…..the younger one seemed to gain a little…but not seriously lol….that bmi is truly bullcrap
I agree PLainmean, because accorDing to my BMI im overweighT! Lol.. and ppL say im sKinnY aLL the time. psshh.. i think her girLs are fine.
I think the BMI scale is a bunch of crap. Her girls always looked fine to me.