Boyfriends Named Latest Cause for Being Fat

Is your boyfriend making you fat? Maybe it isn't your boyfriend at all and instead it is those school lunches you grew up on. Or the Happy Meals you begged for as a child. It seems that the news is always reporting on a reason for Americans being fat - and rarely a reason that that requires the obese person to own the reason for their extra belly flab.

MSNBC recently pointed the finger at a woman's significant other -- her boyfriend -- as the reason for being fat, or at least more pleasingly plump than before the relationship started. At issue were changes in a woman's eating habits and portion control because a man-size portion is too many calories for a woman due to the physiological differences between men and women. The article went on to point out that couples who live together more than two years end up a bit pudgier for the wear. No surprise there as people who marry have the same problem (trust me on that one). If these unmarried couples were married instead, perhaps the article would have slid the blame over to the husband.

What else is making you fat?

School lunches are a national security threat, did you know that? According to Mission Readiness, a non-profit, bi-partisan group of military leaders, America is facing a national security threat by being so obese. The group asserts that 27% of Americans in the 17-24 age group are "Too Fat to Fight" - that is, too obese to join the military and defend our nation and her interests.

Ironically, Congress passed The National School Lunch Act right after World War II, in part as a national security concern. Back then, our youth were undernourished, something that should not come as a complete surprise on the heels of the Great Depression. Now, Mission Readiness is pushing for an overhaul of the school lunch programs to force changes that foster a healthier lunch, eschewing high calorie snacks and beverages at school.

Toys in kids' fast food meal packages are also causing obesity, according to a Santa Clara County Board Supervisor. Kids want the toys and not the food. Any parent will tell you that! However, Ken Yeager, the supervisor in question, totally missed the mark when he proposed a ban on toys in kids' meals.

Those toys aren't laden with calories. However, it could be argued that the contents of the meals are. As a parent who buys her children fast food on occasion, I've found that fast food restaurants have in the past few years made significant strides to offering healthier food options. For instance, you can get milk with your Happy Meal instead of soda. You can also get apple slices instead of french fries. The options are there and it is not the toy's fault that parents aren't forcing healthier choices onto their child at the register when ordering.

Perhaps Mr. Yeager's time would be better spent researching just how much physical activity the children in his County are getting. SF Gate reported back in 2006 that 37 of the 73 school districts checked by the state in California failed to maintain the 20 minutes per day of physical activity required by law.

Final thoughts!

You are what you eat. If you eat too much of the wrong kinds of food and don't adequately exercise, you are at risk of becoming obese. Adults are responsible for the size of their own waistline. Kids, however, should be taught good eating habits and schools, where kids spend the majority of their waking hours, should focus on healthy nutrition.

I do believe that Mission Readiness is on to something, but school lunches are not the only contributing factor to our nation's youth being "Too Fat to Fight". Education has taken the front seat and test results are king. There's no real funding for schools that have the most physically fit kids, only those that score the best (or perhaps worst) on their standards of learning tests. Physical fitness is just as important as academic excellence.

Sources:

MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35932231/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/?ns=health-diet_and_nutrition
Mission Readiness: http://cdn.missionreadiness.org/MR_Too_Fat_to_Fight-1.pdf
ABC: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=7345506
SF Gate: http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-06-08/bay-area/17297367_1_physical-education-school-districts-pe