Middle School Class Rooms Convinced to Low Carb
 

A teacher friend of mine has been teaching low carb nutrition to his Life Science classes. He had them track their food on Fitday.com for three weeks. At the end of the three weeks, they each looked at all of their Fitday pie charts and percentages of nutrients and found that from day to day, each individual's pie chart/percentages were very stable. Next, each student drew his/her typical daily pie chart on one of three blackboards/two whiteboards. Each student stood under the drawing of his/her pie chart while another class came in to judge. The students bodies matched the pie charts: the greater the carbohydrate content of the daily diet, the more apparent the body fat on the student.

Ack! Isn't that every preteen girl's nightmare? Stand in front of the class and have your body judged. Ack! Ack!

I hope some good comes of it :D

Yes, I agree....a wonderful lesson, but a delicate stage of life to be teaching it. My son would be MORTIFIED!!

*Wince*

Good lesson, but I know that some of those students had to be very uncomfortable. I know that I would have been horrified if something like that had happened to me at that age.
Kids at that age can very cruel and are intensely self-conscious. I hope that the teacher at least made a rule that any comments/obervations had to be kept matter-of-fact and non-personal.

Children and Low carbing
 

The biggest inspiration for my low carbing is a ten year old boy who has been on a medically supervised LCWOL since last spring. The child has lost more than 50 pounds and is currently on maintenance. He got so thin, I didn't even recognize him.

I figured if a 10 year old could do it, what's holding me back. I started my plan on October 29 - (lost over 40 pounds so far!)

The plan the child follows is through a local university medical school. I don't remember the doctor's name. I think it's part of a research study, though.

In December, a local TV station did a story on the doctor's program and interviewed the boy at his school. I was also interviewed when the reporter found out the child was my inspiration. I didn't get to see the report because I was at work but lots of people said they saw me. I have been very open about my program throughout the diet and I believe this is helping me stay on it.

But imagine being 10 years old and having the whole world, especially your school, know about your LCWOL.

I didn't even think about the emotional side of that story when he told it to me but after seeing the responses here, I went back to ask him about it. According to the teacher:

The kids are all extremely interested in learning the truth about nutrition. This includes the kids who are typically slackers in most if not all other subjects. Some are taking the information home. They greet each other in the hallway with "High Five Low Carb" yells. There was only one thin person in the entire class; his diet was high protein, high fat, low carb. The others are encouraging each other with the new way of life and many are in the process of losing weight. They all seem to be grateful that they can now get to a healthy thin weight and they all seem to be supportive of each other. This is at an inner city Charter school where all the kids come from very poor families. A significant portion of them (at least 25%) are abused; child protective services keeps sending them back. The majority of the rest of them have only a mother who works two jobs; the lucky ones have grandparents at home. Many can't decide which man they like best as the father. Apparently, school is the best place for many of them to be; the best family they have. Maybe the "typical kids who treat each other horribly" are mostly middle and upper class kids that have every video game ever made, that can afford to buy illegal drugs with their allowances, that can drive to the drug dealer homes in the cars given to them, etc.

I was also thinking that when I was a kid, it was a stigma to be overweight. In my kid's classes, the majority of kids are overweight so nobody makes a big deal about it. The ones that get made fun of are the ones with the odd personalities.

This is having me wonder if the families will be able to afford a low carb WOL. Most poor families survive on the cheapest food they can get (sack of potatoes, pasta, meatless dinners, etc) - it might be difficult for the parents to transition into healthier eating. This might be just as bad to the child as if he/she was overweight and getting picked on.

WHAT A NIGHTMARE! I would have been so humilated.. cause I would have been the chunk under the CARB chart. IT is good that he talks about low-carbing but its a bit much!

Sounds like a teacher who failed (or failed to take) adolescent psych. This comes across as a classic 'catalyst to an eating disorder' story. With adolescents today more conscious about body image issues than ever, the whole lesson just strikes me as insensitive.

Sorry, I don't want to start a flame war, but I just find the teacher's lesson plan completely distasteful. There are other ways to teach lessons about the potential values of a low-carb lifestyle that wouldn't necessarily have to include having your body "judged" by your peers. Feh.

This was true when I was a kid, too. Of course, I was always the chunky one getting teased for my weight while the majority of my classmates were very thin.
But...in my kids' school, I still don't see the majority of children as overweight. I'd estimate that in my girls' second grade classes, perhaps 10% at most are what I would consider chubby. Now, I've noticed that this tends to change a bit as the kids get older, but even in the 7th and 8th grade classes the majority of kids still appear to be at healthy weights with perhaps as many as 20% being overweight. Even at lower grades, kids are aware of the importance of body weight. My youngest daughter has been teased by her classmates before because her MOM is fat even though she's a skinny little thing, so you'd better believe that it's still a big deal to be considered fat by kids today and there aren't many kids who are bold enough to tease their classmates about their weight in front of authority figures, so teachers remain blissfully unaware of any taunting that is going on.

Perhaps that is true in Texas, but it's certainly not true in Maryland where I live. My kids are teenagers and I know that they and their friends are very concerned about weight issues. My daughter has one friend who is slightly chubby (certainly not obese), who cries to her mother about it. Since I had the same experience as an adolescent, her mother and I have had discussions about what to do about this, but it's very hard to combat popular culture. The styles for teenage girls are almost impossible to wear these days if you are even slightly over-weight -- skin-tight jeans and short shirts that leave the midrift showing.

We had to get weighed in front of the class when I was a kid. I was the tallest kid in the class and also the heaviest. It was a mortifying experience for me that still gives me anxiety attacks when I think about it.

Agree With Everything
 

Texas is one of the states with greater than 60% obesity and skyrocketing Type 2 Diabetes. I noticed on a visit to the New England states that I saw thin people everywhere. It was odd for me to see that, very noticeable. The only thin groups I see around here are Asians and people from the Middle East.

The trend in elementary schools, promoted by the teachers, is food rewards for everything. This is especially annoying to me since my kid is a Type 1 diabetic. A school "party" for every possible holiday means chips, dips, sodas, and cookies or cup cakes. Every possible holiday party means the first day of class, Halloween, the day before Thanksgiving break, President's Day, Martin Luther King, Easter, Kwanza (sorry don't know the spelling), the first day before Spring Break, Cinco De Mayo, the first day of Spring, the first day of Winter, the last day of class, and I don't remember what else. When the classes do well at something, they win pizza and ice cream parties. When individuals do well, they win candy from the teachers surprise box. This is an almost daily event. My kid brings his "rewards" home since he isn't allowed to eat them. I put them in the trash. They always do make sure they have a diet soda for him when the parties happen. My kid is in the 5th grade and I discovered this school problem the day he started junior kindergarten.

I also learned this weekend something I was completely unaware of. I have always lived in a population with a large variety of races, religions, and nationalities. A friend heard a statistic on the radio so asked me this question: What do you think the African American Population and the Hispanic Population of the US is? I gave complete answer that was truly my best guess based on where I have always lived: 26% African American, 34% Hispanic, 30% Caucasion, and 10% everything else. I was shocked when this person told me that greater than 80% of Americans are Caucasion according to the report he heard. He couldn't believe it either. I had to think back to the time I drove through downtown Hot Springs Arkansas and was amazed to see nothing but white people standing everywhere. There are cultural differences in eating so perhaps part of the reason for the high rate of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in Texas is due to the particular culture that exists here.

In addition to it not occurring to me that the students might have felt bad, it also didn't occur to me that this teacher could have started some girl on the path to an eating disorder.

I apologize to the world for these things not occuring to me. A few of you sound a little hostile toward me for posting it so I guess you are tired of what appears to you to be the insensitive people in this world. Trust me that I do not make it a habit to be insensitive and neither does the teacher in question. We just both screwed up this time. He has turned kids off of drugs, off of inappropriate sex, and on to education. Many who would have ended up on the streets or as mothers by the age of 13 now talk of going to college. (Texas is also a hot spot for early teen motherhood; guess you guys don't see much of that either.)

Hot Spots
 

I looked up the hottest spots for obesity in the USA according to the CDC. The latest info posted stopped the data gathering in 2000 so for what it's worth, the eight hottest spots are in the south and none are west of Texas. The states are West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. From what I know of economic distribution and culture in many of the southern states, it appears that poor quality high calorie eating has much to do with the availability of food money and with the lovely and interesting, although not necessarily healthy, cultures of these locations. I was surprised to see West Virginia on the list and I was equally surprised to find that Florida was not in the top eight. Obviously I don't know much about these states.

From recent memory, I know that Houston Texas won the prize from some organization for being the fattest city in America. I looked it up for dates and found the following undated post about Houston: "Well, none of us are happy about it, but for the second year running, our city has been dubbed the fattest in the land."

Cyprinodon,
I just wanted to let you know that I wasn't being hostile toward you, it was the lesson that made my skin crawl. My husband works with teenagers who have all manner of issues and it can be sometimes be quite surprising to hear what sorts of things act as "triggers" that start them down the road of self-destruction--things that many of us would never identify as problems at all.

Kudos to the teacher if he has helped some kids overcome circumtance, peer pressure, etc. But, I still feel that he needs to seriously re-evaluate his approach to teaching nutrition and healthy eating.

As to the "fattest" states being those in the South, I can't say that I'm surprised. Southern culture is deeply rooted in it's food--growing food, preparing food, and celebrating not only with food, but often celebrating the food itself. Add to that the lower socio-economic standing of many areas of the south, and you pretty much have a recipe for fatness. (I say all of this having spent the better part of my life as a resident of Tennessee and knowing that even if I'm not a southerner by birth or geography, I'll always be on by heart.)

OK, enough of me. I haven't been able to get to the boards for days and I have much catching up to do. :)

Re: Agree With Everything
 

Reading back over my post, I am probably one of the people who sounded hostile. I apologize. Your post just brought back some memories of childhood that I try to supress.

Re: Agree With Everything
 

This isn't just a trend in Texas. I live in Michigan and that's the custom in my girls' school as well and something I'm seriously thinking of starting a petition to stop. Rewarding kids with sugary snacks is hardly sending a good message or setting up a good attitude towards healthy foods. This really yanked my chain when my daughter came home with the wrapper for a king size rice krispies treat one day and the next her teacher was complaining that she (my daughter) couldn't pay attention in class that day. I was probably a bit snippier than I should have been when I replied, "it might help if you weren't giving her high doses of sugar."

Re: Re: Agree With Everything
 

I'm sad to know that this isn't only a trend in Texas. I was kind of hoping it was just very localized (OK. Wishful magical thinking was involved.) We approached two different schools (his initial private school and his later public school) on three occassions to try to get something done about the problem but we failed for all the children except our own - - guess we aren't too skilled at creating social change. I guess my kid's father's idea of insulting the teachers wasn't the right way to go about it. From my experience, it has been certain teachers who are the junk food pushers; perhaps health oriented teachers can take the lead in putting a stop to this trend.

The problem also includes filling the children with red and yellow dyes; two groups of substances that many children, especially blue-eyed blonde boys, react too with behavioral problems. There have been some changes in getting the red dyes out of the schools around here thanks in part to the efforts of my son's father. There is also a new trend toward removing soda machines from the schools thanks to efforts by various groups - - - but the snack bars, fast food vendors as they are in malls, candy machines, junk food parties, and candy rewards haven't budged other than the removal of candies containing red dye.

I'm glad you were snippy. You may not have been snippy enough ;) .

I'm off my soap box about food-pushers in schools.

Thanks to everyone for all of their posts here :clap: .

In Defense of All Teachers
 

I just decided to provide a little defense against myself and for the teachers that use food rewards in their classrooms.

Many parents are guilty of overusing food, television, video games, and/or new toys to keep their children under control since it's easier to provide material goods than it is to stay at the parenting challenge 100% of the time. I myself am guilty as charged (though not with the food at least). Teachers must "parent" relatively large groups of kids in tough situations of classroom control. The teachers are sometimes not backed up by the administration and on top of this, the teachers must often operate under rules that hinder their abilities to control classroom behavior. It's no wonder that some teachers resort to food to keep the kids happy.

I have no solutions :( .

When I was in graduate school, I met more than 15 students from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Brazil, Spain, Germany, and France. One of the mantras from all of them was something like "You Americans eat so much food! There is always food everywhere!" I didn't know to tell them that it wasn't "The Americans" as a whole group. They all gained weight when they were here and talked about losing it again once they got back home. When I went with a group to New Mexico, the ski patrol took one look and said "You guys must be from Texas." (Guess it could have been the accents.) When my in-laws come from Boston and when my husband's friend's parents show up from New Jersey, we never stop hearing the comments about the amount of food people are seen eating in restaurants and the amount of weight seen walking around the malls. When I first met my husband from Boston, I was amazed at how little food went on the dinner table when he invited me for a home cooked meal.

I wonder if eating disorders are also more prevalent in the South.

Well I wish someone had taught me about healthy food in this way at school, instead of the "eat everything and be grateful cos they don't have food in Africa" line that I was fed with.

I don't think any of you are giving the kids or the teacher credit. I'm sure that he/she knows more about education these kids than any of us....and if kids take an interest and enjoy partaking in this experiment they are more likely to encourage rather than ridicule eachother into losing weight. Surely that was the point of the lesson, well that's the way I read it.

My daughter is 10 years old, slightly tubby as she's heading into puberty, putting on a little weight is common for girls at this time. I was appalled to hear her say how fat she was the other day and that she hated herself.........how I wish she had a teacher like the one quoted to teach her about nutrition and healthy eating rather than self-image which they learn all around them.

The comment about rewarding with sweets in school also appalled me. This is obviously where bad eating habits are learnt. I work for Xerox and whilst on a visit to Rochester/NY a few years ago I couldn't believe that in EVERY meeting I attended, there was a tray full of donuts and crap at the back of the room. I looked around and noticed that every person in there was overweight.

Bad habits ??

In my daughters school they are allowed to bring in fruit for snacks but NOT any sort of confectionary, fizzy drinks or gum. The kids moans like crazy but that's the rules, with good reason and they have to accept them but it's down to the parents to explain why.....How many kids do you know that listen to their parents ?

Teachers at my daughter's school reward with Achievement Certificates, praise, stickers, team points and sometimes little gifts like pencils, pens, erasers etc.....kids love stuff like that...

I just asked my sister who is a teacher, her school also rewards in similar ways. When I asked "Not sweets?", she nearly bit my head off "of course not".

In my daughters' school, they have a system of reinforcing good behavior with something they call "caught being good" cards. When a child is observed by any teacher doing something helpful, kind or good, they are presented with one of the cards. When they accumulate a certain number of cards (5, 10, 15, etc...), they can turn them in for a prize from the teacher's prize box. The more valuable the prize, the more cards they must save. Overall, it's a great program for positive reinforcement. However...while the prize box does contain items such as pencils, erasers, super balls, bracelets, gel pens, etc....it also contains things like king size candy bars, suckers and king size Rice Krispies treats. My oldest daughter, given the choice, will go for the sugar every time even though she already recognizes the negative impact it has on her concentration and the way she feels. Come on now, what 8 year old with a sweet tooth is going to choose a bracelet over a king size candy bar? I'd prefer that they leave the candy out of the prize box.
They also regularly have birthday celebrations with cake, cookies, etc...as well as their holiday celebrations. Last year on Valentines day, my oldest daughter ate so much candy at school (and then snuck more after she got home) that she wound up vomiting all night. What's a parent to do? I try to limit how much sugar and junk they get at home, but they seem to have unlimited access to it at school so anything I'm attempting to do is being undermined.

Arghhh!
 

My kid came home yesterday with two notes in his back pack. The first note had to do with the group of kids he serves with who do after school aid in the library or on safety patrol: After School Ice Cream Party. Special Note: Can (your kid) go ahead and have this special reward since he has worked so hard all year in the library? (What? Yeah Ok. Just stuff him full of extra insulin first.) The second note: Class Valentine's Day Party. Please sign up to bring cupcakes, chips, dips, candy, or sodas. Please note that if you bring soda, one child (my diabetic kid) and the teachers need diet soda.