Second-hand obesity

[Shibby]

I say this lady (Meme Roth) who coined the phrase on a show last night. She had some interesting things to say, espeacially about fat parents.

Secondhand obesity is the effect of a parent's obesity on the child. There is evidence suggesting that children "learn" to be obese from their parents. Thus obese parents may create an unintended health risk for their children by their eating habits because children may "imitate" their behavior and become obese themselves.

The phrase "secondhand obesity" was adapted from another phrase currently in use, "secondhand smoke," which refers to the negative health effects incurred by children as a result of those children being exposed to the smoke from another smoker (usually a parent) in their household. The use of "secondhand" in these contexts refers to the indirect consequences on others of actions that initially only affect the actor.

Scientific evidence suggests that parents who are obese create an unintended health risk for their children in the long-run, due to their children adopting the same eating habits that may have led to the parent's or parents' obesity, which may lead to obesity in the child. The child might thereby incur the host of health problems that obesity causes. [1]. "Secondhand obesity" could also refer to the more general phenomenon of the acceptance of one's own obesity as a result of routinely seeing many others who are also obese [2].

[blm]

I'm not obese or over weight for that matter, but in terms of eating habits, I know mine were something awful because of my upbringing. No one in my family had a clue about proper nutrition. It wasn't until I was in the Army that I finally got into health and fitness and learned the 'proper' way to eat. In turn I helped my family get hteir shit straight as well.

[Gainward]

Ive got to agree with this. The hardest time for me to keep my diet right is when im around family. They just dont have any understanding at all of what proper nutrition is, and the more i learn about nutrition the more i see where my shity eating habbits came from.

[XmotorX]

I'm the opposite, I agree that it happens but my mother is what I referred to as a "health nazi" growing up.I am grateful cause I stayed in shape and healthy. I take all the advice she gives now about nutrition. Haha. Funny how things change.

[redsquirrel]

Originally Posted by Shibby

I say this lady (Meme Roth) who coined the phrase on a show last night. She had some interesting things to say, espeacially about fat parents.

Secondhand obesity is the effect of a parent's obesity on the child. There is evidence suggesting that children "learn" to be obese from their parents. Thus obese parents may create an unintended health risk for their children by their eating habits because children may "imitate" their behavior and become obese themselves.

The phrase "secondhand obesity" was adapted from another phrase currently in use, "secondhand smoke," which refers to the negative health effects incurred by children as a result of those children being exposed to the smoke from another smoker (usually a parent) in their household. The use of "secondhand" in these contexts refers to the indirect consequences on others of actions that initially only affect the actor.

Scientific evidence suggests that parents who are obese create an unintended health risk for their children in the long-run, due to their children adopting the same eating habits that may have led to the parent's or parents' obesity, which may lead to obesity in the child. The child might thereby incur the host of health problems that obesity causes. [1]. "Secondhand obesity" could also refer to the more general phenomenon of the acceptance of one's own obesity as a result of routinely seeing many others who are also obese [2].

This is TOTALLY true.

Case and point:

My dad is one of 3 boys. 2 of the 3 do not live close to my grandmother. My uncle lives about 3 miles away, and is there every day. Just to give you some backround: every time we go to my grandmother's she is constantly stuffing food down our throats. I mean, there is a feeding every 2 hours with pies and cookies sandwiches, chips, etc.

Now on to my uncle- he is 110% obese, and so are 2 of his 3 children. So obese, that he's had to have 2 knee replacements, and he's had a gastric bypass. One of his daughters already has high blood pressure, acid reflux disease, among other things. The bypass worked for awhile, but now he is as big as he was prior to the surgery. My parents and I think it is almost solely due to the fact that every time he visits his mother, she's always stuffing him with food. Even right after the surgery, she would get annoyed when he didn't have a full plate. So obviously over time, he grew right back to his old size.

There you go Shib!

[bad14u]

While I will agree with Shibby as for the children becoming obese due to parental eating habits, but RS...your uncle is a grown man and can say "no" to a plate of food.

Shibby...another thing that adds to this, is the fact that children these days don't have to go outside to have fun anymore. They eat then go to the couch and watch whatever or play video games or get on the computer. Granted, parents do need to watch what their children are eating and make sure they are eating healthy, but they should also make sure their children get off their asses and burn the calories their children are consuming.