The Coast Guard has announced they have changed their definition of the “average weight” of an American passenger from 160 to 185 pounds.
American adults and American children are increasingly becoming obese.
As children in America get fatter, will the Centers for Disease Control recalibrate the growth charts used at Well Baby visits to reflect the changing average?
And if they do, what will that mean for healthy babies of healthy parents who are naturally slim? What will that mean for breastfed babies who gain weight more slowly and are considered by doctors to be on the low end of growth charts?
When I was researching and writing my book, Your Baby, Your Way, I interviewed a family whose daughter was so low on the growth chart curve that the doctors were actually insisting on inserting an automatic feeding tube into her stomach. None of the doctors consulted paid any attention to the fact that her mom and dad are both short, small-framed people with small bones.
Despite being urged by doctors, this little girl’s parents decided against the feeding tube, concerned that suppressing their daughter’s natural feeling of hunger and force feeding her through a tube would make things worse.
When their second daughter was born, she too, “fell off” the growth charts. Both girls are healthy and thriving today.
The doctors wanted to fix a problem that did not exist, a problem they had created.
Several important studies have shown that formula-feeding babies predisposes children to obesity and unhealthy weight gain. Yet the story above is far from unusual. Pediatricians and family physicians around the country often shame frazzled new moms into using formula instead of exclusively breastfeeding. From the peer-reviewed science, “The Burden of Suboptimal Breastfeeding in the United States: A Pediatric Cost Analysis.” Misreading growth charts is part of the problem. If 90% of US families could comply with medical recommendations to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months, the United States would save $13 billion per year and prevent an excess 911 deaths, nearly all of which would be in infants.
If the CDC decides to recalibrate American growth charts to more accurately reflect national averages among America’s increasingly fat children, that may end up being an effective way to create an even bigger fat problem in our country.
How’s this for an idea? Instead of recalibrating averages, we could convert American boats to biodiesel, start a campaign to encourage liposuction, and use the biomedical fat waste product to power boats.
Fill ‘er up with human fat, which, according to Forbes.com, contains triglycerides that can be turned into fuel:
A gallon of grease will get you about a gallon of fuel, and drivers can get about the same amount of mileage from fat fuel as they do from regular diesel, according to Jenna Higgins of the National Biodiesel Board. Animal fats need to undergo an additional step to get rid of free fatty acids not present in vegetable oils, but otherwise, there’s no difference, she says.
A Beverly Hills doctor, Craig Alan Bittner, M.D., had great success powering up his Ford SUV and his girlfriend’s Lincoln Navigator with his patients’ leftover blubber.
Until he got sued, that is.
What do you think we should do to solve this big fat problem in America?
Related posts:
Lose 15 Pounds Forever
Are We a Nation of Fat People?
Science Shows Breastfeeding Good for Babies, Bad for Business
Published: April 27, 2011
Updated: January 15, 2020
YourPlusSizePregnancy says
I would love to see high frustose corn syrup taken off the market. I think people need more education about what a portion size is. The food you are served in a restaurant is NOT a portion size
Roxanne says
They were making soap in the movie “Fight Club” from fat they got out of a dumpster at a plastic surgeon’s office, so I suppose fat is fat and could be used to make fuel … like home-grown energy source. (smirk)
I think the relative nature of such measures is flawed. Compared to many people, I do look “small,” but that doesn’t mean I might not have extra weight on the old frame.
Just because many kids are getting big fast (honestly, I see 10-year-olds in public that are as big as I am), that doesn’t mean smaller ones are at risk or something.
Ruth Pennebaker says
A feeding tube for a child with small bones? Unbelievable. Sometimes I wonder how our kids survive childhood.
sheryl says
I’m sure you could find many people who would happily donate their fat to power up some engines!
Melanie @ Frugal Kiwi says
Denny Crane! Denny wanted to fuel cars in Boston Legal with human fat. Boats would do too. You could definitely make soap. Lots of things you could do with it, really.
Susan says
“A Beverly Hills doctor had great success powering up his Ford SUV and his girlfriend’s Lincoln Navigator with his patients’ leftover blubber. Until he got sued, that is.”
Oh my! I’m guessing the issue was that he hadn’t gotten permission, but I think this is actually a smart way to use untapped resources.
Merr says
This is a concept I have never thought about. What would be the logistics of obtaining such fat, though? How would it be “mined” … and from whom?!
Natalie says
A lot of the other issues that you write about are related to this one, and they center around convenience. Cloth diapers? Less convenient than disposables. Driving a lot? Less convenient than biking, walking or taking the bus. Cooking healthy food from identifiable ingredients? Less convenient than prepackaged foods or take-out. All of this convenience is harming our health and our environment. And sometimes taking the less convenient route sucks. I feel like I don’t have a lot of down time because I’m always washing things instead of throwing them away, or cooking instead of relaxing. I won’t go back to the more convenient life, but I understand how we got ourselves there.
Natalie says
I meant that driving is more convenient than those other options.
Casey says
I bet they’re recalibrating the growth charts as we speak… I watch the parade of high schoolers walk by my house every day and wonder why no one else notices how BIG everyone is. Am I just imagining it or is it part of the obesity problem?
Jennifer Margulis says
@Natalie, my friend and writer colleague Meagan Francis suggests that parenting can be easier and happier when you take the easy way out. That’s one of her golden rules. So, for instance, instead of making a salad, you wash some carrots and cherry tomatoes and plop them on the table. Instead of scrubbing the bathroom with toxic cleanser, you spray a little vinegar on the sink while the baby’s in the bathtub and ignore the rest of the dirt.
I totally know what you mean about feeling like you don’t have a lot of downtime but I wonder if that comes more from having little kids, which is exhausting, than from lifestyle choices. I’ve found that once certain things become a habit, they are often just as convenient (or more) as more mainstream choices. Like cooking. Mark Bittman (he wrote HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING) had a piece in the NYT years ago about meals ready in ten minutes. Many of his suggestions are from whole foods. And even if you cook with packaged dehydrated potatoes, you still have to wash the pot afterwards and clean the dishes, right? (Or maybe not if you eat TV dinners that you microwave. Bleech.)
Maybe I’ve just brainwashed myself into believing that our choices are easier: bike everywhere and you save money on gas, don’t have to go to the gym, and don’t have to take Vitamin D supplements; use cloth diapers and EC and you rarely have to clean a poopy tush because the baby goes in the potty (and potty trains so much earlier), and you never have to drive to the store to buy more diapers or panic because you realize you only have one left. It’s just as fast to rinse a baby off in the sink as it is to use disposable wipes which then go into the landfill.
Having said all that, I know what you mean that sometimes taking the less conventional route does suck. And perhaps it bears repeating that life really *is* tiring, especially with little kids. Even parents who don’t think twice about using a roll of paper towels to clean the kitchen, plastic diapering, and driving have trouble finding time to relax.
And when it’s hailing outside and we’re biking to school in ski clothes that have to be peeled off afterwards (or we slip on the ice on the road), I start to wish we didn’t always assume we will bike no matter what…
Natalie says
I agree that all parents of small children have less down time than other folks, and my husband and I don’t have any plans to start being less environmentally friendly in order to free up some time. Certain things we do, however, drive us crazy despite our commitment to doing them. Our lunches are pretty much waste free, with the exception of my yogurt containers, which I do bring home to recycle, rather than throw away at work. What this means, however, is that we have to pack all of our little containers, and wash the pyrex containers that hold our homemade entrees. Many of my coworkers toss a microwave meal in their bags and toss the whole thing in the trash when they’re done. I will not do this, but sometimes, when I’m putting nuts in my little cup and washing the lids to all of the containers, I think I might go crazy. My husband and I really feel that one of the best parts of summer vacation (both teachers) is not packing lunches. We don’t even pack lunches for our kids right now. Baby takes pumped breastmilk, and older sister gets lunch at daycare. We used to pack a lunch for our oldest when she was younger and at a different day care. A few bottles of breastmilk, a cup of carrots (home cooked), a bit of rice cereal…Then, you’ve got to wash all of those containers. I’m proud of what we do, but I’m darn tired.
Kris @ Attainable Sustainable says
My kids were both off the charts on the HIGH end when they were babies. Today they are teens, one just under 6′ tall, the other just over. And they’re slender. When we go to the beach and they are shirtless they look so SKINNY to me compared to the other people on the beach. We eat a pretty healthy diet around here; I’m sure that’s part of it. Even so, I wish I could tap into their skinny a little bit. 😉
Christine says
Oh, this is such a frustrating issue for me! And so many issues are interrelated….our snack culture, our love of convenience, corporate influence, the fact that our kids don’t get enough outdoor play, the fact that in our go-go-go culture not enough people sit down for regular homecooked meals. I really hope there does come a day when this disturbing trend reverses.
Alexandra says
I agree about getting high fructose corn syrup out of food. It would also help to remove sugar from yogurt and drink water instead of soft drinks. I have read that obesity can have, as a cause, endocrine disruption, so all the chemicals in packaged food today could be an issue here. Of course, lack of exercise, as children, and time spent in front of the TV count, too. Still, I would like to point out a difference in kids that I have noticed here at my B&B. We have a German family staying right now. The children rush outside to play as soon as they return from sightseeing. Hide and Seek, climbing trees, tag. Etc. They play this way for several hours, every day. We had another German family last year and the kids behaved in a similar manner. I cannot remember any American children playing this way over the years ….
Kristen says
I remember as a new mom, my daughter didn’t measure exactly on the growth chart. My doc actually recommended ice cream as a remedy to “bulk her up.” I was so nervous about all things baby that I took the advice. Silly, I know. My second daughter was (is) even skinnier, but I figure that’s just her frame. She eats right, exercises.
You might be interested in reading a recent story from the WSJ about how one town in Maine is trying to tackle the weight issue. I liked their approach http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704132204576284883668626742.html
Jennifer Margulis says
@Alexandra – isn’t that sad that American children are losing the ability to play in nature. I think that theory that Americans have a nature deficit disorder is just so true (and so unfortunate.)
Donna Hull says
How sad that doctors are treating children by a chart. And I agree with Alexandra that children no longer play outside entertaining themselves. They don’t know how.
sarah henry says
Someone told me that clothing manufacturers are playing with sizing, essentially keeping the same number system but making it more generous (room-wise) than in the past. So today’s size 8, for instance is really a size 10. Is that true?
If so, I guess clothes makers didn’t want consumers to feel bad about their ever expanding waist lines (and thus not buy anything).
Living Large says
I’d be for making the boats run on fat, given the gasoline prices here greatly affects our region’s economy (we rely on the boating industry). I don’t know what the answers are, but I know children do not get out and play as they used to. I think that has had a major effect on health overall.