Do You Know If Your Child is Overweight?

When I was growing up, we were served soda and kool-aid anytime we wanted a drink. We lived on kool-aid. I think my insides are probably still a funky purplish blue color from the food dye found in it.

I loved it. I was a junk food addict. I should revise that. I am a junk food addict. Cheese curls? Bring em on. Hot dogs? Loooove em. Ice cream? At least once a day. I was raised on highly processed foods, where the flavor is high, and the nutritional content is low.

With 2 working parents, dinners were sometimes late, and almost always very quick. I was such a picky child. My dinners were almost always spaghetti-o's, hot dogs, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, or pot pies. With an ice cold serving of kool-aid or soda to top it off, of course.

That was during the 80's. I was an active child- gymnastics lessons, dance classes, and hours and hours spent running around outside, riding my bike, tromping through the woods, swimming, swinging, splshing through the creek down the road, and much more.

Gym class was mandatory. Recess was, too, and was held several times a day. If it was rainy out, we had recess inside, playing board games or reading quietly.

Times have changed.

The toll of overly processed foods have taken their toll on the human body. The average weight of an eight year old child back in 1987 would have been nearly 10 pounds lighter than the average weight of an eight year old child now, in 2007.

When I was in 2nd grade, there was a little girl named Tammy in our class. Tammy was heavier than the average 2nd grader by a good 5-10 pounds. She wasn't overweight by any means, but she was the largest girl in our class.

Several kids (and yes, I probably joined in a time or two, though for the most part, Tammy and I were friends) teased her relentlessly about her weight. The boys in the class loved making BOOM sounds if she walked through the class. It was verbal bullying at it's finest.