Our kids are too fat to fight?

I agree, food is NOT the problem. Our school systems are teaching kids to sit on their butts all day. Daily gym class is a thing of the past in most schools. Would you believe there are some schools in Florida where kids take gym ONLINE? I have eaten fatty foods, including no shortage of fast foods, my whole life. Throughout that I've actually been underweight most of my life and never been overweight. If you get an appropriate amount of physical activity, you'll be in decent shape regardless of fatty foods. When I was in college I was literally having McDonald's for breakfast every morning. I also exercised 3-5 times a week and played football every Sunday. Laziness is making our kids fat, not the food.

LMAO, OK I know this is serious but come on. For one thing school lunches haven't changed a whole lot since I was in school, changes yes. I do not know when mozzarella sticks became a meal that is true when it comes to being worse but I think a large part of it is society not the schools. The schools are just a place for parents to blame their own downfalls on someone else. The thing about two income families is they are more likely to eat take out and other fatty foods that are pre-prepared and bought. To this add the fact that most kids have triple the amount of school work to do at home, sit and play video games or go online, and are lacking in motivation to do physical anything combines to make Americans fat. Many kids do not even have basic chores to do that keep them active such as shoveling snow, raking leaves, mowing lawns. Their parents hire people to do it. As for the school I think a bigger issue is the lack of physical education. I have been out of school not even 15 years, we had gym everyday. The local high school students are on a 6 day rotation and have gym once during each cycle. That means that they have gym less then once a week!

I watched Jamie Oliver Food Revolution (for America) and I feel that the food that the children have at school sort of contributes to their weight problem. If they are only offered fries, chips, lots of carbs, and lots of fatty food like hot dogs, bacon, etc. of course, they are going to get fat. I have seen pictures of young people on Tv, and they are the same weight I took 30 years to attain (I started to gain at 30, by 60 I was almost 250 lb. and have now gotten down to 195 lb. and it took me about 5 years to get there.) I also think that much of the problem is not just sitting around and watching Tv or playing video games, it is because much of the meat is from feed lots, instead of cattle and poultry that are allowed to roam free. In the feed lots, they are fed antibiotics, etc. and since in this time when the economy is not that good, people look for the cheapest. Therefore often the choice is either be even a partial meat eater and get fat *unless you are lucky enough to afford organic or free range meat) or become a vegetarian.

they should send them to the schools i went to.the food looked more like a hazmat risk than national security. sounds more to me like they're more concerned about having cannon fodder than the kids' health.

Well school lunches do add to the obesity issue of some children. Low income people live off of pasta, noodles and such why because then they can afford to feed their children during the whole week. Some are lucky and can grow fresh veggies and fruits year round but in the grocery stores it is very expensive when on a really tight budget. We call our children lazy and yes they may be somewhat lazy, but it is all about society, the outside world has gotten so dangerous for many of our youth. How many children have been shot by a drive by? How many children have been abducted. I think as parents we tend to over protect our children and not let them out of our site. "and why wouldn't we?" Libraries are closing all over the place left and right. Now if your child went to the library to study they would not have access to the refridge. Children eat out of bordom. My son has gym has to pass a physical test running a mile and such but the thing is he has it 2xs a week for 20 minutes each. The sad part is that physical activity not only helps with weight it helps the mind! I would think that they would be smart and have a period daily for gym and then have 10 minute stretching classes once a day to help the brain to REBOOT. My son which is nine years old and in the fourth grade goes to school mon and friday from 9 til 3 and tues wed and thurs from 9 to 5, he comes home with homework everynight. This week is Spring vacation and can you believe they sent him home with a big project and math homework to do over the week. I will be making a call on Monday about this. He has worked on his project for hours so far telling me he has to get top grade and it has to be perfect. They want a 5 page report "typed" Along with a memory box and a poster. My son is 9 for crying out loud! As for the military guidelines saying what they say, my daughter at the age of 20 tried to get into the military, she was 10 lbs overweight she weighed 135 lbs. and they denied her so is it really obesity for them or just no fat at all. After all once she went to basic training that 10 lbs would have disappeared. they are blowing it way out of porportion. The recruiting officer sent her home with some body cleansing stuff and the hollywood diet.. I was like hell NO. That is rediculous to put that crap into your system.

I just recently realized how bad the diet of our schools were. It is despicable that our schools think that pizza is a breakfast food and that a french fry is a serving of vegetables. No wonder we have the most expensive health care in the world and a 50% high school dropout rate. Physical exercize is important but filling your face with fat 24/7 is a lifetime recipe for really bad health problems. This is not collage and these are developing minds and bodies that should not be taking in that much fat first thing in the morning. Astounding that our schools professionals are so poorly educated. There is not a nutritionalist in the nation that would recoment this kind of diets for a growing child.

In Singapore, young men who are overweight or obese when entering the Army have to undergo several months of special conditioning training that helps them to lose weight and prepare them for the normal military training. The culprit to the cause of overweight in this case I believe, is not the school lunches, but simply because the youngsters' love and indulgence in fast foods and lack of adequate knowledge on proper nutrition and keeping themselves healthy and fit. They would meet friends after school in fast food restaurants to discuss their school projects, and it is considered going with the times and fashionable to hang out in fast food restaurants.

I don't believe the problem is school lunches either. It's a combination of many things that are causing our children to become overweight including, as has already been mentioned, the reduction of physical education in many school's academic curriculum, the general reduction in the activity level of most children thanks to the popularity of video games and the internet and the change in family dynamics, with two working parents being the norm which effects their diets at home. In addition, many schools now have vending machines on campus that sell snacks and sodas. I don't believe that these problems can be legislated away.

Anyone else see this as an excuse for the government to step in and tell americans what they can eat? After all it is a matter of "national security" now according to them. I agree school lunches are not real healthy. I agree kids do not get enough exercise. But it is not a "government issue" is a personal issue. Parents need to make sure their kids are eating junk all day and playing video games with all their free time. Get them outside to play. As as I said...this is not a "government issue". It is a issue for the american people to solve for themselves.

I might agree with this if I didn't have 2 boys just get out of basic training for the Army. With the new kinder gentler Army it wouldn't matter if the troops were perfect condition body builders.