Childhood obesity causes: A poll

Disney should promote smart jocks.

I can't point to one factor, but parenting, the parent's habits, processed foods, and that kids are seldom taught that healthy foods actually taste good.  I have friends that taught their kids that vegetables are tasty and not just healthy...that actually choose fruits for dessert vs. ice cream.  Giving the kids a choice and keeping them involved, while promoting healthy habits is necessary to teach your children how to make proper choices when they grow older.  But it is not the easy way. 

Also, people make this claim that junk food is cheaper, well it is not always, because people tend to eat more of it too. 

I think that the majority of the options in the poll can all be traced back to parenting. 

You can't blame HFCS. You blame the stupid parents who feed their kids nothing but processed crap. A little bit of processed crap once in awhile won't kill you esp, if you're outside running around, or playing a sport, etc. But eating NOTHING but processed crap and sitting on your butt playing video games WILL kill you. And that's the fault of the parents.

No one is forcing anyone to eat at McDonald's or pack candy in kid's lunchboxes. Sure the availability of processed food contributes,  but it's not the main cause. All comes down to parental responsibility.

That being said, I would like to see public schools do a better job of providing healthy food - since the school system does help develop these kids as human beings. If they eat broccoli at school, they might request it at home (okay that's a stretch, but you know what I mean).

Like any drug of choice, food provides what is missing in that person's life. Addiction is about confusing a substance for love.

Sure, crapfoods can accelerate the increase in weight, but it is the mass consumption of the crapfood that is the problem. Video games, in and of themselves, do not cause obesity. I have a couple of skinny nephews who love their video games. 

Addiction to food causes obesity. The question is, what is causing the addiction?

I have a nephew who went from my a happy, skinny little spitfire to a withdrawn, overweight kid, after his parents divorced. He found solace in food. He would come home from school and immediately go to the pantry, grab a bag of Doritos and sit in front of the television for hours. It broke my heart to see how unhappy and depressed he was. It's been ten years, and he's still reserved but now he is a lean teen who is active and has a good circle of friends. He eats healthy - like he did before the divorce - and it shows in his body.

ETA: I find the judgmentalism very distasteful. Addicts are already very ashamed of their addictions. With obese people, there is no hiding their addiction, you can see it in the shape of their bodies. Alcoholics can escape your judgementalism because often you cannot spot an alcoholic just by looking at them. In fact, you probably party with an alcoholic and think this person is such a great, fun-loving socializer; you don't look at the hiding-in-plain-sight alcoholic and judge him/her everytime he/she picks up a beer. Same with gambling addicts, shopping addicts or exercise addicts - you can't spot their addiction just to look at them. But look at a food addict and tell me you don't judge that person everytime they take a bite of a cookie. How about a little compassion and less judging?

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