Pro-lifers say life begins at conception but health experts say it might start even before that. Or at least obesityType 2 diabetes and weight related health issues do. The Lancet warned that before birth, before even pregnancy, kids are already predisposed to health problems. Family history, maternal obesity, parents' diet and home environment determine whether a child will have weight problems. TLC's reality TV mother-daughter duo Honey Boo Boo (Alana Thompson) and Mama June Shannon prove Lancet correct. They show that diabetes awareness, anti-obesity and even children's weight loss initiatives may have the wrong end of the stick.
Why pick on Mama June and Honey Boo Boo?
The child of "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" provides a good example of how poor parenting can jumpstart obesity. It's not only Alana and her mom who are obese--several other of Mama June's kids have weight problems. Alana and her pageant mom were guests on "The Doctors" TV show where they were warned to lose weight now or die. Thompson weighs almost double what she should. What was cute in her "Toddlers and Tiaras" days is morbid obesity in her tweens. At this rate, she'll be a candidate for another TLC reality show "My 600-lb Life."
Maternal and paternal obesity put kids at risk
Bottom line, said Lancet, is that fat parents have fat kids and Type 2 (lifestyle) diabetics have kids with diabetes.
That's mostly due to family diet and lack of exercise. A bit of it may be genetic but having the fat gene doesn't mean you can't lose weight. Even Prader-Willi sufferers (who have trouble feeling satiation) don't have to eat junk food. June Shannon bragged about the family's notoriously cruddy eating habits. With high sugar, gobs of saturated and transfat, few vegetables, little fiber and protein, it was basically a carnival diet.
This is how mom and dad ate, what Alana was born into and what she eats. There was virtually no way she couldn't be obese.
Anti-obesity must be top-down, bottom-up, inside-out
Currently children's weight loss efforts target school kids whilst obstetricians try to get obese pregnant women to eat healthier. Those are both damage control rather than obesity prevention.
Prospective parents need to clean their diets up and get healthier before they even think about bringing children into the world. They need to be made to understand why this is important. Blac Chyna, girlfriend of Rob Kardashian weighs nearly 190 pounds at 8 months pregnant. As a weight loss advocate herself, the threat of gestational diabetes alone should scare her. This shows parents-to-be need to be given reasons to care before pregnancy and that could be education on how deadly obesity, diabetes and related issues are.
