Expert: Nafeesah - 8/26/2009

Question
Hello,
We have a problem with our Cousin's family.They have an obese daughter who is 2 1/2 years old who weighs 40 pounds and is less then 3 ft tall. Her Bmi is 33 which is more then obese.
When we went vacationing with them, she drank SIX bottles of juice with a heavy meal afterwards. I HATE to see her grow in a bad way and I don't want her to be obese when older.

Her older sister is 7 and she is overweight. When we were vacationing, she ate a cup of noodles which is pretty heavy along with fries, mini corn dogs and chicken strips. She also drank 6+ bottles of juice. THEN, she wanted ANOTHER bowl of noodles afterwards, (I couldn't even eat one and I'm a teen!) and when we went out to get McDonald's for my little sibling, she wanted some chicken nuggets! She even whined for them but her parents refused (They are also overweight).
Everyone in their family eats a lot in any time of the day like nobody's business. (Mother,father,son,daughters)
Their  son is 11ish and he is too overweight. (140+ pounds)
SO, my question is, should I say or do something about how much the parents are feeding the kids?
From,
Troubled

Answer
If you are close to your family maybe yourself and some other relatives should stage and intervention with a doctor. You should also have a doctor to discuss potential health consequences if the children continue the way they're eating. This is not healthy and for the entire family to be this way is not good at all. It's child abuse if the parents are permitting their kids to get to this condition. At least you're family to step in and say something because average people would have called DCFS on them to report the children being overweight and not getting proper exercise or eating right. The problem is the parents not saying NO and also to enforce boundaries on the children when it comes to food and portion control. The parents also need to look at their own eating habits and to address possible eating disorders. If the children start having overeating problems now imagine what it will look like when they're teenagers and adults. These children are already showing early signs of hypertension because an 11 year old weighing as much as a normal sized adult is clear he's going to have some serious health problems like hypertension and type-1 diabetes and if they don't get treatment over a course of time this can turn into heart disease and even cancer.

This is not good to have 2 kids and both parents overweight because if the parents don't get their acts together and get the weight down and begin to eat right they won't live to see their kids grow up. This is a huge problem in america today is obesity and that's due to the poor eating choices of families today they see something on tv and they want to try it. Trying goes into eating unhealthy things on a regular basis. It seems as if your relatives eat out a lot because to be overweight they must make fast food places a regular thing and don't eat at home enough. If they eat homecooked meals their weight will come down and they'll also need to consult with a nutritionist to understand how to shop for food and to help with making healthy food choices. Maybe they can use a service like NutraSystem or Weight Watchers to get them accustomed to eating a certain way that's healthy and to help make that transition to eating home cooked meals so they're getting used to eating actual food at home and not hitting up McDonalds or Burger King because they don't feel like cooking.

Parents have to stop feeding their kids whatever and not have some boundaries on how much and when they eat. This sounds to me like the parents are just not concerned as long as their kids are happy and how can they be happy being overweight. I would contact an interventionist specializing in eating disorders and will work with you and other relatives to confront in a comfortable setting and help your relatives get the treatment they need to get their lives together for not only themselves, but for the health of their children as well. Something-fishy.org is a site for people with eating disorders and resources for treatment you can go there and look up interventionists to help you to confront your relatives about their overeating and the overeating of their children as well.