How Low Will We Go?
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) just released its first Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for the Evaluation and Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Obesity. The Academy considers the CPG the “standard of care” for pediatric providers. This latest contribution from the medical community is another example of how the “experts” are undermining the health and well-being of the American people.
The rate of childhood obesity in the US has risen from 5% in the 1970’s to 20% now. This translates to about 14.4 million obese kids. In the same period, the adult obesity rate has risen from 15% to 42%. The risks of this excess weight are well-known. Life expectancy in our country is declining and obesity is a major factor.
The AAP makes obesity incomprehensibly complex by using the Obesity Medicine Association’s definition: “a chronic, relapsing, multifactorial, neurobehavioral disease whereon an increase in body fat promotes adipose tissue dysfunction and abnormal fat mass physical forces, resulting in adverse metabolic, biomechanical and psychosocial health consequences.” Definitions are supposed to enhance understanding.
The AAP is all-in on changing language with new words to create a new normal. They describe the environment as “increasingly obesogenic” which is defined as promoting unhealthy dietary choices and sedentary behavior.
The political agendas of division and oppression have prominent roles in the CPG. Disparities, inequities, and structural racism are blamed for obesity. A ridiculous claim when all we have to do is look around to see that obesity is an equal opportunity destroyer.
The Academy is very concerned about biases against obesity and strenuously advocates for “first person language” that takes the focus off the individual – child with obesity rather than obese child, for example. They caution pediatric providers that “the presence of obesity is not an indicator of poor parenting”.
The most radical recommendations of the CPG are that drugs are a promising treatment strategy for 12-year-olds and bariatric surgery is an option for severely obese children as young as 13. The Academy also supports treating kids with drugs and surgery as “gender affirming” care. This is an outrage.
The trust Americans used to have in what the medical “experts” had to say was squandered when they decided to politicize science and silence the critical voices of professional dissent in the search for truth. As a member of the medical community for nearly 50 years, I can attest with certainty that many highly competent, conscientious professionals disagree with positions taken by their professional associations.
The work of the AAP reflects two of the most destructive trends in America today – avoidance of the truth and resistance to personal responsibility. Here are some facts about obesity.
This “chronic disease” did not descend on us one day and infect us like the COVID-19 virus. A great deal of our physical and mental sickness is a direct result of how we are living.
Obesity is the result of eating more calories than are burned.
The AAP’s claim that the presence of childhood obesity is not an indicator of poor parenting is a lie. Parents are a primary contributor to their children’s obesity. They have complete control of their children’s lives for the first 5 years and significant control and influence until adulthood. Children learn how to live from the examples set by their parents, and the guidance they provide.
There is a high correlation between parent obesity and child obesity.
In the past 35 years, portions sizes of American meals have increased by over 500 calories a day. With no offset in activity, this amounts to 53 pounds per person in one year.
Parental feeding styles, structured family meals, sugar sweetened beverages and dining out all play a role in the weight of family members.
Sedentary lives, with excessive screen time and limited physical activity, compound the consequences of overeating.
Our own good judgment far exceeds anything the “experts” have to offer on what we need to do about obesity. We have ample actionable information if we are willing to confront the truth and accept responsibility.
We are not victims. We are free to make choices. Our choices have consequences.
We are well on our way to destroying generations of American children. The CPG on Obesity is one more nail in the coffin. We can choose to battle our way back family by family, or remain on this path and destroy our country in the process.