The Judge's Blogs

It was a Saturday evening and it was our piano recital at the Phyllis Wheatley branch of the YWCA on Mitchell Street in Atlanta, Georgia. We were about six years old and Yolanda “Yokie”, Dr. King’s oldest child and I were performing in our very first piano recital. Mrs. Sykes, our piano teacher, lived across the street from Dr. and Mrs. King. My parents were so proud and I remember my mother made me this beautiful dress with ruffles.  I am not sure why my parents and I were among the very last to leave,   I guess my parents were still talking to Mrs. Sykes and Mrs. King but everyone else  had left at the end of the recital.  I remember as I was putting my coat to leave, Dr. King rushed in wearing his over coat with his hat in his hand. Yokie looked up and ran to jump into her Daddy’s arms. She was so happy to see him. I can now look back at that moment with adult eyes and appreciate that this iconic man, who had the weight of the world on his shoulders, for that instant only had the weight of a precious child in his arms.  He spun her around and hugged her tightly. He told her how sorry he was that he had missed her recital and asked her if she would please play for him now. Yokie said yes Daddy I will play for you as she ran over to the piano.  Dr. King sat there in one of those grey  hard metal folding chairs in the community room with institutional tile and worn out faded drapes as if he were sitting in Carnegie Hall , smiling and listening with such joy and pride and nodding his approval to his little girl who  he had not wanted to disappoint. I look back at that moment and I am so clear that as concerned as he was about civil rights, as committed as he was to justice for all human beings, as concerned as he was about lifting the South from the grips of segregation, as committed as he was to moving the world to higher moral ground, at that moment nothing was more important than being with his precious daughter and letting her know that her Daddy was there for her.   As my parents and I walked to the door to leave them alone to share that moment, Dr. King turned to me and said would you play for me too?  Would you play for me too? I haven’t thought about that moment in many many years, perhaps not since shortly after I heard the news of his death. Would you play for me too?  Thinking about it now brings tears to my eyes.  Although my parents had told me that Dr. King was an important man who was helping our people, at that time I really only understood that he was Yokie and Marty’s Daddy.  I played for Dr. King that Saturday evening.  He applauded, thanked me and gave me a hug.  The world knew him as a visionary and miraculous leader that changed the fate of a people for generations yet born and changed the way we value human beings forever. At 6 I knew Dr. King as a Daddy with a big smile and hug who valued and nurtured his children and cared enough to ask a little colored girl to play for him.

“Let’s Move!” exclaims First Lady, Michelle Obama.  Our nation has launched an initiative to eradicate obesity in children due to inactivity and poor eating habits. Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges facing the 21st century and not enough of us are paying serious attention. Obesity increases a child’s risk for health problems that are normally associated with adulthood, such as diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea and gastro- intestinal disease.  Add to this, social isolation and psychological problems and childhood becomes a minefield for the obese child. A responsible parent would never fed their child “to death,”  but that is exactly what may be happening when parents provide fast food, processed meals and sweets, while offering very little fruits and vegetables.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO TO SAVE THE LIFE OF SOMEONE YOU LOVE?

The good news is that childhood obesity can be avoided or even reversed in some cases with the encouragement and involvement of parents who are equipped with helpful and practical information. We have to begin with an honest answer to the question: Is my child obese? and not live in a place of denial. We can not solve the problem of childhood obesity until we get real and truly recognize whether we have a problem. Wishing it to be different doesn’t make it so. So let’s not turn a blind eye and justify feeding our children to death  by saying that ‘he just has baby fat’ or ‘she will out grow it’ or ‘she is over  weight because it runs in our family – honey have you seen our grandmother’s thighs?’. Wake up - get real about our reality. Our children are depending on us to provide safe passage from here to their adulthood on all levels, including their physical well being. Just saying it is baby fat is not a solution.

Okay parents keeping it really real - If any of us are suffering from obesity, then we have to make it a priority to get healthy and model healthy behavior for our children.  As I have said so many times before, it is not about weight it is about living.  My son put me in check this morning when he called and asked if I had started my day in the gym  - the truth is that I was sitting at my desk working on my computer  in my sweat pants with every good intention  of going to the gym. Good intentions are not good enough. I have to move and I have to be healthy for me and for my family. I only have this one body and I must treat it with respect and care.

We need to substitute healthy choices for foods that fail to provide the nutritional needs of our families.  A piece of fruit instead of a candy bar, some popsicles that you made at home with natural fruit juice…  As a working busy parent I have certainly done my share of fast foods for my kids.  I get that, but as often as possible, let us promote healthy eating habits by preparing meals as a family it is a win /win because it builds stronger family communications and relationships while making healthy dinner choices.  Think about how much goes on concerning your family when you all are in the kitchen. Great teachable moments to talk about nutrition and very importantly to talk about what is going on in the lives of our children. We need to know what they are doing and what they are thinking. Think back – didn’t some of your most favorite memories as a kid involve times you spent in the kitchen with your family, perhaps at your grandmother’s table?

Parents, we must take the initiative and save our children from this growing obesity epidemic. Our children are all we have with which to build a new generation of men and women and so we must teach them the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle for a life time.  Let’s take a stand today and pledge that we will evict obesity from our households and welcome healthy food choices, physical activity, and wellness into our lives.

We can win this fight against childhood obesity! It may save the live of someone you love.

The health effects of being overweight or obese are well documented. Extra pounds add extra risk for diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers, even among children. But new research also documents significant social and economic consequences of being overweight since high school.

Philippa Clarke, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, wanted to know what happens to people who've been overweight since adolescence. So, she used national data that tracked 5,000 high school graduates for two decades. She compared one group of 40-year-olds who were normal weight at high school graduation but gained weight gradually over time with another group of 40-year-olds who were chronically overweight since age 19.

Weight And Poverty

"We found that those people who were persistently overweight were more likely to not have gone on to have any further education beyond their high school [diploma]; to be receiving welfare or unemployment compensation at age 40 and to have no current partner," said Clarke.

Clarke says the chronically overweight were 50 percent more likely to be unemployed, on welfare and single. Her study didn't address why, but Clarke suggests these adults probably experienced discrimination as children that diminished their self-esteem and, in turn, their aspirations.

Yale psychologist Kelly Brownell directs the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, where research, by Rebecca Puhl, has found overweight people are 26 times more likely to report discrimination than their normal-weight counterparts. And, Brownell says, overweight kids are far are more likely to report being teased.

"Teasing that comes directly from teachers in some cases, certainly from peers and even sometimes from their families. This gets internalized so overweight children feel inferior, feel like there's something defective with themselves and therefore they tend not to aspire. This isn't true in all cases, but a lot of them tend not to aspire to such heights because they don't believe they deserve it," he said.

Brownell says discrimination against overweight individuals has increased 66 percent over the past decade despite the fact that more adults are becoming overweight

One of the reasons, Brownell says, may be that people think overweight adults have only themselves to blame. They should eat less and exercise more. But, he says blame is simply unreasonable, when it comes to children and weight, especially in low-income neighborhoods where markets are often inadequate and places to exercise are nearly nonexistent.

"The social climate and our toxic food environment is so disastrous that more and more people are having trouble resisting it," Brownell says. "That's really what's explaining the high prevalence of obesity. So it's unfair to put people in an environment where weight gain is a very strong possibility and then to blame them for having the problem."

Changing the environment is key to solving the problem.

Pediatrician Joe Thompson is a specialist in childhood obesity at the University of Arkansas College Of Medicine. Thompson is also director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center To Prevent Childhood Obesity. He says Arkansas has made inroads into the obesity problem by offering more healthful choices in school cafeterias and vending machines and that those efforts have paid off in the battle against obesity.

The rate of the epidemic has slowed nationwide and Arkansas has actually managed to stop the rate of increase among children, Thompson says.

 

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