Obesity

Loony as it sounds, it once seemed like a good idea to dress our children in bedsheets with slits for their eyes and send them out after dark to beg candy from strangers. There was an unspoken trust associated with trick-or-treating - an innocence that evaporated in the 1960s with the first reports of razor blades hidden in candy apples. The reports were unfounded, but the hysteria persisted. After that, candy was X-rayed in hospital emergency rooms and anything not factory-wrapped was verboten.

Want your children to eat less? Let them serve themselves. They probably won't dole out a supersize portion on their own. Or pour drinks into tall, narrow glasses rather than short, wide ones; they'll think they are getting more (so will you). With Americans spending billions of dollars a year on fat-loss techniques ranging from celebrity diets to stomach-stapling surgery, the relatively new field of behavioral nutrition examines more down-to-earth questions. Can you reduce the attraction of sweets?

It is perhaps telling that Joseph Majdan waited until he was thin to vent his frustration at fellow doctors who made his life miserable when he was fat. The cardiologist and assistant professor will say only that the poignant essay he has written for the Annals of Internal Medicine - "Memoirs of an Obese Physician" - was a long time coming. "I've always thought about writing this article because it haunted me, and it was a story that I think had to be told," he said last week in his office at Jefferson Medical College, where he was surrounded by pictures of his family, of his dogs, and of him when he looked twice as big as many of his friends.

YOUR editorial on the problem of child obesity ("How Gov't. Makes Us Fat") could be used in a journalism course focusing on liberal narratives in the mainstream media. Your commentary about the very real problem of poor nutrition affecting so many young Philadelphians uses altogether predictable tropes, once again casting blame, as you do on most problems that are, at their core, family concerns, at that famous trio of liberal villains - government, private industry and (my favorite)

In the bleak cityscape of Philadelphia's poorer neighborhoods, the corner store is both convenience and curse, stocking milk and cheese, as well as junk food and cigarettes. Thanks to federal stimulus money recently pumped into the city, such stores may also start carrying healthier foods, like fresh produce. In March, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced awards of more than $372 million to 44 communities to combat obesity and smoking. Philadelphia's share - $15 million to battle obesity and $10.4 million toward smoking cessation over two years - was disbursed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Players in the NFL, although bigger and stronger than ever, are dying young at a rate expers find alarming according to a study by the Scripps Howard News Service. The study found that many of the players are dying from ailments typically related to weight. The heaviest athletes are more than twice as likely to die before their 50th birthday than their teammates, according to the study, which used a computer database containing information from 3,850 former professional football players who died in the last century.

Obesity is a serious concern this year in state legislatures. From Augusta, Maine, to Sacramento, Calif., the number of bills and resolutions targeting the nation's fat epidemic has more than doubled in a year. They include such proposals as taxing movie tickets to pay for fat-fighting programs, beefing up physical education in the schools, and requiring restaurants to offer healthy options on children's menus. America's growing girth has emerged as a major public-health problem, with increasing evidence of its grave medical and financial consequences.

By Charles L. Baum Mayor Nutter's proposed soda tax didn't end up going anywhere, but it did contribute to an unfortunate myth: the notion that any class of food or beverage is particularly fattening. That was the stated motivation for Nutter's proposal. A ranking city health official declared that "there's good evidence for sugary drinks' being a major culprit in the increase in obesity. " And public-health activists claimed that soft drinks contribute disproportionately to the government's obesity-related costs.

NOW I'VE READ everything. It's not enough that the food Nazis (in the guise of Center for Science in the Public Interest) are targeting movie popcorn, and Mexican and Chinese food. Now they're going after McDonald's Happy Meals because - gasp! - the toys are causing obesity. Why not target Burger King for its "Iron Man 2" promotions? Or go after movie and television studios and the networks for product placement? Seriously, didn't these folks ever hear of something called marketing and promotion?

Poor mothers are more likely to be obese, and they also are more likely to be seen as lazy, setting a bad example for the kids in tow. Pennsylvania State University researchers suggest a nobler explanation for their weight problems: Women who are struggling financially, particularly single mothers, may skip meals and eat cheaper, less-nutritious food so that their children won't go hungry. The sociologists addressed an issue that has long puzzled social scientists: Why do poverty and obesity run together, but only among women?

In an effort to fight childhood obesity and promote healthy living, the Camden City School District will hold its first "Let's Move Gala" Wednesday evening. The idea came from Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" initiative to put children on a path to a healthy future, said Sharon Shields, district manager for youth services programs. "We wanted to do something healthy. ... How could we address the issue of obesity?" Shields said. The event, free and open to the public, will feature cooking demonstrations and plenty of physical activities including Zumba, line dancing, karate, and aerobics.

Poor mothers are more likely to be obese, and they also are more likely to be seen as lazy, setting a bad example for the kids in tow. Pennsylvania State University researchers suggest a nobler explanation for their weight problems: Women who are struggling financially, particularly single mothers, may skip meals and eat cheaper, less-nutritious food so that their children won't go hungry. The sociologists addressed an issue that has long puzzled social scientists: Why do poverty and obesity run together, but only among women?

Not to call you cheap, but . . . I read the article written by Holly Otterbein ("In Our Money," March 21) on how nonprofit institutions have not paid their voluntary financial commitment to the city of Philadelphia. I cannot say I am surprised. Why would University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Drexel and Temple pay a noncommitment-commitment? These organizations haven't stopped using city services. They just don't want to help pay for them.

"Many times in our history, we have these problems - and bigger problems - but we make it. " - Greek iconographer and theologian Georgios Kordis, commenting on the financial crisis in his home country. Kordis is working on a new Greek Orthodox church in Montgomery County. "Greece will be a different country after this transaction. " - Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, after the Greek parliament approved legislation to slice $142 billion off the country's debt.

Susan Yoshihara is senior vice president at Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) and a coeditor of "Population Decline and the Remaking of Great Power Politics" In the latest step in her campaign for fitness, Michelle Obama told U.S. soldiers that obesity is a national-security issue. The Pentagon reports that about a quarter of the American youths seeking to don the uniform are too fat to fight, and that a billion dollars a year is spent on medical care related to overweight and obese troops.

Can you imagine Social Services storming into your home like Special Ops and seizing your children because of what you've fed them? Taking them away because you've allowed them a steady diet of Doritos and Twisters? Declaring you unfit because you put sugary juice in your toddler's bottle instead of milk? Seems extreme. But it has come to that. Last year, social workers in Cleveland removed a third grader - who topped 200 pounds and suffered from sleep apnea - from his mother's home, citing his increasing weight as a form of medical neglect.

I HAVE BEEN very concerned with comments that follow homicide and violence news articles. My hope is that there will be a change in policy to not have any comments at these times. Thoughtless and discourteous remarks do not need media support or encouragement. In fact, as a social scientist, I suggest that these comments possibly contribute to the violence reported. Richard Greene Ardmore It's what's in the cart In the op-ed piece "In U.S. food desert, a vision of oases," Reps.

FOR THE first time in history, American children are living shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. In the past 30 years, the childhood obesity rate has tripled, and trend lines for adults are no more encouraging. In 20 years, half of all adults in the U.S. are projected to be obese. Make no mistake - the obesity epidemic in America is leading to increasing rates of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and this is having a major impact on our economy.

Denise Devine, holder of numerous college degrees and 19 patents, is not a woman of simple ambitions. So it is not enough to describe her small-business objective as wanting to turn a profit. Far from it. She is out to change eating habits, combat childhood obesity, and, in the process, improve national security. If you think that last one is a delusional stretch, Devine refers you to "Mission: Readiness," a report issued in 2010 by more than 100 retired U.S. military leaders that found that 27 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24 were too fat to serve in the armed forces.

CLEVELAND - An Ohio third-grader who weighs more than 200 pounds has been taken from his family and placed into foster care after county social workers said that his mother wasn't doing enough to control his weight. The Cleveland 8-year-old is considered severely obese and at risk for such diseases as diabetes and hypertension. The case is the first that state officials can recall of a child being put in foster care strictly for a weight-related issue. Lawyers for the mother said that the county overreached when authorities took the boy last week.