Filling the void?

It’s in the news again – childhood overweight. But this time it’s teenagers talking about what to do, and they came up with the idea of a “shock and awe” campaign to scare people in to action.

The Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) is a scholarship competition sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. According to a recent article, 25% of this year’s 60 finalists focused their research projects on weight, body image, and exercise. And that’s exactly what needs to happen – get teens talking about what will motivate them to take a healthier approach to food and physical activity.

Several students commented on kids needing to fill a void in their lives – something, a passion or a hobby – because often it’s food that fills that void. It’s no surprise that one teen researcher found that high school students “who are overweight are more likely to be unhappy or insecure in their dating relationships and friendships.”

Kids are filling the void with food. It’s not just adults who eat for emotional reasons. This insight is so important. For those of us trying to craft messages to kids that will get them to adopt healthy behaviors, it’s a glimpse behind the curtain. We will not reach them if we talk about eating healthy and getting physical activity to avoid heart disease and type II diabetes. Instead, how do we communicate in a way that encourages healthy habits that lead to friendships and prom dates, but without implying the need to be skinny to be popular? It's a fine line.

If kids are healthy and feel good about themselves on the inside, won’t that come through on the outside? Again, it’s about respect. We need to ask kids what will work for them, and then be willing to listen to their answers and act on them. We want to respect children and youth – talk to them in their language, communicate in a way that reflects their reality and culture.

Or maybe we need to stop and ask why do kids today have a void in their lives in the first place? Kids are sitting around eating junk food to try and fill an empty space inside themselves. It goes back to what I wrote in an earlier post about the frenetic pace of life today. Kids are scheduled and shuffled from class to class, from school to home or after-school activities, eating more and more meals on the run, and spending more time in front a TV or computer screen. Where is free time? Where is quality time with friends and family? Where are deep connections and open space? Where do kids fill themselves up with something besides food?

Food Family Tree

I just read an interview with Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire and more recently, The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

What struck me was his comment on food stories. He said, “Stories are very powerful ways to connect with people, and one of the problems with our food is that the stories have been removed from them. The stories of how they were made and where they came from, to the extent that you can restore people’s knowledge that there is a connection between what they’re eating.”

I was immediately reminded of a series of interviews I did for work with children and adults about nutrition and physical activity. I opened each interview with an exercise I created called the Food Family Tree. I asked each person to draw their family tree and talk about the connections each family member has to food. At first, most people said they had no connection. Nothing. Couldn’t think of anything. But as we talked and I asked them more questions about their family, the connections revealed themselves.

A high school student told me about her mother who grew up working on a tobacco farm in the summers. She realized she did have a connection to the rich agricultural heritage of Western North Carolina.

There is a burgeoning immigrant population in Asheville and I learned about the food experiences of young Latino, Ukrainian and Moldovan children. Latino children told me about family members who worked in restaurants. A Moldovan girl described her family’s farm and orchard in Moldova in beautiful detail.

But the interview I remember the most was with a woman who started out skeptical, uncertain if she would say the right things or give me the correct information. On the surface, she seemed far removed from food and agriculture. However, as our conversation unfolded, she remembered family memories long forgotten. She told me about shelling peas with her grandmother on the side porch, a breeze blowing and laundry drying on the line. She recalled the easy conversation and slow pace and the pile of peas. It moved her deeply to remember that experience and she seemed proud to learn that she too, had a food family tree.

It gets me thinking about my own family. My childhood memories are planting peppers and tomatoes with my father. And watching the spring onions grow. We always had a small area of the backyard dedicated to a few summer vegetables. I remember potatoes and squash too. I can still see my grandfather, Pappy, pulling out fresh spring onions, cleaning them, dipping them in salt and eating them raw. As a kid I thought he was crazy, but now I understand his simple pleasure of eating a freshly picked vegetable that he grew for himself.

Think back through your own family history. Did anyone grow up on a farm? Who worked at a restaurant? Who made your favorite food? Who planted potatoes or spring onions? Where does your food family tree take you?

The Respect Connection

Childhood overweight and lack of parental oversight. Less physical activity and more screen time. Fast food and fad diets. Eating more and moving less.

Parents, teachers, community members, public health officials, medical professionals, non-profit workers, day care providers, police officers, farmers, chefs…we are all part of the childhood overweight epidemic. At first glance, it may seem like it’s just a problem for families. But food, family, health and culture are interconnected, to say the least.

And it’s finally hit pop-culture, prime time TV. This week TLC premiered “Honey We’re Killing the Kids”. It’s like the Supernanny, but for nutrition and physical activity. The Supernanny goes in to a home and helps teach parents and children about discipline, behavior and good parenting techniques. “Honey We’re Killing the Kids” does much the same thing, but focuses on a family’s eating and physical activity behaviors. The first show featured three young boys; two were already overweight, while the youngest one was skinny. But he wasn’t skinny in a healthy way – he was thin because he was malnourished – eating about a pound of sugar a day. The family lived on fried food, take out and pre-packaged sugary snacks. Because of the frenetic pace of our lives today, parents have so little time to spend with their children that when they do see their kids, they will do anything to make them happy. If it takes French fries and chicken fingers at a chain restaurant to feel like quality time, then that’s what families do.

How have we gotten to this point? The point where TV shows have to scare families into learning how to feed their kids nutritious food and spend quality time together as a family? What’s missing from our culture today?

The Respect Connection.

All the talk about the childhood overweight epidemic is missing the main point – it’s about respect. Kids know when they are being respected. And you can show respect through food.

Think about the difference between opening a can of green beans and heating them in the microwave, versus freshly picked green beans lightly steamed and served to the whole family. Imagine two day old spaghetti on the school lunch line, compared to a soup made from scratch in the cafeteria kitchen and a salad bar stocked with fresh, locally grown produce. Picture a family piling in the minivan to go to the closest chain restaurant, waiting a half hour for a table, then ordering fried food and having to talk over loud music. Then picture a family sitting down to a meal together in their home. The kids helped make the salad and set the table. They talk and can hear one another.

Which scenarios feel more respectful to you?

Good health and nutrition also means respect for the environment. Kids need to know where their food comes from – that carrots grow in the ground, not on the supermarket shelf. When kids plant seeds and watch them grow, they begin to appreciate – to respect – the earth and what it can provide for them.

Fighting the obesity epidemic also comes down to respecting yourself. Feeding your body well and getting exercise means you will feel better. And it gets real simple for kids. Eat well, play well. If you have good food to fuel your body, you can run and jump and play longer and stronger.

One of my day jobs is coordinating a childhood obesity prevention program in Asheville, North Carolina. (My other day, night and all the time job is being a mom to my 14 month old daughter.) Three non-profits joined forces to help children and families achieve a healthy weight, with particular focus on reaching out to low-income and immigrant families. The organizations leading this initiative are Children First, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project and MANNA FoodBank.

And we do the most amazing things. Our programs include: school gardens, promoting Farm to School programs, providing backpacks of fresh produce for school children to take home to their families, after-school meals and nutrition education, community distributions of fresh produce and providing healthy options at a food pantry. Early on we joked that our mission was to rebuild the family table, but now I don’t think we’re so far off.

The respect connection. That’s what I’m here to talk about. I’ll explore each of these respect threads in more detail and share stories about the inspiring children, teachers and families I meet along the way.

Thanks for reading The Respect Connection.