Radio Tonight: Childhood Obesity - were you overweight as a child?

Hope you'll all tune-in tonight at 8:00pm EST for the "Childhood Obesity" program.  We're going to be talking with Dr. Carolyn Dean (childhood obesity expert) and parents who were overweight as children now parenting overweight children themselves.  Would LOVE for people to call into this show!   [url]www.backstagepassradio.com[/url] - 8:00pm EST Live Chat opens at 7:45 Call-in # is 347-857-2952   Thanks!  :)

I was chunky, awkward, shy, and miserable as a child.  My son was none of those things and I made sure food wasn't any big deal to him.  His father was naturally thin so I am sure his genetics ruled out but I was never gonna curse my child with being overweight no matter what it took.  That was something I could and would control.  Believe me there were many fights with my mother and grandmother who wanted to butter every vegetable my son ate and give him cookies and junk food and I stood my ground and said no.  I never had those things in my house, I hid my eating from my son, I know it all sounds sick and twisted but seriously being a shy overweight child was a horror show to me, especially in a family who hated "fat", so it was always judged.  I refused to let my son have that same childhood.

How did the show turn out?

That's a really interesting point you bring up - about your family trying to feed him bad foods. Our culture and families - we're so wound up in food that often times we equate food with love, which can be really special in some cases (ex:  a trauma in the family and bringing them meals so they can cope and heal) and really sabotaging in others (ex:  grandparents pushing sugary foods to show their love).  I think when a change happens for the better - introducing nutrition and healthy living - it goes so much deeper than just our immediate family.  Bravo to you for staying strong to the cause!

The show was great, thanks!  You can actually hear the archived show at this url:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/divatauniamusic/2012/03/20/disn eys-habit-heroes-childhood-obesity-discussion 

 Taunia - how did you make the icons for your sig?

I use  http://www.wisestamp.com/ for my email signature (in google) and just copied and pasted the icons into my signature here.  Pretty handy little free program!  

 Nice -- I have that -- I'm going to try it.

Thanks!

I was tortured as a kid over weight because my mother became diabetic when I was 7 years old so being overweight was seriously frowned upon.  Everything was monitored and doled out, it wasn't fun, so when I got married and could eat whatever I wanted at 20 years old I rebelled and gained 50lbs in a year.  It was heartbreaking to be 21 years old and totally invisible to the opposite sex.  I was MO for 20 years prior to wls.  My son was born when I was 25 and I wanted him to have a normal childhood, believe me I did everything to lose weight when I realized I was the fat mom who couldn't run around.  I was bulimic for many years and that helped me maintain a 50lb lose for quite a while until I realized my son knew what I was doing.  I forced myself to stop and then gained back all my weight gradually.  I have a very bad relationship with food, very bad, so now its a true hate hate relationship.  My son is eternally thin, thankfully, one issue he didn't have to deal with but I honestly think my warped eating just made him even more apt to want to diet and be thin even though he doesn't need it.  He knows I had an eating disorder and that you can't judge eating by me.  It's sad really, I wish I could change it all going back to my childhood but obviously thats not possible.