Should 7-year-olds be put on strict diets? Vogue article sparks debate

iStockPhoto

(CBS News) Dara-Lynn Weiss' daughter, Bea, had become a statistic. At 4-foot, 4 inches and 93 pounds, the 7-year-old had become obese. So, the Vogue columnist did what she knew best: She put Bea on a strict diet.

"One day Bea came home from school in tears, confessing that a boy at school had called her fat. The incident crushed me, but it was a wake-up call. Being overweight is not a private struggle. Everyone can see it," Weiss wrote in the April 2012 issue of Vogue.

VIDEO: 12-year-old teaches town to lose weight
Bullied boy loses 85 lbs., inspires others to lose

Weiss wrote she decided to enroll her daughter into a "Red Light, Green Light" diet program. The mother detailed her struggle to keep Bea fit and how she turned to such tactics as making her go without dinner after she celebrated French heritage day at school, banning her from participating in "pizza Fridays" and publicly admonishing her cravings in front of others. In the end Bea lost 16 pounds in one year, but it has left many wondering whether the harsh and berating treatment worth the weight loss.

While Bea's weight loss was impressive, some experts say that Weiss went about it all in the wrong way. Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, who runs the Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right program that Bea enrolled in, confirmed to HealthPop that Bea's weight made her considered obese, and said she respected and understood why Weiss was so strict because of the difficulty of the situation.

But, Dolgoff insisted that Weiss' methods were not the intention of her program. The traffic light-based diet system revolves around teaching kids healthy eating habits, so they can be in charge of their diet plans.

"We want to empower these kids," Dolgoff said. "Studies show that if you treat overweight kids in a sensitive manner, you do decrease emotional problems."

Dolgoff said that the Weiss stopped going to the counseling sessions halfway through the program and Bea and her mother didn't get the emotional support they needed. The Red Light program ultimately allows the child to make the decisions, and even if the kid slips up and eats something that is unhealthy, parents are advised to let them do it.

"Their emotional health is extremely important, and that's what we talk a lot about in the visit," Dolgoff said. "We don't want them thinking they've been bad. We explain it's hard to be healthy in our society when they put supersized everything in front of you."

Childhood obesity is a society problem in the U.S. According to the Center of Disease Control, between 1980 and 2008 the percentage of children aged 6 to 11 who were obese has risen 14 percent, and for those 12 to 19 years it has gone up 13 percent. More than one third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese.

Obese youth between the ages of 5 to 17 are 70 percent more likely to have at least one risk factor for heart disease, are at a high risk of developing diabetes and are ate greater risk of having bone and joint problems. They are also more likely to be obese as adults and are at greater risk for many types of cancer including breast, colon, kidney, ovary, and prostate cancers. That's not to mention the emotional problems that come with the stigmatization and poor self-esteem that comes from being overweight as a child.

Nancy Copperman, director of public health initiatives at the Office of Community Health at the North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, NY, told HealthPop, she understood Weiss' motivation, but still had some concerns over whether or not children like Bea needed to be put on a diet. Cooperman did not work with Weiss and counsels other families with overweight and obese children.

"I think that the urgency for the kid to get to a normal weight - below the eight fifth percentile - in a year, I don't think that was realistic," Copperman explained. "I don't think it was right for the mother to correct it right then and there, that's what the problem was."

Copperman said that a gradual weight maintenance plan would not have only got Bea to the right weight, it would have aided her emotional health. By looking at the statistics, if Bea had been put on a weight maintenance plan and grew the two inches in a year referenced in the article, that would have been equivalent to losing 10 pounds. Instead she lost 16 pounds overall - essentially 26 pounds when calculating her growth into it.

"That's almost 30 percent of her body weight." Copperman said. "I wouldn't consider that a healthy weight loss."

"It's very difficult to take a kid who is overweight or obese and make her normal in a year," she explained. "You don't know what the impact of this kind of regulated intake could have on the child."

In the article, Weiss even admits that the weight loss did take some emotional toll on her daughter. She writes of an exchange with her daughter:

"'That's still me,' she says of her former self. 'I'm not a different person just because I lost sixteen pounds.' I protest that indeed she is different. At this moment, that fat girl is a thing of the past. A tear rolls down her beautiful cheek, past the glued-in feather. 'Just because it's in the past,' she says, 'doesn't mean it didn't happen.'"

Weiss concedes in the article that only time will tell if her daughter will be able to keep off the weight and whether the strict parenting was worth it.

[jmmiles10]

Okay, instead of making her daughter skip meals, which can lower her metabolism, why not have her eat healthy. If a person eats 6 small, healthy meals a day, it can increase their metabolism, and help burn more calories or lose weight.

[Froseph]

Your kids eat what you eat, the easiest way to get your kid slimmed down is to share the same meal plan with your kid, the same snacks, etc. Don't complain about the food, always put the healthier food in a more positive light, and especially encourage activity (especially aerobic exercise because its quite literally habit forming).

[singerdn]

First of all, a "diet" should be referred to as an eating program. We all are on some kind of "diet" or other. Secondly, there are plenty of low calorie foods and snacky things that can be eaten in lieu of high calorie things. Schools are a BIG problem with their starchy lunches but children can get around this many times by packing their lunches at home. Maybe you can look at the school menu ahead of time and determine which days to bring something from home. My "addiction" is for sweets and breads. Sugar-free gelatins with low fat topping is a great treat. Leaning toward the high protein side of food selections helps keep you satisfied, too. A strict "diet" for a child is not good, in my opinion, but there are a number of more "gentle" ways to approach the situation than what this desperate mother did. As an adult, I wish my mother had used a little more discipline in the foods that were prepared in my home. I have and always will have a problem with desiring high-caloric, fatty foods. Maybe the level of awareness about this growing problem in children has been raised.

[lloydbest1]

First sentence pretty much says it all. The only successful diets are the ones that never end. "Going" on a diet implies that once you have reached your weight goal you can go "off" it again.

You can not. The "diet" must be a permanent part of your lifestyle. I believe this is one of the reasons that maintaing weight loss is so difficult. In addition, given such an abundance of cheap food in America that even poor people are well fed (check that, I meant have more than sufficient calories - the two are not the same) diet alone is not sufficient to sustain weight loss in some obese people.

You also have to move. One poster mentioned putting away the X-Box and another detailed a newly discovered love for swimming and martial arts. That is also an essential part of a weight maintenance regimen. Not only does it facilitate weight loss but the weight you do lose is the metabolically inert subcutaneouss fat and not lean tissue.

[mswolfestock]

Shame on the mom for letting the poor kid become obese in the first place. Mom committed two sins - neglecting the kid's diet which brought on the obesity, and THEN she got way way too strict with the "diet." I think that the mom caused more damage by publishing the story - if I were the daughter I think I'd die of embarassment and mortification.

[thomderr1]

My weight was always a problem in grade school. However, I was not humiliated. My doctor placed me on a 1000 calorie diet.

As a teen, I grew into my larger frame. As an adult, and a Chef, I grew again.

Now, as a 53 year-old, I've learned many new things. I have cut out most carbs and red meat. I really don't consume much fat and cheese and mind my vegetables.

Over the past year, I've gone from a 38" waist to a 32" waist. I feel better and healthier.
If only I had truly cut out the junk foods and snacks when I was a child!

[gnimelf1968]

My son ate very healthy before he started school. He even loved lima beans! Once he got into school, they were always having some kind of class "treats", birthdays, holidays, etc. He ended up eating lousy and gained a lot of weight. Just like any of the scout meetings, sports events, the parents always feel it's necessary for someone to bring a snack for afterwards. Why? They don't last that long and the event is over, take your kid home and feed them what you want to feed them. Some of the mothers would get upset when some of us would bring a healthy snack. It was supposed to be something "fun". Junk more like it. I've never been able to undo the damage.

[Jhihmoac]

If they do nothing but sit around eating mass quantities of junk food and play XBox all day, then I'd have to say yes...for both situations...

[amerilatino]

True, when I was a fat kid my mother went the other route, she took me to the YMCA and gave me a choice of any sports program I wanted to enroll in, so I started with swimming. When she saw how well I liked it, she gave me the choice of another, so I took up judo. When I came home with a medal she made my dad cough up the dough for an open membership, so I spent my free time swimming, slinging/getting slung around by other kids and using the weight room. She let me eat all I wanted as long as I didn't quit sports. I've always been heavy, but at 53 I can still do 100 laps in my pool, outrun my 14 year-old youngest kid and bench press 295. Thanks mom, I love you.

[SUZAMBA]

Sorry, I do not agree with her method. To humiliate her in public was wrong, she is 7 years old. And if she had an issue with her daughters weight, then answer me this, where did the child get the junk food from. Their are many ways to change her eating habits, but you can not with hold everything or she will crave them and all the diets in the world will not help her.

[mswolfestock]

I agree. And when this poor kid gets a bit older, all she will remember is the shame and humiliation. Mom needs some help, I hope she gets it. She needs to take responsibility for having caused her daughter's obesity in the first place, and THEN mom should start listening to all of the professionals and experts on how to help her daughter become healthy.