Immigrant children struggle with America's junk food

[AliceInWonderland]

Immigrant children struggle with America's junk food

Story Highlights
-The longer immigrant kids live in the U.S., the greater their risk of becoming fat
-Jamaican boy gained 30 pounds within months of move to U.S.
-With help of a hospital program, he now has a clean bill of health

By John Bonifield
CNN

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Adrian McHargh grew up active and skinny in Kingston, Jamaica. An enthusiastic swimmer, he had the pristine waters of the Caribbean for a playground until two years ago, when he and his family moved to America.

"I would always cook a healthy dinner," the 13-year-old's mother, Visha Siew-Narine, says about mealtime on the island. "When he came here, I think the fascination of having all this food that we couldn't afford in Jamaica, or that wasn't really available, that was kind of new to him."

In suburban Atlanta, things changed fast. The new foods were cheap, unhealthy and hard to resist: toaster waffles, corn dogs and the chocolate syrup Adrian liked so much he guzzled it straight from the bottle.

"I would eat a lot because I was bored," he says. "I was sitting on the couch just watching TV, not playing a lot."

Within months, Adrian was in trouble. He'd packed on 30 pounds. Doctors said he had hypertension, high cholesterol and was at high risk for type 2 diabetes.

Pat Crawford, a co-director of the Center for Weight and Health at the University of California, Berkeley, says cases like Adrian's are typical.

"We really would like to encourage immigrant families to continue the kinds of eating that they ate in their country of origin because our studies show that the longer they've been in this country the more likely that their children are going to get fat," Crawford says.

The concern isn't only for the children of immigrants.

Since 1980, the number of overweight teenagers has more than tripled. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the heaviest children, those considered to be obese, are increasingly being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Two decades ago, type 2 diabetes was known as "adult-onset diabetes."

Dr. Seema Csukas, a pediatrician at Children's Health Care of Atlanta, says overweight children as young as 5 and 6 years old are developing heart and joint problems.

"It's not only the adolescents -- it's the very young kids," Csukas says. "We've seen 3- and 4-year-olds who are in the overweight category, so it's very sad to think that that's even possible, but it's a reality today."

Adrian's diagnosis alarmed his mother, who signed him up for a free 12-week exercise, diet and nutrition program developed by Csukas' hospital to help children like Adrian and their families do better.

"You hear all these horror stories about people who are diabetic," she says. "Grown people, adults, who've had wounds that didn't heal and had to get a leg or, you know, a hand amputated. I don't want that for him, not at all."

For three months, Adrian worked with a fitness coach and a nutritionist to reduce his body mass index, or BMI. For exercise, the program prescribed more play outside and a dumbbell routine to add muscle. To change his diet: an end to the junk food.

Adrian's mother, who like her son and daughter, Marisa, admits she bought into the fascination of all the new foods available to her in America, says she's stopped buying so many sweets.

"I just wanted to make them happy," she says. "I'm buying more eggs and more yogurt. More organic foods -- organic peanut butter. I'm doing a lot of vegetables -- fresh vegetables. Carrots. Potatoes. Broccoli."

For Adrian, who loves the water, was playing in it again -- hurling water balloons at his friends from his front porch. His mother says she's seen changes in her son. More muscle. Less flab. Improved self-esteem.

"They used to make fun of me at school, but I don't feel bad any more," Adrian says.

His doctors have also seen improvement. After a few weeks on the program, Adrian's cholesterol was normal. In August, he started his eighth-grade year with a clean bill of health.

"I've made super changes," he says. "I'm excited, especially for school because everybody says I've changed. They said, 'Adrian, you've lost a lot of weight.'"

John Bonifield is an associate producer with CNN Medical News.

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Immigrant children struggle with America's junk food - CNN.com

omg this is so sad but true! you should see my bf before he came here vs. what he looks like now! America is such a fatastic lard-o-rific glutton of a culture!

[Chilly Willy]

My brother is an immigrant kid in the US right now (sorta, lol) and he's always been a skinny boy who couldn't gain weight. Guess what? In the last year since he moved to NYC he gained 30 pounds! And he started working out to lose weight.

The sizes of the portions! The calories you can squeeze into one little snack! The calories you can squeeze into a freaking drink!

Most snacks I saw in the US are so decadent, so absolutely forbidden and insanely delicious, no European would ever THINK of creating something like that!

God, how I miss American food.

[sweet and sexy]

Originally Posted by Chilly Willy

God, how I miss American food.

It's wonderful. I was born in LA and I struggle witrh junk food more than anything. There are days I must have Cool Ranch Doritos, gummi bears, nachos, pizza, cake, ice-cream, chocolate, cheesecake. I am teh lard culture.

[AliceInWonderland]

holy shit Chilly Willy thats incredible!

[Chilly Willy]

The burgers, the brownies, the cheese cake, the cheese fries, the cheese everything!

The burritos, the snacks, the sugary drinks, the ice cream! Ben and fucking Jerrys. O'Lays. Oreos. Cup cakes.

Pizza, with more cheese on it than you could ever imagine.

The decadent alterations to Indian food, Mexican food, any freaking food. Cheese on everything, sour cream to everything.

Maccaroni and cheese, cheese, cheese.

The candy bars, the chocolate bars, twinkies, cheetos, nachos.

Wendy's, Taco Bell, McD, Burger King, Denny's, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Starbucks.

A fucking coffee in the US has more calories than I have in a day!!!

It is really overwhelming for a foreigner.

If I lived in the US, I'd be either anorexic or obese. There is no other way.

[sweet and sexy]

Obese sounds good. Just kidding. I started a fitness log. I am going to be in shape despite all the tempations.

[VenusInFauxFurs]

You want fries with that Chilly?

[AliceInWonderland]

yeah our "Mexican" food is sooooooooooooooooooooo much more fatteningly horrible that real Mexican food - its disgusting! Way to ruin a perfectly good food America! Not to mention what we've done to Italian!! Oh Madon!

[blissfullyunaware]

The current culture is all about pleasure & convienience, junk food is so abundent because the demand is high.It tastes good & it's fast. When I was younger, I paid no attention to the calorie,fat,trans fat,sugar content or nutritional value of food. I just ate what I wanted & gained the weight to prove it. Now that I am older,I know better & I would be hard pressed to drink a starbucks mochachino (grande) now. It's just not worth it to me anymore, because I know the toll it takes on the body. I am also careful about what I feed to my children, they have the occasional junk food but it's not a way of life.

[LynnieD]

Give those kids some avacados already!!

[VenusInFauxFurs]

Apparently a large diet coke covers a multitude of dietary sins

[Sweetie]

I think all children, not just immigrant children struggle with this and bottom line......get your children up off their asses, let them play outside and cook them a HOME cooked meal. At 13 years old society and fast food should not be blamed for fat children, it should be blamed on the parents.

[VenusInFauxFurs]

^^ I agree Sweetie. Too many parents rely on drive-thru food as a main source of meals for their kids. Honestly, the excuse of "I don't have time to cook" is bullshit. We cook from scratch every night and it doesn't take long at all.

[Sweetie]

It takes 5 minutes to throw a chicken and veggies in the oven. That's a lot less time than setting in a drive thru line. lol

[DeChayz]

...the chocolate syrup Adrian liked so much he guzzled it straight from the bottle.

That is fucking disgusting
It amazes me how many families don't sit down and eat dinner together, and how many are too lazy to cook. Shit, cook extra when you DO have time and then freeze it for when you don't have time to cook!