McDonald: Killing fat kids
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published its new guidelines—the first in 15 years—on how to treat obesity in children. We should reject it.
The guidelines recommend using medications and bariatric surgery for children age 13 and over. Rather than acknowledging that obesity is a consequence of behavior, the AAP wants to redefine obesity as a medical illness. The “experts” are now telling parents to accept drugs and surgery as a legitimate method of weight loss for children. Obesity is not a medical illness, although it certainly produces many illnesses. Rather, children are fat for two obvious reasons: They no longer move, and they eat large amounts of non-nutritious high-calorie foods. The obvious solution to this problem is more exercise and a better diet, not drugs and surgery. Vinnie Tortorich explains this clearly in his recent Prager U video on fat Americans called “America is Fat but You Don’t Have to be.”
Perhaps we should not be surprised by this announcement. The AAP is the same organization that supports puberty blockers and genital mutilation for children who are confused by whether they are a boy or a girl. It recommends drugs and surgery for emotional, social, and developmental challenges. Why not use the same approach for behavioral problems like inadequate exercise and a poor diet? Ironically, one of the AAP’s rationalizations for this approach is to reduce the “stigma” associated with being fat. I see no stigma attached to obesity today. To even describe someone as fat is derided as “body-shaming.” It’s difficult not to stumble over a “fat-positive” commentary browsing through YouTube or TikTok videos. Even Victoria’s Secret models are now fat. And they are far from healthy.
I’ve spent several months recently in central and southern Europe. I rarely saw any fat kids there, unless they were Americans traveling with their parents. Children there walk to school. They eat breakfast at home, cooked by their mothers. They play sports. They avoid fast food, candy bars, and soda. And they stay in shape—not in the way competitive athletes stay in shape; they are simply slim and fit.
Three years ago, we were all told that rather than rely on our natural immune systems, we needed to take an unproven medical therapeutic to keep ourselves and our grandparents alive. Natural immunity for cold viruses was a thing of the past. The “experts” had come up with a newer, better way. This new way proved not only ineffective but actually physically harmful and economically costly. We still do not know the full extent of the damage of these mRNA products. We did this out of a naïve belief that “experts” know better than we do how to make decisions for our health. We did this in a climate of unprecedented coercion and fear. Since then, I have advocated for all Americans to think for themselves and to challenge their fears by acknowledging them and acting despite them. Dennis Prager featured me in his recent Prager U video “Do What You Fear,” explaining how fear prevents us from living full lives. It prevents us from questioning “experts” who issue idiotic, destructive pronouncements that fly in the face of all reason and common sense. Fear makes us less free as individuals and as a nation.
The AAP wants you to take your child to a doctor for medication and to a hospital for surgery because he’s overweight. Isn’t it well past time to reject the “guidance” of these destroyers of life, these abusers of children, and return to common sense decision making as parents? You are, after all, the one person most invested in your child’s welfare. It’s not teachers, politicians, bureaucrats, and doctors in national medical organizations who are looking out for the best interests of America’s children. That has been demonstrated quite clearly over the past three years. Parents need to start refusing to listen to these destructive voices and take back their role as protectors of their children. They are the experts for their children. They should be the ones offering guidance, not the AAP.
Mark McDonald, M.D.
Psychiatrist and author of United States of Fear: How America Fell Victim to a Mass Delusional Psychosis and Freedom From Fear: A 12 Step Guide to Personal and National Recovery
