Despite the fact that it is not completely the fault of Alana's Thompson's mother for her obese condition, the eating practices implemented by her has created an obstacle on her health. She can barely run long distances and she weighs 125 pounds and stands at 4-foot-6. That means her body mass index (BMI) is equal to or greater than the 95th percentile, which classifies her as obese. Her BMI is calculated by using her height and weight measurements to estimate her body fat, which can indicate her health or well-being. She also has too much body fat, which could lead her to have illnesses and other health problems in the future because of it. Admittedly, BMI is not an entirely accurate indicator. It cannot successfully determine the health of …show more content…
In most cultures, there is a cultural accepted norm in regards to parental feeding. Most parents believe that pressuring their child to eat and regulating their diet is proactive, when in reality it usually does more harm than good. Even though parents may have good intentions in pressuring their child to eat and restricting their diet, it can be counterproductive and actually impact the child negatively. In a study concentrating on a bunch of 5-year-old girls pressured to eat fruit and vegetables, it was shown that it led to a decrease in the consumption of such foods. According to Birch, even though the enforcement of such practices can make them eat more vegetables in the short run, in the long run, it can have negative effects on the diet of children by decreasing their desire to eat such foods. In fact, those practices can be so detrimental on children that it can actually increase their preferences towards high-fat and energy-dense foods and decrease their acceptance to eating a variety of foods and affect their energy regulation intake by decreasing their “responsiveness to internal cues of hunger and satiety.” Most parents believe that children need help in deciding upon food choices, however, this is actually far from the case. Infants and young children are able to self-regulate total energy caloric intake. They know how to satiate their hunger perfectly fine without any parental involvement. In fact, when parents regulate the food consumption of their children it can be extremely detrimental since it may decrease or negatively impact their ability to self-regulate their food consumption. Clearly, mentality and knowledge towards childhood obesity influence parental feeding