TV Show -> Honey, We're Killing the Kids!

[Wildflower]

Anyone seen this show? It is on TLC (The Learning Channel) Monday nights around 8 or 9 CST (it seems to shift a bit).

I have been watching it for the past month or so...

I have to say, I don't like it as much as I thought I would. It makes me so sad and shocked at what people feed their kids, I can't even believe it.

Basically, the premise of the show is a nutritionist comes in and looks at how your kids eat, how much they weigh, how much they excercise, how fit they are, etc. and then do a "simulated picture" of what they will look like at age 40 if they keep eating that way - then they reduce their life expectency and tell the parents they will probably only live until age X instead of age X which is standard life excpectancy for their age/gender/race in the US.

Then they do a life-style make-over and tell them what the kids should eat, how much they should excercise, play outside, etc.

It is not vegan, but they do recommend a lot of vegan foods such as tofu scramble (I saw this on 2 episodes - the first group of kids loved it, the second spit it out), salads, soups, etc. They kids cry and scream and gag over having to eat a vegetable. Makes me mad, but by the end (3 weeks later) they are liking it OK.

It just shocks and saddens me...but I guess it is positive they are trying to change.

http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/ho...anmain_leftnav

[Roxy]

Have never seen it Wildflower, but I will see what time it's on up here, and see if I can take a look.

On a similiar note, I was lazing on the couch the other afternoon - chanel surfing lol, and came accross a British show on the W network.

There was some lady called Gillian McKeith and she was overhauling the lifestyle and eating habbits of this obese gentleman. She gave him the same kind of info - how if he kept eating and drinking and smoking the way he did, his life expectancy wouldn't be very long and she also studies his tongue and poo, to get a better idea of what was going on inside his body.

Most of the foods she recomended for him were vegan, and the guy lost a lot of weight by following her dietry guidelines.

Anyway - back on topic - it's sad that so many people out there feed their kids such terrible diets.

[Blueshark]

Yeah, seen the British version, it is both sad and hopeful.

Consumers want choice, but make bad decisions

Go figure.

[Sheila]

The show is amazing. I was shocked at the amount of crap that parents feed their kids and also at the level of inactivity. I TIVO'd the first episode and made my daughter watch it with me. She could not believe the bad behavior of the kids on that show and the amount of sugar they were eating every day. After watching it she looked at me and told me she was so happy to be vegan so she wouldn't be unhealthy like them.
Sheila

[Wildflower]

Yeah, seen the British version, it is both sad and hopeful.

Consumers want choice, but make bad decisions

Go figure.

I have not seen the British version, but we do get Jamie Oliver's School Dinners show here.

I was shocked at the "turkey twizzlers" I can't think of really anything other than head cheese that looks less appetizing.

I once heard of a yogurt made from bovine colostrum (the pus that comes out when you first breastfeed to help boost the baby's immune system). BLECH! I am sure it looks just like yogurt though, but the thought was enough to make me retch.

[Wildflower]

After watching it she looked at me and told me she was so happy to be vegan so she wouldn't be unhealthy like them.
Sheila

Oh, how wonderful Sheila! She is very lucky to have such an informed parent.

[Wildflower]

There was some lady called Gillian McKeith and she was overhauling the lifestyle and eating habbits of this obese gentleman. She gave him the same kind of info - how if he kept eating and drinking and smoking the way he did, his life expectancy wouldn't be very long and she also studies his tongue and poo, to get a better idea of what was going on inside his body.

There was a simillar special show on Discovery Health here with Dr Oz - "You, The Owner's Manual". He gets really into your "RealAge" and how your lifestyle affects how you age postively or negatively.

He also showed the woman he was helping organ taken from people who died of stroke or heart disease and let her sit in on a bypass surgery (Dr Oz is a heart surgeon). I was really suprised when he showed exactly what happens to your body when you have high blood pressure, and how damage to your arteries is what actually causes high blood pressure. High cholesterol/blood pressure runs in my family so it really gave me something to think about...

[Tigerlily]

I keep on meaning to watch that show, but it's at a bad time for me and I can never remember the time.

I like You Are What You Eat, though. I noticed lately, she's been recommending more fish than before. The older, season 1, episodes, barely mentioned fish. Now the new episodes (season 2) mention fish a lot.

[JasmineRoz]

I just watched this show for the first time last night! I have to say as fake as it seemed toward the end when all of a sudden everyone was enthusiastically conforming I think this show is atempting to do something positive. It does shock me to see how some people allow their families to deteriorate. Then again, my own family has done that to my brother and I. Thank God I was independent enough to break free from the bad habits they put in place for us.

[Limey]

I've seen it and although I'm not a huge fan of the show, I like the idea of it and what they are trying to do. I wish they did that for me when I was little. However, my parents weren't the bad ones, it was all me.

The first thing that I saw on that show that really shocked me was when two sisters were gagging over milk. They've never had milk before?! Then I thought, well I would gag over it, too, if the first time I tried it I was 9 or 11. They should try soymilk - yum.

I have also seen the Jamie Oliver show. It was interesting and at least he is trying to get better food into the school systems. Not perfect, but it's a step.

This world frightens me sometimes.

[snaffler]

WOW you folks are getting those UK shows, killing the kids is easy for us in the UK to understand as the parents fit a certain stereo type, I hate to say it like that but you kind of get to know what sort of parent you wont see on their and what type you will, it's kind of hard to explain, but I guess any UK viewers may know kind of what I mean.

Jamies Dinners had now worked all evil junk food has been banned from schools, OK I admit the food left is not all vegan, we cant expect that in reality but government are about to up all school food budgets.

So his efforts worked with all the help from a national web site and campaign.

[Wildflower]

Wow, that's good to know everything he did really made a difference, JayDog!

We do get a fair amount of british tv shows here, but I get the BBC America channel...even outside of that, a lot of our tv shows are rip offs of British shows anyway.

A big thing lately is they are doing a rip off of "The Office" with the guy from 40 Year Old Virgin as the boss. I have seen a few episodes and it is not exactly the same, but funny on it's own. Not quite as funny as the british version though.

A few years ago they tried to copy Coupling and it got cancelled after 2 episodes, it was horrible! I was a big fan of the british Coupling - it really made me laugh!

We have a new one coming over called "The Thick Of It" I don't think it started yet, but looks pretty funny.

[snaffler]

More on the Jamie Oliver outcome here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4995268.stm

[Chicken]

I seen that show, some of the people there DON'T do follow-ups. Because it's easier to just eat junk food then cook a decent meal. I remember one time on Honey were Killing the Kids this one girl loved bacon and the nutrionist brought her to a pig farm to see all the cute little pigs hopeing to get her to at least lighten up on the bacon. Can't remember if it worked... And I watched that Jamie's School Lunch project thing and really liked it. Wish they would do that in America… All our school has for lunch is pizza, hamburgers, and some weird type of meat. I just bring my lunch. But there are actually kids who eat pizza every school day!

[Tigress]

Have you seen that programme "Downsize Me". Its quite new over here in the UK and I think it is an australian programme.
The worse part about it is they make a healthy person eat the food the unhealthy one has been eating !!

[Wildflower]

Have you seen that programme "Downsize Me". Its quite new over here in the UK and I think it is an australian programme.
The worse part about it is they make a healthy person eat the food the unhealthy one has been eating !!

Eeeek!

Haven't seen that one, sounds interesting though. I wouldn't want to be the healthy person having to eat all that crap - but I guess it is good to see the healthy person gagging down the crap food instread of the usual unhealthy people gagging on health food.

I probably won't get that one, as we don't get many australian shows here in the US, the only one I can think of is a show called Kath and Kim. I think maybe the sci fi show Farscape may have been australian too, or maybe just filmed there.

[Yogini]

Warning: This post is going to reveal my disgusting TV viewing habits.

I haven't seen Honey, We're Killing the Kids. I have, however, seen the odd morning talk show like Maury Povich where he'll feature some insanely obese 5 yr old who weighs as much as I do. And I'm not exactly lithe. The mothers (it's always the mothers; there never seems to be a dad in the picture) feed them tons of total crap and say stuff like "But Maury, if I don't give him his two dozen Krispy Kremes right when he wakes up, he throws a screaming and kicking tantrum!"

My reaction? Lady, get a pair of earplugs and let the lardass scream and kick. He needs the damn exercise.

What chance do these poor kids have at any kind of healthy and happy life with these kinds of parents?

[Wildflower]

What chance do these poor kids have at any kind of healthy and happy life with these kinds of parents?

It's really sad...

All of my friends are always on the run and feed their kids McDonald's in the car for breakfast and dinner most days...for gods sake!

Like the drive thru is even fast food at that time? the few times I have gone through a drive through in the morning, I have had to wait for like 10 - 15 minutes. Just pack them a freaken pb sandwich and an apple for gods sake, it would take less time!

[Yogini]

Just pack them a freaken pb sandwich and an apple for gods sake, it would take less time!

And cost way less money. I don't see how a single parent could afford to feed a kid or kids the way they do on these shows.

[Amelie]

I seen that show, some of the people there DON'T do follow-ups. Because it's easier to just eat junk food then cook a decent meal. I remember one time on Honey were Killing the Kids this one girl loved bacon and the nutrionist brought her to a pig farm to see all the cute little pigs hopeing to get her to at least lighten up on the bacon. Can't remember if it worked... And I watched that Jamie's School Lunch project thing and really liked it. Wish they would do that in America… All our school has for lunch is pizza, hamburgers, and some weird type of meat. I just bring my lunch. But there are actually kids who eat pizza every school day!

I have seen the show a few times. I thought it might be somewhat scripted because of the way they seemed to adapt and change so drastically (especially the kids) but then I saw one episode where they didn't really follow the rules and they didn't do a follow up. About the school lunch project thing...here in California (I think it might be state wide but I'm not sure) they pulled out all the junk food vending machines and replaced them with ones that carry healthier snacks like fruit and drinks like milk , juice and water. I don't know how the lunches have changed, but at least it's a start.