Does anybody here watch "Honey, We're Killing The Kids" on TLC?

[emulatorloo]

I have really gotten addicted to the show.

It is a reality show, the premise is that a family with unhealthy eating habits is "turned around" in three weeks.

First their dietary habits are analysed by a team of nutritionists/medical personnel.

Then a computer animated projection is created to show what the children will look like at 40 if they continue thier current habits. That gets show to the parents, and the parents are told about the limited life expectany/succeptibility to diabetes heart disease etc.

Then the nutritionist visits their homes once every three weeks, giving them some rules ("Eat Healthy" "Exercise Together" "Regular Bedtime" etc) and a manual with shopping lists recipes etc. Usually day one includes destroying all the junk food and going shopping -- it is surprising how many of the parents aren't able to identify the vegetables on the grocery list.

There is usually much drama -- lots of screaming tantrums etc as the kids get weaned off junk food etc. The kids all seem to have nutrition/lack of sleep/lack of exercise related behavioral problems.

I have noticed too that part of the formula seems to be to start with meals that the kids will HATE -- like TOFU scramble. Then once they started getting stuff like grilled turkey it doesn't seem so bad.

Suprisingly to me, 3 weeks does seem to be enough time to get nutrition and exercise sorted out. By week two the kids behavioral problems get better. they start getting into the healthy food and exercise etc/

The show ends with bringing the parents in and showing them new computer animations of how their children will look at 40 if they follow the new nutrition and exercise routine. (interestingly enough the healthy kids seem to have a better fashion sense than the ones shown in the first animations -- bad haircuts and terrible clothes. LOL)

Then there is an brief epilog -- one month later, seeing how the family is doing. On almost everyone I have seen the family seems to have lost weight and made progress.

Anyway it is a show I have been enjoying, and I also find it a nice re-enforcement for keeping myself on track.

[wildeyed]

1. My kids *love* tofu.

Great finger food for toddlers. Since mine have been eating it all along, they like it fine :)

It is scary what people feed their kids. I am not super-strict; they have fast food and ice cream occasionally just not everyday. But the rest of the time, they eat what I cook (which is balanced and healthy) or they go to bed hungry.

Good health is a great gift. I hope to do my part for my kids by starting them off with good habits to build on for the rest of their lives.


Sounds like an interesting show. I will give it a try.

[lizerdbits]

2. Now I'm intrigued, I'll have to watch

I'm glad my mom was a nurse because the rest of her family doesn't have a nutritional clue and most of them are overweight/obese. (Not that having a clue requires formal education but I guess things just don't sink in with them and maybe her education prevented her from being the same way.) Many of them are lower or lower middle income and of course junk food is cheaper, and she had a husband with a higher income. I'm glad she would never let me eat wonder bread or high sugar cereal or I'd be in worse shape.

[emulatorloo]

4. Interestingly one of the recent families featured a mom who is a nurse!

They don' seem to be getting the same education your mom did I have noticed at the local hospital a fair number of the staff is overweight -- and "oddly enough" the healthy food choices at the hospital cafeteria are next to none. It really makes me wonder about the nutritionist there -- most of the foods are fried, most of the carb are high glycemic index ones/

[lizerdbits]

5. So it's like school lunches

That's odd to have a hospital cafeteria with such poor food choices! I bet they have vending machines with candy and soda in break rooms too. Geez.

I saw one episode and it was disappointing that they focused on looks of the kids when they were older. As was noted above in the worst case projections they had 'dumpy' clothes and were frowning. The parents said they looked terrible and I started laughing because the projections looked just like the parents who were saying how bad they looked! It was sad to see such an emphasis on looks instead of health problems that may result from those type of eating habits decades down the road- ones that the parents probably aren't too far from.

[OnionPatch]

3. I can't wait to watch it!

This sounds like something my family needs! :) Well, we're not all that bad, but the last six months or so we have slipped into some bad habits. It started when my parents were here for the winter next door. Every day my six-year-old went over there and got ice cream, cookies, etc. twice, three times a day! After they left, she wanted junk food all the time. Then summer came with vacations and junky road food. She started asking for more and more food that I didn't really approve of, but bought a little anyway. Mistake. Eventually, she got to where she wouldn't even want to eat the healthy food she used to eat! And the behavioral problems started popping up.

Luckily, I'm pretty smart about food and nutrition. I just needed to crack down and be firm. We just started a whole new "healthy" program like you described last week and already my daughter's behavior is much improved! She's even over being upset about the banishment of the junk food and has been getting into shopping and preparing the healthy food with me! She's been eating peaches, watermelon, celery with peanut butter, carrot sticks, nuts, yogurt, etc. for snacks instead of cookies, chips and popsicles. Yay!!

Thanks for posting about this show. I'll have to watch it and get some inspiration.