Page 16 - Ulpan-Or E-Tone 13.12.16 Advanced Level

E-Tone™: Ulpan-Or Weekly News Digest

Item #3 (Advanced Level)

Want to Lose Weight

Lia is just twelve years old, and has been trying to lose weight since age
seven. She’s been to nutritionists, tried various support groups and now
started a special class at the Meir hospital. But in the meantime the
struggle isn’t just between Lia and the scale but mostly between Lia and
her parents. “There’s always a fight with mom and dad about what I’ll eat
and how I’ll eat.” – “Who wins these fights?” – “Lia always beats us.” –
“And is that good or bad?” – “It’s bad.” Thirteen-year-old Alon has
reached a weight of almost one hundred kilograms. Parents Smadar and
Arik, who’ve undergone a slimming sleeve gastrectomy themselves, are
trying to prevent him from getting to the same predicament. The number
of overweight children in Israel has doubled in the past twenty years.
About twenty percent of first-graders, meaning every fifth child, are
overweight. In junior high the numbers increase, and every third child is
overweight. One of the biggest difficulties for overweight children is the
treatment (they get) from the environment. We live in a world where
beautiful is thin. Children who suffer from badgering at school often want
to change, out of a feeling that this is the only way (people) would love
them. “When I go with my friends to the pool or the beach I don’t take
(my) shirt of, because I’m embarrassed that I’m a little chubby.” Noam is
twelve and a half years old and has a clear objective: to be thin and fit for
his Bar Mitzvah photos. He’s lost almost seven kilos in the past year, but
in his mind he’s still a fat kid.

Page 16 - Edition 12-13-16

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