Obese kids ‘should be put in CARE and their parents sent to boot camp’, says TV diet guru
WHEN it comes to obesity, Steve Miller is not one to mince his words.
And childhood obesity, in particular, is something that he wants to tackle head-on - by taking dangerously fat kids away from their parents.
Steve told The Sun: "If a child is morbidly obese (as defined by a GP) and we're talking really fat here, not just a little bit overweight, then I propose that the parents need to get their act together.
"If nothing changes, then they should absolutely go on an educational 'boot camp' to help them correct the problem."
He told us that what he proposes isn't "rocket science", but rather giving parents an opportunity to learn basic but potentially life-saving information about nutrition.
"It'd be things like 'give your kids fruit juice rather than full-fat lemonade' - you know, just practical, common sense.
"(The parents) would do the boot camp and then they'd return home to later be assessed and if nothing changed and their child was still defined as being potentially dangerously overweight, then absolutely those children should go into foster care."
Steve cites the recent case of a 16st 13-year-old boy who died from a blood clot, which a pathologist found to a direct result of "severe" obesity.
"We've had a teenager die of obesity recently, and the conclusion was this child had died because of obesity," he said.
"What I'm saying is we need to get some responsibility here - and if it takes a little tough talking and tough love, then so be.
"I believe that I'm the most compassionate weight loss expert in this country."
Self-confessed "fat-buster" Steve, of Sky 1 Fat Families fame, has previously said that body acceptance campaigns are "poisonous", and that overweight nurses should wear "I'm fat" badges.
It's estimated that around one in every five kids aged ten to 11-year-olds is obese, with a third of children aged two to 15 overweight or obese.
And according to Public Health England, nearly half of kids are overweight in parts of the UK, with seven out of the fattest areas in Britain located in London.
"I'm saying get a grip - and if that means getting firmer - then so be it," he explained.
"We can't go on like this. I'm fed up to the back teeth of everyone blaming the schools or the government, going on about the lack of school fields. Fresh air is free.
"What I want to do is not just about punishment, it's about encouragement. Consequences do motivate."
He uses the example of using mobiles whilst driving.
If you're caught, you face having umpteen points on your license. While using a phone might not kill anyone it has the potential to do great damage - just as obesity does.
"That works," he said, "and I want the same kind of system with this.
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"I think that's reasonable. You're offering loads of support but it's also about saying that if you don't show responsibility for your children then, sorry, we need to take action.
"I'm not saying every fat child needs to go into care, we're talking about children who are dangerously fat, dangerously overweight as deemed by a GP."
He wants to tell parents to "stop blaming everybody else - think before you breed. I know that sounds blunt but children are precious".
"If today I was talking about putting kids into foster care that are underfed, starved, we wouldn't have a problem with what I'm saying," he added.
"Every time you talk about obesity and what to do about it - you're accused of fat shaming."
And it looks like Steve isn't alone in his rather extreme ideas.
Tam Fry, Chair of the National Obesity Forum, told The Sun that although he believes that Steve "goes over the top in many respects, in this case, he has a point".
"For a long time, people have argued against very fat children being removed from their homes while the home situation is being sorted out or against parents being severely reprimanded one way or the other, with people saying that it's inappropriate.
"But if we had a severely malnourished child - one that was very thin, social services would have absolutely no hesitation in stepping in and removing the child from the home. And the same should apply for the very overweight.
"Children are vulnerable in how they live their lifestyle, and in what they're given. When you have a family who allows a child to become dangerously fat, society has a right to step in and tell them that they're not acting in the best interest of their child, that they'll certainly be in danger of developing things like type 2 diabetes.
"Mr Miller is taking the right approach here."
So, what do you think? Let us know in the comments!
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