Mar
24
2011

Chubby Is Cute?

My mother and niece stayed with me for almost a week recently. One day while she was watching tv with Ethan and my niece, she saw a really skinny frog and exclaimed, “Alamak SKINNY nyer macam ETHAN!!!”

I guess most of you are familiar with that frog!

I posted that on FB and as usual, crazy comments started pouring in :D A friend commented that my mom is implying that Ethan should eat more… but I know Ethan is already eating a LOT yet he is not gaining much weight

I see Ethan everyday. I don’t think he is skinny, but I must admit he is not chubby either. He could use some extra layer of chubbiness though. He was way cuter when he was 5-6 months old. Chubby to the max that time!

In my quest to fatten him up, I’ve unconciously slacked in quality control. I’ve been stuffing my fridge with unhealthy food

A friend visited us recently and when she rummaged my fridge for drinks, she was horrified to see what was in the fridge! She wondered why I have so many snacks and junkfoods in there. That got me thinking, “I’ve always been a health freak. When did I started slacking?”

I guessed I got desperate when I see Ethan getting thinner as he grows up. We Asians tend to have the mentality that chubby is cute. You know when you see a person’s chubby baby and you’ll gush, “Sihat-nyer dia! COMEL loteh!” but when you see a thin baby you’ll squeal, “What happen? Just recovered from sickness ah?!”

When Ethan was younger I made sure that only healthy food enters his system. I fed him lots of fresh fruits and juices that are naturally present in the food but as he grows up, he gets thinner and thinner. I started feeding him sweet junks with lots of added sugar.

I’m happy to see his cheeks getting chubby again :D But just the other day, I read in the papers that Malaysians are such ‘sweet’ people. Sweet in the sense that we often add up to 7 teaspoons of sugar into our drinks per day! That fact was derived from a recent nationwide sugar reduction campaign, mind you!

Aiks! I don’t think we need those added sugar in our diets as sugar is easily obtained from the carbohydrate in our meals, right? No? Carbs = Sugar.. Right? Wrong?

Of all carbohydrates, I’m only familiar with blood sugar (glucose), table sugar (sucrose) and milk sugar (lactose). If you read the label in most of children’s product out there, you’ll definitely see lots of sucrose, glucose and corn syrup in it! These are all added sugar. Though they are made from natural source such as plant base they are still sugar and sugar will turn into carb for us when we eat them! Usually the higher the carb stated on the label means the higher the added sugars contained in that processed food. So the next time you shop, start READING the labels!

It scares the heck out of me when I read that excessive sugar intake can easily lead to health implications . Just the other day a friend told me that his father passed away several years ago after an operation to amputate his leg. He added that the death might be due from the shock of discovering that he is one foot short (no pun intended). It was kinda funny the way my friend said it, but reality is, this is no joke. Excessive sugar intake can lead to diabetes, obesity, dental caries, high blood pressure, heart disease and even stroke.

Note: I recently learnt that sugar is sugar regardless if they are naturally present in food or added; both will lead to health implications if taken excessively.

I’ve to start feeding Ethan healthy again. Stop cultivating his sweet tooth and start giving more non added sugar products. He might not be as chubby but paling penting.. he’ll grow up healthy!

I have to start saying TAK NAK to my favourite dessert dy…

Tags: Added Sugar, Carbohydrate, excessive sugar intake, health implications, non added sugar products, sugar reduction campaign

About the Author: Merryn Tan

16 Comments + Add Comment

//

Tekkaus March 24, 2011 at 6:04 pm

I think Ethan is healthy lar. Why wanna be chubby? :p

Reply
//

[SK] March 24, 2011 at 6:42 pm

skinny or chubby, i think not important.. more important is being healthy.. :)

Reply
//

Food Dreams March 24, 2011 at 6:45 pm

Ethan looks great! All kids are individual, therefore, cannot put all kids into the 'chubby boat' lah.Wondering why when they are babies, ppl want them chubby but as they grow up to be adults, ppl want them to be skinny? hehehe.. Society likes to put a box into everything.Don't worry, Ethan is a healthy & smart boy cos Mommy & Daddy does a great job!

Reply
//

Alice Law March 24, 2011 at 7:30 pm

Shock at Ethan's 5 months old picture, he looks exactly like my girl Juan Juan!I personally think Ethan is highly intelligent= more workout= more grey matter used(mind exercise is more tedious thn physical)= more calories burnt, so practically he is fine!^-^

Reply
//

Alice Phua March 24, 2011 at 8:56 pm

I think being slim for his age is good enough already. Of course don't expect a chubby baby to still continue to be chubby as the baby grows up to be a kid. Surely their body will lenghten up, so the width narrows mah! In fact I think that's perfectly normal.

Reply
//

mNhL March 24, 2011 at 10:35 pm

As long as he eats his 3 meals daily (healthy food), thin or fat or chubby doesn't matter. Healthy is more important.

Reply
//

suituapui March 24, 2011 at 10:38 pm

Oooo…so cute the freak. Ya…as long as healthy, why worry? My daughter was the same weight for many, many years and did not eat much also – one spoonful of rice every meal…and we even took her to see a doctor. The doctor said as long as active, alert…no problem.

Reply
//

suituapui March 24, 2011 at 10:39 pm

Oops!!! *so cute the frog, I mean…

Reply
//

Caroline Ng May Ling March 24, 2011 at 11:06 pm

as long as Ethan is healthy then eevrything is ok ma.:) cannot be cute, then must be handsome n macho one! LOL! XD

Reply
//

ChloeRuoyi March 25, 2011 at 5:14 am

I don't think Ethan looks skinny.. he looks healthy to me. There are other ways to fatten him up besides giving him sweets. Perhaps more servings of milk might help?An occasional candy treat for the kid should be fine. I'm quite a health freak too but I don't totally ban sweets either. Everything in moderation :)

Reply
//

reanaclaire March 25, 2011 at 5:53 am

Active kids normally are not chubby.. anyway, as long as no sick, chubby or skinny, doesnt matter :)

Reply
//

ChrisAu March 25, 2011 at 8:31 am

My kid also…. So skinny. Maybe it's in the genes….. I'm also skinny like a frog when I was a kid!!

Reply
//

the little prince March 25, 2011 at 10:06 am

Ethan looks normal la…my son also like that…many comment he is skinny too, but tall.I think is ok cos boy more active, no matter how much they eat, they sweat it out with the activities, so long they grow healthy, I am fine with it!! :-)

Reply
//

Bananazஇ March 26, 2011 at 7:29 am

Cute little froggie..skinny or chubby? Will choose healthy..

Reply
//

Mummy Gwen March 26, 2011 at 8:36 pm

I have alot of junk food in my fridge too but it's for Hubs and me lah. :P As the kids grow older they will lose their baby fat. As long as Ethan is eating healthily then his weight shouldn't be a concern. Gwen was chubby too.

Reply

Join us on Facebbook! Follow Us on Twitter! Subscribe to our RSS Feed!

Join ME for updates & giveaways!

About Me

Home is where MY heart is.
I am a mother to two boys; Ethan and Ayden and a wife to Darling William. I'm a stay at home mum who blogs to break the monotony of life and to avoid feeling jaded. Would love to get to know all the Super Mommies and Daddies and Babies or Singles out there with the hope that we can learn more from each other. Most of all, I am a happy person, and I hope YOU are too.