Activist mom and extreme health nut MeMe Roth has caused quite an uproar at her children’s school. Roth wants to ban all treats from schools. She wants to require permission slips before children are given any form of candy. Roth’s children have a plastic container in which they are to deposit all “junk” food given them at school. One particularly absurd incident occurred when Roth’s daughter tried to put a frozen juice pop into the container. The teacher told the child to eat it or loose it. This triggered a series of mean emails from Roth. It seems this lady lacks common sense. Doesn’t she realize that the frozen juice pop stuck in a Tupperware container would make a mess.
Roth is the founder of National Action Against Obesity and is militant in her crusade against fat. She claims that obesity is a communicable disease. Apparently, Roth has no boundaries in her campaign against fat people. She has openly stated that Jordan Sparks didn’t deserve to win American ideal because she was overweight. Somehow Sparks winning American Idol would cause the spread of obesity.
Apparently, Roth’s extreme behavior is a reaction to her own family. Both Roth’s mother and grandmother are overweight. Roth does have the right to raise her own children as she sees fit. She should be commended for trying to raise healthy children. However she does not have the right to make unreasonable demands upon those who disagree with her. In an incident Roth related on Good Morning America she destroyed an ice cream buffet at her local YMCA after they refused to remove it. Her reason was that it was unhealthy to have unlimited access to ice cream. This doesn’t justify vandalism. Further, attempting to force schools to eliminate all treats because she doesn’t want other parents infringing on her parental rights is hypocritical. If it were an issue of allergies that would endanger the lives of her children rather personal preference I could understand her attitude. Isn’t she infringing on the rights of parents?
Roth’s paranoia does not excuse the unkind comments made about Sparks and fat people in general. Roth is afraid of something she calls “second hand obesity”. According to her theory just by existing obese people pose a health threat for others. It is as if she believes those who are overweight are less than human and should be blamed for all that is wrong with our country. Yes, in many cases obesity is due to bad nutritional choices. That does not give Roth the right to make outlandish claims about the character of those with weight issues.
Apparently, Roth’s credentials are questionable. She claims to be a nutritional counselor but has no medical or nutritional background. Her degree was in journalism and public relations. It seems that she has some sort of certificate from an unaccredited “nutritional” group. Her group NAAO claims to be a non-profit volunteer network but is really a one woman crusade against her own personal demons. You can read more about Roth’s unfounded claims here. It is actually quite interesting and I would recommend taking the time to read it.
While Roth’s campaign against obesity is a good thing. She has some serious mental and food issues. She seems obsessed with weight and will attack anyone or anything she sees as a threat. Maybe her message would be better received if she would change her tactics a bit. Would it really hurt her cause if she refrained from personal attacks and profanity?
The Dee Zone 
The problem with Meme is she has an eating disorder and is trying to project her issues on everyone else. She has admitted to a UK reporter that she doesn’t eat anything until she works out for a few hours…and if she isn’t able to work out she doesn’t eat.
This isn’t healthy eating.
While I agree that kids probably get too much junk at school…you really can’t NOT let them be exposed else they will never learn to make healthy choices. Obviously her kids are doing ok, so far, since they dutifully put things in their plastic container…however I am curious why save it? Why not just deny it or throw it out?
Her issues are more about herself than trying to promote healthy eating for kids. Maybe it is some psychosis brought on by her eating disorder?
Anyway, I read about this yesterday but I have Firefox delete all history and cookies when I close it so I can’t remember to save my life where I read about it at (it had the link to the UK story in it).
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Ah…I found the UK Article…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/may/24/meme-roth-obesity-nutrition
She talks about her eating habits at the end.
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Sandy,
My first thought was an eating disorder. Her concept of “secondary obesity” seems to indicate unreasonable fear of becoming overweight.
She claims that she has her kids collect junk food so they can discuss it at home to decided they should eat it. My guess that her real motivation is so that she has ammunition against the school.
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I’m thin myself, as you’ve probably ascertained from my photo. However, after reading the link, I have to agree that this woman isn’t just thin, or just concerned about healthy eating habits.
It’s one thing to be passionate about healthy eating for children, since I was acutely concerned about that issue for my own son, and also didn’t allow him to eat sweets or junk food. It’s quite another thing to be absolutely obsessed with it, to the point that you believe overweight people are somehow inherently evil. She clearly falls into the latter category, far more so than anyone I have ever encountered (or even realized existed until now) so the best suggestion I can offer is that she be completely ignored by everyone. Even negative attention is attention, after all, and it’s the attention – not the issue – that she craves the most.
However, since you brought it up ….
I get the distinct impression that she suffers from a form of anorexia, since by definition anorexics suffer from excessive and constant worry about weight gain and outward appearances, and believe they look fat even when they are very clearly thin; and that she also suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. It’s even possible that she has some form of body dysmorphic disorder, based upon what I read. Either way, smart money is on an underlying personality disorder, since her problems seem to go back to early childhood.
The media should not be presenting this woman as an expert, since she lacks any real credentials, nor should they be encouraging her behavior since they are only adding to her level of self-delusion. It’s really pretty obvious that she is in serious need of psychological help, after all.
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Yes, she really needs help. Roth equates giving treats to her children as child abuse and equal to rape. I think her unstable behavior is abusive. Her children are not developing healthy attitudes about food.
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I totally agree that the media needs to stop going to her as an expert. She has no degree in the medical or nutrition field at all.
I also agree that she has some kind of personality disorder and her children aren’t growing up with a healthy attitude towards food.
As for my opinion about kids having treats…I would rather my children be fat and happy and end up with issues later in life (OMG DIABETUS!) than die in their teens from complications due to anorexia or bulimia (such as heart attacks or strokes due to malnutrition).
I do everything I can to teach my kids healthy eating (which is difficult now since Babyhead is in a chicken nugget phase)…but I do give him candy and treats…and you know what…many many times he will ask for fruit like grapes or cantelope over sweets. We literally can’t keep healthy snacks in the house because he eats them all.
So tell me, what makes me an abusive mother when I offer my kid a candy bar and he chooses a big hunk of melon ??
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Sounds like you are good mama.
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