Little Lotta is the cartoon written by Warren Kremer was popular in the 1970s. Little Lotta was the character of a child with a voracious appetite who ate any food in sight. Therefore, this character teaches essential morals to the children. Here are six crucial health lessons from Little Lotta that we need to keep in our minds.
The cartoon portrayed hamburgers, pizzas, fries, coke, ice-creams, donuts, etc. This appetite and her food consumption were paired with a phenomenal strength for a little girl. The portion sizes of Lotta’s meals are unimaginable. The cartoon stories always had Lotta shown to eat humungous portions of food. She was extremely popular because of her friendly nature and helpful one.
Health Lessons From Little Lotta
1. Eat Well
Little Lotta indeed taught all children to eat well. Eating healthy foods helps the body to get energy. However, Little Lotta overate, which was the cause of her obesity. She also ate junk food. So, we need to focus on eating healthy food and limit eating junk food. Eating junk food in moderation is healthy for the body; otherwise, it will cause weight gain, leading to obesity.
2. Obesity
The food selected consumed by Little Lotta looked attractive; however, they were a high calorie, high fat, and high sugar food. Foods like French fries, hamburgers, candies, cookies, ice creams all have high amounts of sugar and fats. Such foods are the easiest way to gain weight. But they are unhealthy as they can lead to many other health ailments. Excess sugar consumption increases sugar levels in the body. High-fat diets can increase cholesterol. It causes obesity in children, adolescents, and adults, leading towards hypertension and diabetes.
3. Eating Disorder
Her obsession with food was depicted in her dreams of various foods. It is indicated as an eating disorder. However, this eating disorder was without any guilt feelings for eating a lot of food and at any time. Little Lotta dreamed of food in all places. The show showed her carving for food as abnormal. Like most foodies, we may also dream of eating a particular food. But always remember that we should select healthy food only.
4. Bullying
Little Lotta is shown as a bully. But this bullying was either to get more food or to help someone in difficulty. She is shown to be sensitive to others and always helped them. Her physical power is attributed to the energy given by food. Because of her strength, she desired to be a policewoman. But her obesity would prevent her from passing the physical test. Thus, it emphasizes to remain fit by eating healthy. Little lotta did receive her share of bullying, but she equally retorted back.
5. Self-Esteem
Little Lotta had good positive self-esteem; it is a critical message for obese children. Little Lotta was shown obese, but people never disliked or teased her for being obese. She was never an unpopular girl. Our society must learn to treat obese people with the same respect.
Obese children become prey to many psychological problems. They face bullying in schools due to their overweight issues. Therefore, parents must boost their confidence to tackle these problems. Consequently, we should respect and support obese children.
6. Forbidden Fruit Attracts
When her father tried to stop her from overeating, he only stirred her to eat more and more. Her mother and father would hide food and serve only limited food for her to eat. It made her angry and maybe caused her to dream of food. Thus, do not withhold food from children and never use it to reward or punish children. Explain to children about healthy food and how to select. Be vocal about which are healthy and unhealthy foods for the body to your children.
Little Lotta conveys a vital message to all children – eat healthily, be strong, and live healthily! Therefore, like healthy foods, we need to establish healthy eating hygiene too. Healthy habits are equally important to eat healthy foods, as they strengthen our body and mind also.