Meet MeMe Roth, a 40-year-old mother of two who lives in New York City and runs a group called National Action Against Obesity. MeMe calls herself an “anti-obesity activist,” but her insane actions and stunts reveal that she has more of an issue with food rather than obesity. Roth was recently profiled in the New York Times after she got into an altercation with her children’s public school, P.S. 9, after they dared to offer her children sweet treats on special occasions like Valentine’s Day and student birthdays. We know, it is utterly shocking to hear that children are sometimes given candy. Luckily, MeMe is on the case! And trust us, she is insanely dedicated to never letting her children form healthy ideas about food.
MeMe fought with the heads of P.S. 9 after a teacher gave her daughter (who is not named in the profile because, as NYT notes, “they have enough on, or off, their plates”) a juice pop during class. MeMe instructs her children to place all non-school lunch food that is given to them into a Tupperware called the “junk food collector.” (Why not just let the kids tell the teachers that they can’t have any non-school food?) When her daughter went to put the juice pop in her Tupperware, the teacher told her she had to eat it or lose it. This set MeMe off, and she complained to the school, who in turn told her that if she really had such an issue with the food given to her children by teachers she should request a “health and safety transfer” to another school. These requests are usually made after threats of violence and they require filing a complaint with the police. The Roths decided to not request a transfer because, as MeMe’s husband notes with absolutely no sense of irony: “What would that conversation even sound like? We know you guys are dealing with stabbings and shooting, but stop everything: We have a cupcake situation?”
Unsurprisingly, MeMe doesn’t have a great reputation among, well, anyone. A PTA member at her children’s previous school in New Jersey requested that the Roths consider moving after they waged war against the bagels and Pringles served to kids at lunch. The principal at P.S. 9 also called MeMe “hostile” and said that she came into his office, threw candy on the table and cursed. So adult! And all over … what, exactly? Occasional sweet snacks? Is one cupcake a month really going to cause diabetes and obesity in a child? We aren’t saying that proper nutrition isn’t a worthy cause, but the reality of the situation is that MeMe Roth is nothing more than an overreacting drama queen who is trying to mask her own insecurities about food and body image by referencing potential health risks. Seriously, the woman likens enjoying food to being raped and she only eats once a day because it “works for her.” Works for her to do what, exactly? Because developing an eating disorder isn’t our idea of a great plan to avoid potential health risks. If this woman actually cared about the health of her daughters and children then she wouldn’t be promoting unhealthy ideas about food where sweet things are seen as so bad that you have to wage a hostile war against them. Even “slow food” activist Michael Pollan lets his kid eat McDonald’s once in awhile!
MeMe Roth obviously has some serious psychological issues (in case you are wondering, yes, I am very comfortable in this armchair) and she has alienated most of the people in her community with her extremism. She’s been called the “Ann Coulter of the fat police” but she is more like the Osama bin Laden of nutrition. Our suggestion for MeMe? Eat a cupcake or shut up because a war against cupcakes is a war against people.
“war against cupcakes is a war against people”
brilliant :).
That is one crazy bitch. I base that not only on this article, but the others I’ve read as well.
… How can she exist in any place other than an Amish community or something? And totally with you on the fact that she seems to be projecting her own issues of body image onto other people (And I can legitimately at least lean on that armchair of yours).
Also: CUPCAKES. OMG EVERYBODY LOVES CUPCAKES! Clearly, she is not thinking clearly.
So what about the commercials telling me ! out of 8 people in the US don’t have enough food?Many instead of destroying the food we should just SHARE?
she is insane…cupcakes are awesome, so are brownies, cookies and pie. there is nothing wrong with letting kids have a special treat now and then. yes, food’s first priority is nutrition but it should also be enjoyable and not a subject of scorn and shame. i think by being such a food nazi she is setting her kids up for eating disorders.
from the source: “MeMe Roth, a publicist and an Upper West Side mother of two, is getting really, really mad — “and I do not mean angry,” she clarified. “I mean mad, like crazy.””– Yeah, crazy? I’ll say!
great article!
the jezebel article is funny too. who on earth likens eating food (something that we…. uh…. HAVE to do to live) to getting raped? yeah. Definitely crazy MeMe.
Oh goodness, those poor children.
I’m all for healthy eating but come on!! There’s a line and people should start finding these lines instead of taking the extremist routes.
YEAH! you tell her. jeez… some people are so… odd
Whoa, seriously?! That woman needs to calm the fuck down.
I bet ten or twenty years down the line, her children are going to be obese. When they move out of the house and start making their own food decisions, they’re going to try the food that she’s been keeping them from and love it because they’ve been so starved for it.
I feel sorry for her kids. It’s one thing to ask that your kids not be given any food that isn’t from home. That’s totally legit, especially if it’s for health/religious/ethical reasons. But asking your children to bring home food that is offered to them so you can throw it away and use it against the people who are offering it? Totally wrong, especially if the treat offered is because of goodwill (seriously, teachers aren’t going to try to make this kid fat on purpose) and even more so if you haven’t given explicit instructions that they not be given certain items.
She is teaching her child to be passive and not take control of herself. All her daughter needs to know is, “No, thank you.”
Her mom really is teaching her very unhealthy attitudes about food. I hope the daughter is allowed to eat more than once a day. And why isn’t Dad stepping up to the plate here?
Dad is in the basement tied up to a pillar.
Yeesh. I hate obesity as much as the next person. It’s bad for you, and it’s not fun to look at. But honestly, there are better ways to deal with health issues like this. What happened to campaigning for milk in the vending machine and salad bars in the cafeteria? Maybe she could ask (rationally) that they have some kinds of limitations on what kind of treats can be brought in. When I was in preschool we did that. We weren’t allowed to bring in candy or cupcakes, but we were allowed less sugary snacks.
But hell. In elementary school, we had pizza parties when we red enough books, candy on Valentines day and Halloween, and cupcakes on birthdays. I love chips and cookies. I’m thin. I grew out of wanting to sit around and eat candy all day (seriously, what adult wants to eat inordinate amounts of candy….all day anyway. :P ). I just balance out junk food with good food and exercise once in a while (not as much as I should, but life goes on).
She needs to teach her kids HEALTHY eating habits. Teach them that apples and strawberries can be just as good as chocolate bars and lollipops, not to eat too much in one sitting, what exercise is best, what to look for on food labels, et cetera. But also things like not EVERYONE is destined to look like Kate Moss and looking like Jordin Sparks isn’t the end of the world as long as you keep fit and healthy, that you shouldn’t skip meals, and accidentally eating one too many pretzels is nothing to go throwing up about. Her poor little kids. :( Once they hit puberty, they’ll gain a little bit of weight and go spiraling into self-loathing because mommy said fat is wrong.
I’m all for health, and I’d love it if everyone looked like me, but alas, life doesn’t work that way, and really, it’s not doing anything horrible to the world. Can’t we just teach kids to be healthy? And that’s on BOTH sides: don’t eat too much, but also don’t eat too little!
Could you please specify that you are referring to Type 2 diabetes (which I assume you are)? There is already enough confusion between Type 1 and Type 2 and this can be really upsetting to those affected by either disease. Thank you.
Thank you, thank you, Jackie. I’m a type one diabetic and often get frustrated when people say something along the lines of, “Oh, that’s what my grandmother has!” As a child, this often hurt my feelings and had quite the effect on my self-esteem. As if teenage girls don’t have enough self-esteem issues, having to explain to people that YES I KNOW HOW TO EAT RIGHT and NO THIS IS NOT SOMETHING I DID TO MYSELF FROM EATING TO MANY DONUTS/FRENCH FRIES got quite tiresome. I wish there was more awareness about the different types of diabetes, because there’s quite the stigma attached to it now that type two has become more popular. I have absolutely no problem with being diabetic and live my life as close to normally as anyone can, but the ignorance that so many people have about diabetes is worse than the actual disease.
I know exactly what you mean. I’m a Type I diabetic also, and while I can’t change this disease, I wish I could change public awareness. It’s as simple as bothering to add two words: Type 1 or Type 2.
You guys should get stickers for your testing kits. Then when you pull them out to test people will stop staring at you like you gave yourself a disease…
I bet her kids hate her guts.
I love how this is an article we can all be together on down here in the comments. Bitch is nuts.
Being militant about food like that is endangering her children. How can they have a healthy view of food and of themselves when mom shows up at the school screaming like a banshee every time a kid has a birthday?
clearly this woman has an eating disorder of some kind
I suffered something similar to this and have evolved, but I know just how extremist a woman (or guy) can be
My cousin had a friend who, with 9 years!!, had an eating disorder caused by her mother, who also had an eating disorder
I feel bad for her kids
This woman seems like she looks up to Ann Coulter. Her name and face (rather than her cause) are plastered all over her website, and most of her “appearances” seem to have more to do with her berating people than educating them.
When will people learn that being a jerk/apparent media whore is no way to advance what is admittedly a good cause, albeit taken to the extreme.
I think MeMe’s message, while definitely aggressive in it’s nature, is something that people need to hear, albeit with a grain of salt.
Nutrition in this country is a complete joke, and while it’s probably not fair to bogart the occasional school treat (such as the Valentine’s Day candy or classmate birthday treat), if you’ve been in a school lately you know that it’s more than occasional.
Our government sponsored and subsidized “School Lunch Program” is completely nutritionally bankrupt, and there is an overabundance of sugar, preservative, and high fructose corn syrup laden consumables.
Parents to turn their children over to an institution that is supposed to nurture and educate them, NOT fill them with garbage.
The fact is America has the highest rates of obesity and related diseases like diabetes, than any other country. Maybe her message is a out there, but something does need to change or we will lose our children and our selves to these otherwise avoidable health problems.
I’m all for proper nutrition. My family eats healthy organic food. I made all of my baby’s food myself, and I cook most of the meals we eat.
So I really, really agree with the idea that people need to stop putting weird, fake crap into their bodies.
But she freakin’ stole syrup and whipped cream from a banquet table. That’s not trying to get a message of nutrition out there, it’s being the food police. Nobody needs that.
And honestly, as long as the food you feed your kids at home is healthy, eating a cupcake at a class party is not going to be detrimental to your health.
Yes, I agree, it’s not her right to police other people’s choices.
It’s not the birthday treats I have a problem with, it’s more or less the corporate influence… all the pop and vending machines, and all the propaganda.
And may I also add kudos to you for practicing healthy eating with your family? That’s what we need… not some crazy lady stealing syrup, but for parents to step up and be the guardians of their children’s health proactively.
I do think that children shouldn’t be given candy as a reward or for easily-bought affection, but anyone should be able to enjoy something sweet now and then. It’s all a matter of how it’s presented. If we teach kids to enjoy healthy food and not scorn vegetables in favor of refined sugar, then they should be okay. It’s just when we give them candy with the expectation that they will enjoy the candy more than anything else that they buy into it and form an unhealthy affection for junk food. If I had kids, I wouldn’t give them fast food and I would make sure they didn’t eat all their trick-or-treat candy in one day, but there’s nothing unreasonable about having dessert once or twice a week. Just don’t define candy as “fun food.”
Ms. Roth is probably just highly insecure and given to histrionic behavior, and this “anti-obesity” nonsense is her way of getting attention.
You’re so right.
Actually they’ve seen in studies that it’s really only once all those sugars and artificial crap is introduced that they actually crave/desire those kinds of treats.
O, and once those artificial, chemically engineered tastes are introduced, it’s a hell of a lot harder to get them interested in the more subtle sweetness of fruits and veggies.
I’m probably going to get slammed for this but what the hell..
My kid eats sweets.. sometimes. Usually when he’s around family but not really at home. Candy to him in my house is dried fruit (which he is more than happy with). I think when you actually do research about what is in food (and I don’t mean doing a quick google search) it scares the CRAP outta you. Believe me, I love a cupcake as much as the next girl but since having my son my house has become a processed foods free zone (which makes my mac and cheese loving husband sad) purely because of all the chemicals and shit in food. If I truly had it my way my son would never have sweets (I mean, no one NEEDS a cupcake or McDonalds or a bag of chips..) but to avoid a fight or comments like the ones above I say my in-laws and parents can give him a treat here and there.
Go to a grocery store, or a play ground… or walk down the street and look at kids. I know here in the midwest there are A TON of fat kids. Not just Fat 12 year old.. I’m talking FAT FAT FAT 4 and 5 year olds and its no one’s fault but the parents. It doesn’t help when schools offer doritos and pizza and corndogs at lunch either, in my opinion a school SHOULD be helping improve our kids health. I mean, our kids have to take gym for 30 mins a day to be “healthy” but they can eat pizza and sugary juice for lunch? Doesn’t make sense. Yes, parents like myself can pack a sack lunch of healthy nutritious meals but when your kid is surrounded by a bunch of other kids eating pizza every day it becomes stressful as a parent. I get her point.. It may be extreme but when you have the majority of our country being overweight sometimes you need to be extreme right?
I agree with you. Nutrition is something I’m deeply passionate about, and the sad truth is that much of the truth is hidden from consumers. You do, as you said, have to do a lot of research on what is really in the food. As I’m sure you would agree, it should be every persons right to know exactly what is in their food and where it came from, but sadly that is not always allowed.
The school lunch program is an absolute joke, and there is nothing healthy or balanced about it. It’s all a matter of making profits off corporate food.
If you are at all interested in learning more, a film recently came out called Food, Inc. that is really eye opening, and informational.