(CBS News) Dara-Lynn Weiss' daughter, Bea, had become a statistic. At 4-foot, 4 inches and 93 pounds, the 7-year-old had become obese. So, the Vogue columnist did what she knew best: She put Bea on a strict diet.
"One day Bea came home from school in tears, confessing that a boy at school had called her fat. The incident crushed me, but it was a wake-up call. Being overweight is not a private struggle. Everyone can see it," Weiss wrote in the April 2012 issue of Vogue.
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Weiss wrote she decided to enroll her daughter into a "Red Light, Green Light" diet program. The mother detailed her struggle to keep Bea fit and how she turned to such tactics as making her go without dinner after she celebrated French heritage day at school, banning her from participating in "pizza Fridays" and publicly admonishing her cravings in front of others. In the end Bea lost 16 pounds in one year, but it has left many wondering whether the harsh and berating treatment worth the weight loss.
While Bea's weight loss was impressive, some experts say that Weiss went about it all in the wrong way. Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, who runs the Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right program that Bea enrolled in, confirmed to HealthPop that Bea's weight made her considered obese, and said she respected and understood why Weiss was so strict because of the difficulty of the situation.
But, Dolgoff insisted that Weiss' methods were not the intention of her program. The traffic light-based diet system revolves around teaching kids healthy eating habits, so they can be in charge of their diet plans.
"We want to empower these kids," Dolgoff said. "Studies show that if you treat overweight kids in a sensitive manner, you do decrease emotional problems."
Dolgoff said that the Weiss stopped going to the counseling sessions halfway through the program and Bea and her mother didn't get the emotional support they needed. The Red Light program ultimately allows the child to make the decisions, and even if the kid slips up and eats something that is unhealthy, parents are advised to let them do it.
"Their emotional health is extremely important, and that's what we talk a lot about in the visit," Dolgoff said. "We don't want them thinking they've been bad. We explain it's hard to be healthy in our society when they put supersized everything in front of you."
Childhood obesity is a society problem in the U.S. According to the Center of Disease Control, between 1980 and 2008 the percentage of children aged 6 to 11 who were obese has risen 14 percent, and for those 12 to 19 years it has gone up 13 percent. More than one third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese.
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Should 7-year-olds be put on strict diets? Vogue article sparks debate
