Childhood obesity: What parents can do
From MayoClinic.com
Special to CNN.com
Over the past 30 years, the rate of obesity in the United States has more than doubled for preschoolers and adolescents, and it has more than tripled for children ages 6 to 11.
Obese children get a head start on health problems such as diabetes and heart disease, often carrying these problems into an obese adulthood. If this trend continues, obesity may soon top smoking as the nation's most preventable cause of death.
The reasons for a child's obesity are complex. But the most common factors combine too much screen time — including television, computers and video games — with too much junk food. And the best solution is to reduce your entire family's intake of both.
Good for everyone
Don't single out the overweight members of your family for lifestyle changes. Eating healthier foods and getting more exercise is good for everybody. Children tend to mimic their parents, so it pays to be a good role model. If you don't want your children eating french fries, don't eat them yourself. Play basketball with the kids after dinner, or take a family walk. Organize family outings that involve physical activity — such as bike riding, skating or hiking.
Keeping kids active: Ideas for parents
Parents have control
Parents are the ones who buy the food, cook the food and decide where food is eaten. Even small changes can make a big difference in your family's overall health.
When buying groceries, choose fruits and vegetables over convenience foods high in sugar and fat. Always have healthy snacks available. And never use food as a reward or punishment.
Limit sweetened beverages, including those containing fruit juice. These drinks provide little nutrition in exchange for their high calories. They also can make your child feel too full to eat healthier foods.
Select recipes and methods of cooking that are lower in fat. For example, bake chicken instead of frying it.
Put colorful food on the table: green and yellow vegetables, fruits of various colors, and brown (whole-grain) breads. Limit white carbohydrates: rice, pasta, bleached bread and sugar (desserts).
Sit down together for family meals. Make it an event — a time to share news and tell stories. Eating in front of the television fosters mindless munching.
Limit your children's recreational screen time to fewer than two hours a day.
During your child's physical exams, ask the doctor to show you the growth curves giving percentiles for height, weight, and body mass index (BMI). These allow you to compare your child with the norms for age and sex.
Children's snacks: Don't ban them, plan them!
Child nutrition: How to handle a picky eater
Don't make it a battle
Parents often must balance on a tightrope between giving too much and too little attention to their child's obesity. Because many overweight children already feel bad about themselves, you should make sure they know you love them unconditionally.
Offer healthy food to your children, but don't force it on them. Avoid fad diets. In many cases, simply maintaining a child's present weight is good enough — providing the opportunity for the child to grow into his or her pounds.
Minorities at higher risk
Although the obesity rate has increased dramatically for all U.S. children, certain ethnic minorities — blacks, Hispanics and American Indians — have been experiencing the highest rates of increase. Nearly 25 percent of children in these ethnic groups are obese by medical standards.
Poverty is another risk factor. Between 1986 and 1998, the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables increased substantially more than did the cost of carbonated drinks, meat, sweets and snacks. So it's literally cheaper to eat unhealthy foods.
Improve school food
To help make ends meet, some schools have installed vending machines selling soft drinks and snacks. The schools typically receive a percentage of the sales from these machines. Parents can request that their local school boards require all food and beverages served or sold at school to meet accepted nutritional standards.
Parents also can advocate for daily physical education (PE) classes for all students. PE classes have been reduced or even eliminated in many schools because of budget constraints. Latchkey children often aren't allowed to play outside their homes until their parents get home, so exercise time at school is even more important.
Worth the time
Many families feel they don't have the time it takes to prepare healthier meals and exercise more. Shopping, cooking, sharing a meal and cleaning up do take longer than zipping into the drive-through lane at a fast-food restaurant.
But the dangers of childhood obesity are real, and they are starting to take a toll. Helping set your kids on the path to a healthy future is one of the most important things you can do for them. Your investment in time will pay big dividends throughout their entire lives.
April 19, 2005
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/FL/00058.html
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