THE CHALLENGE OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY
Students learn to make good choices
Sunday, July 16, 2006
BY ELIZABETH GIBSON
Of The Patriot-News
CARLISLE - See if you know the answers to these true-or-false questions about nutrition. Find clues in the story or skip to the end for answers.
A proper food serving amount should fill one measuring cup.
If you are overweight, it's OK to eat food with fat in it.
Children should exercise 20 minutes every day.
Students in Carlisle's seven elementary schools took a similar test during the winter and got most of the answers wrong. When they took it again at the end of the school year, they got nearly every question right.
What happened between tests?
Would you believe a musical?
Last year, The Patriot-News gave readers an in-depth look at why more children are obese and what doctors, parents and schools are doing to improve kids' health and fitness.
This time around, we found that, for the most part, it's been left to adults to enforce eating and activity rules that experts said can keep children healthy and strong. But the Carlisle students showed that, if they have the tools, they are able to make good choices on their own.
In the case of the musical, professional actors put on the silly-but-savvy "Opera of Health" show to pass on healthy tips. In one skit, they wiggled their fingers, reminding kids to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
It clicked.
Students told district school nurse Patricia Carlucci they'll never forget the five-finger reminder.
"They also learned that a serving of food is about the size of your fist. Before, they had nothing to base a serving size on," she said.
That's good because BMI -- body-mass index -- measurements, the banishment of candy and soda from school cafeterias and limited computer and video time can only go so far.
Now, kids size up healthy choices for themselves.
For instance, Nicole Case, 14, of Newville, Cumberland County, recently finished middle school, but she knows more about calories and exercise than many adults.
Nicole joined Carlisle YMCA's Fit For Life camp last summer and attends Weight Watchers meetings. She has lost about 11 pounds since June. She walks, swims and plays field hockey and reads supermarket package labels.
She spent last week at the science-themed Wilson College camp for girls. Lessons on organisms -- including humans -- proved valuable in her mission to have a healthy lifestyle, she said. Nicole saw how chemistry and biology interact to digest food.
"Kids can handle the information. It's better if they learn it now because they're going to live it," said Wilson biology professor Dana Harriger.
Brandon Carl, 10, in his second year of Fit For Life, knows a lot of health facts and makes independent eating and activity decisions. His strength, flexibility and cardiac endurance have improved.
"They're so much more motivated when they can do it from within," said his dad, Craig Carl.
Without question, one of the toughest things for kids to do is unravel the mixed signals about food, said Fit director Lynda Mann.
Fat used to be the enemy, she said. But everyone needs fat. About 30 percent of a kid's daily calories should come from fat.
"They hear about foods with 'no fat.' They think all fat is bad," Mann said.
Another hurdle? Self-image -- when it comes to teens, it's usually negative.
"A lot of my friends complain about how big they think they are," Nicole said. "But they think that if you starve yourself or you eat one meal a day, you'll lose like eight pounds in a week."
It's not surprising. Advertisements make it look OK to eat a few thousand calories a day. Tempting desserts are splashed on covers of magazines about tending homes and families. Inside, though, there are always stories on losing weight and getting in shape.
Talk about mixed messages.
Some kids see through them, said teens from across the state who met recently with educators, nurses and folks in the food business. Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity asked the teens for advice on how to get kids' attention for lessons on healthy choices.
Elizabethtown Area High School student Elizabeth Navratil said that if health tips came from other teens, "it'll have more impact on them than if they hear it from an adult."
Today's parents and grandparents didn't have a food pyramid, the federal government's food guide, when they were growing up. Nutrition labels weren't required for all processed food until 1990. Smothering vegetables in butter and salads in oily dressings was common. Kids were expected to eat everything on their plate, hungry or not. Dessert came with every dinner.
Many adults still eat that way -- even some of those urging kids to improve diets. Shayne Williams said his mom gets his attention because she has the credentials.
"I'm not physically fit. I'm kind of skinny with, like, a belly," the Harrisburg eighth-grader said. "My mom is fit, so I have to listen to her when it comes to going outside to get fit."
Nicole Case's mom, Sue, buys healthy food and prepares mouth-watering salads. "She's, like, the greatest asset. I think parents should be the ones that are teaching their kids healthy habits, but a lot of them don't because they don't do it themselves," Nicole said.
Some kids are taking health in their own hands.
Audrie Kapinus, a Penns Valley Area High School student who sat on PANA's teen panel, decided to skip her school's hot dog, pancake and pizza lunches last year and eat more fruits and vegetables.
"When I started seventh grade, I gained about 10 pounds eating school lunches. This year, I decided to go on a diet, and I lost 10 pounds by packing my lunch," she said.
Now to grade the quiz at the top:
A proper food serving amount should fill one measuring cup. FALSE. It depends on your size. For an easy guide, make a fist and make sure your serving is about the same size.
If you're overweight, it's OK to eat food with fat in it. TRUE. If you don't eat some fat, you'll feel exhausted and vitamins in your food will not get to the right organs in your body.
Children should get 20 minutes of exercise every single day. FALSE. Kids need an hour of exercise a day.
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