Tagged with 'childhood-obesity'

As a dietitian and a parent, it saddens me to know one in three children in the United States is overweight or obese. How did we get to this extreme point?! Childhood obesity puts kids at risk for health problems that were once only seen in adults, like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and it makes me contemplate what parents can do, including myself, to grow happy, healthy children.

What Can Parents Do?

The good news is childhood obesity can be prevented. It’s a life balance of eating healthier, becoming more active, and reducing screen time (TV, ipad, video games, etc.) As a national campaign, it’s important for communities, health professionals, and families to work together to create opportunities for kids to eat healthier and get more active.

Ideas for Taking Steps Toward Reducing Your Child’s Risk of Childhood Obesity:

Boost Fruits and Vegetable Intake

--Offer fruits and vegetables first. Don’t wait until dinner to offer vegetables. Kids will almost always go for the starch on their plate first, so by the time they get to the vegetables, they’re full.

--One trick that works for my 2 and 3 y.o. boys is to give them a carrot or celery stick first thing in the morning when they’re hungry but I’m still making breakfast. I also make a veggie plate as an “appetizer” before dinner when they’re hungry but it isn’t ready yet. The vegetables work great because it gives them something to eat, but doesn’t ruin their appetite. Even better, it gets them to eat their veggies!

--Keep fresh fruit and vegetables within reach. You decide what they eat, so place foods you want them to eat within their reach.

--When going out-and-about, I always pack dried fruit for my kids to snack on. They're not messy, tasty, and an easy way to sneak in fruit. Their favorites are dried pineapple, mango, banana, cherries and raisins.

Exercise as a Family

Go on a family walk or bike ride after dinner, go hiking on the week-ends, have a bowling night, take them roller skating, take them to a local outdoor track and let them run around while you walk/jog laps or run stadium stairs, play baseball or go to the batting cages, hit golf balls at the driving range,  or go to the swimming pool.

Gifting Physical Activity

For gift ideas, give things that promote being active, such as a soccer ball, bike, scooter, new running shoes, balloons to hit around, or a trampoline.

Involve Your Kids

Get your kids involved in planning and cooking meals. If your kids are old enough, let them pick the meal, and ensure they include a vegetable of their choice. Depending on their age, allow your child to chop the veggies, or you chop them and let your child put the salad together.

Activity in Extreme Temps

For the winter months or extremely hot months (depending on where you live), seek out indoor play areas, such as indoor bounce house facilities, gymnastic open gyms, climbing walls, indoor parks and climbing structures, indoor soccer field, and roller skating rinks.

Monitor Screen Time

My kids are only 2 and 3 years old, and at such a young age, I can see how excessive screen time could already become a concern. Kids love watching TV! But that doesn’t mean it’s good for them. 

Use this Screen Time Chart to start tracking how much time your family spends in front of a screen, including things like TV- and DVD-watching, playing video games, and using the computer for something other than school or work. Compare screen time to how much physical activity they get so you’ll get a sense of what changes need to be made. Keep one chart for each person.

This month, commit to making one change for your kids to reduce their risk of childhood obesity.

In Health and Happiness,

Kelly Harrington, MS, RDN

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for Healthy Goods

Obesity threatens the health of today’s children. While working as a dietitian for the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) Program, I saw a mindboggling number of overweight children. Luckily for parents, grandparents, and any other caretakers of children, there are things you can do.

13 Considerations for Reducing the Risk of Childhood Obesity:

Total Calorie Intake

Total calorie intake does not seem to have a strong association with obesity in children. However, it’s very difficult to accurately assess dietary intake via dietary assessment tools such as a dietary recall or food frequency questionnaire. People have a tendency to underreport the amount they eat.

Dietary Fat

Evidence supports an unclear association between dietary fat and obesity in children. Some studies have found dietary fat does lead to a higher body fat, some studies didn’t find any association, and some have found mixed results. Our bodies need some fat—just not too much, but not all fats are equal. As a mom with kids, I recommend offering healthy fats such as avocado oil, avocados, olives, olive oil, organic canola oil, coconut oil, coconut flakes, all types of nuts and nut butters, and fish.

Calcium and Dairy Products

Recent research suggests lower intakes of dairy products and/or calcium are associated with obesity in children. Take a look at the results from a couple studies:

1) In a study of 52 Caucasian children monitored from 2 months to 8 years of age, calcium intake from milk, cheese, and yogurt was associated with a lower percentage body fat at 8 years of age.

2) Girls 9 to 14 years of age who consumed diets rich in calcium weighed less and had less abdominal fat than did girls who consumed less calcium.

If your kids love dairy like mine do, I highly recommend feeding them organic milk, cheese, and yogurt, and if you really want to be a stickler, also buy organic cream cheese, cottage cheese, and sour cream. Choosing organic ensures your children aren’t eating bovine growth hormones and antibiotics, among other things.

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are promoted for preventing childhood obesity because they’re low in calories, high in fiber, and add bulk to your stomach, which makes you feel fuller faster (satiety). The evidence supports a modest effect of fruit and vegetable intake in protecting against increased adiposity in children.

If your child turns his nose up to most produce you offer, don’t give up! Check out these tips for navigating a “choosy” eater. Also, not only are organic fruits and vegetables healthier for kids, they also taste so much better, in my opinion. I know organic costs more, so consider purchasing organic for those foods on the Dirty Dozen list. Check out the 2014 Dirty Dozen Guide to Pesticides in Produce. 

Fruit Juice

Intake of 100% fruit juice is related to adiposity in children if it is consumed in large quantities, ≥ 12 fl oz/day.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends fruit juice consumption be limited to 4-6 oz. per day for children 1 to 6 years old. For children 7 to 18 years old, juice intake should be limited to 8 to 12 oz. per day.

Avoid Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Including Soft Drinks

Evidence strongly supports a positive association between the intake of calorically sweetened beverages and adiposity in children. This includes soda and sugar-sweetened fruit drinks. Regardless of your child’s weight now, reducing sweetened drink consumption is one strategy to manage the weight of preschool children. A concern with excessive consumption of sweetened beverages is that it takes the place of more nutrient-rich or lower calorie alternatives. Children should be encouraged to avoid high-calorie, nutrient-poor beverages.

Skipping Breakfast

Evidence supports the view that obese children and adolescents are more likely to skip breakfast than their leaner counterparts. Obese children also have been reported to eat smaller breakfasts than their non-obese peers. I know mornings can be hectic, so determine a quick, “go-to” breakfast that’s balanced with carbohydrates, protein, and some fat. This might be a piece of whole wheat toast with almond butter and a glass of milk. Simple.

Eating Out, Including Fast Food

Evidence supports the view that consumption of food away from home, particularly at fast food restaurants, may be associated with body fat, especially among adolescents.

Portion Sizes

Increased portion sizes may be associated with increased body fat in children. Parents, as you can imagine, appropriate portion sizes vary according to age. For information about age-specific portion sizes, go to USDA’s My Plate website. 

If your child is old enough, allow them to serve themselves. They have a better idea of how hungry they are and are less likely to over serve themselves.

Snacking

Snacking frequency or snack food intake is not likely associated with adiposity in children. Here is my favorite snack bar recipe. 

Family Meals

Evidence supports a positive association between frequency of family meals and dietary quality in adolescents. Increased frequency of family meals is associated with greater intakes of fruits, vegetables, and milk and lower consumption of fried food and soft drinks. It is also associated with higher nutrient intakes (including calcium, iron, vitamins, and fiber) and lower intakes of saturated and trans fats. I wrote a blog a while back about how dinner rituals correlate with a child’s weight.

Parental Influence

Parental control over children's dietary intake does not consistently seem to be related to obesity in children. One study found no association between parental control and adiposity among boys but demonstrated an inverse association between parental control and adiposity among girls. Another study found a positive significant association of parental control with adiposity among both boys and girls in the sample.

Physical Activity

The evidence is strong that daily moderate/vigorous physical activity helps reduce adiposity in overweight/obese youths. Daily moderate/vigorous physical activity of ≥60-minute cumulative duration is likely to have a beneficial effect for normal weight youths and is unlikely to harm them. 

In Health and Happiness,

Kelly Harrington, MS, RDN

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for Healthy Goods

References:

Davis, Matthew et al. Recommendations for Prevention of Childhood Obesity. Pediatrics 2007;S229-S253.

Koplan JP, Liverman CT, Kraak VI, eds. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: National Academies Press;2005.

American Dietetic Association.Childhood Overweight Evidence Analysis Project: updated 2006.

Gillman MW, Rifas-Shiman SL, Frazier AL, et al. Family dinner and diet quality among older children and adolescents. Arch Fam Med.2000;9:235– 240.

Videon TM, Manning CK. Influences on adolescent eating patterns: the importance of family meals. J Adolesc Health.2003;32 :365– 373.

Novotny R, Acharya S, Grove JS, Daida YG, Vogt TM. Higher dairy intake is associated with lower body fat during adolescence. FASEB J.2003;17:A453– A458.

Skinner JD, Bounds W, Carruth BR, Ziegler P. Longitudinal calcium intake is negatively related to children's body fat indexes. J Am Diet Assoc.2003;103 :1626–1631.

Robinson TN, Kiernan M, Matheson DM, Haydel KF. Is parental control over children's eating associated with childhood obesity? Results from a population-based sample of third graders. Obes Res.2001;9 :306– 312.

If you have kids, here's news you'll want to read or share. Beyond reducing plate size and counting calories, there may be another strategy for keeping the family at a healthy weight: eating together at the dinner table.

What Does the Dinner Table Have To Do With Anything?

A new study in the journal Obesity noticed families who eat together without the television on and stay seated until everyone has finished have children with lower weights and lower body mass indexes (BMIs) than those who don’t. The association is especially pronounced for boys.

Conversate With Your Kids

Researchers explain that strong, positive socialization skills during dinners possibly replace the need to overeat. Mothers and fathers who talk meaningfully with children about their day during dinner also have lower BMIs.

Establish A Designated Eating Spot

The researchers also speculate, the ritual of where one eats and how long one eats seems to be the largest driver.  Families who eat while watching television can be heavier, the researchers noted. In fact, eating anywhere other than the kitchen or dining room was related to higher BMIs in both parents and in children.   

By focusing on family dining rituals, this research shows family meals and their rituals might be an underappreciated battleground to fight obesity.

The more people hear about subjects like eating together, the better off the world is for everybody.

In Health and Happiness,

Kelly Harrington, MS, RDN

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for Healthy Goods

Reference:

1. Wansink B, van Kleef E. Dinner rituals that correlate with child and adult BMI. Obesity. 2013 Oct. 1.