Childhood Obesity

What can be done about childhood obesity? It is a major health problem and one that many do not want to see. "Oh, it's just baby fat" says one person. Or "My child only eats sweet food, I can't him to eat anything else."

From the journal Pediatrics:

Nearly one in five American children grew big enough around the middle to be considered abdominally obese by 2004, a 65 percent increase in belly fat over just six years, according to a new study published Tuesday.

Although increases in Body Mass Index scores among children have been noted for more than a decade, the increase in children with significant belly fat appears to have been even greater, based on data from government health and nutrition surveys taken between 1999 and 2004.

And belly fat is more dangerous than fat in other parts.

What you can do is to keep healthy food around the house. Young children do not go shopping- the parents do - so they have control over what appears in the household food area. If there is no candy, no soda, no suage laden cereal - the kids will not be eating it.

As for those who say their kids only eat sweet stuff- do not worry your kids won't starve themselves - they will eat and they may even find they like the more natural foods.

And get some daily exercise - play with the kids - toss balls, chase each other, run around with the dog, take walks and limit the amount of time in front of the TV - a good TV rule is NO FOOD while watching TV. That works for adults too - we tend to munch mindlessly when we watch TV and we have food around.

Back to work

I took off from blogging a lot this summer and enjoyed doing things with my son who spent the summer here...

We are entering a new generation of obesity and now it's not just adults who are obese - it is expected that the number of children who are obese will hit 20% by the year 2010 - that's only FOUR years from now.

I heard or read somewhere that we are reaching that stage in obesity where this or the next generation of children will NOT have a longer life span than the parents...

Not only is obesity bad in and of itself, it makes all other medical problems worse....

I've been blogging about healthier children for a while now and hope the readers of this blog are among those who will not have obese children...It is something parents have control over during the child's early years...and good nutrition early on can never be a bad choice...

Please watch what your children eat and make sure they get exercise....

Summer

I have been reading of kids and water - the lake, pool and river types of water. They do not mix well. Please make sure your kids have PFD's on when near water - even shallow water can be dangerous. Also rivers are still pretty cold even though they are inviting as temperatures soar.

I grew up going to the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean and we were taught to have great respect for that water and we all had "rules" which we seemed to abide by....buddy systems, adult supervision and many well trained lifeguards. I think we all saw so many "others" pulled from the ocean - we knew it could be dangerous. Maybe rivers look less scary - but they too have strong currents and quirks that can pull even the best swimmers under.

So teach your children to swim, have respect for water of all sorts and have them wear PFD's just like they put seat belts and helmets on when in cars or on bikes.....

Childhood Problems

I went to a conference recently where I heard that heavy metal toxicity is related to autism, ADD and Alzheimers. This does not surprise me - we have made the air and soil and water toxic and if so- why should it escape our bodies? We are putting it in the system everyday.

We can change our culture and try to undo our errors but in the interim we can put better foods into our bodies in the form of supplements that deal with the toxins.

We have an increase in the numbers of children diagnosed as autistic and the researchers say they do not kow why. This from Reuters:

US survey shows autism very common

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

The first national surveys of autism show the condition is very common
among U.S. children -- with up to one in every 175 with the disorder,
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

This adds up to at least 300,000 U.S. schoolchildren with autism, a
condition that causes trouble with learning, socializing and behavior,
the CDC said.....

Laura Schieve, an epidemiologist at the National Center on Birth Defects
and Developmental Disabilities who helped conduct the study, said the
study could not answer many questions about autism.

Ask others about nutrition and you will get responses that show we do know why there is a problem and why it's a growing problem.

MSG - Monosodium Glutamate

I can't tolerate MSG and avoid it when I can read a label. It makes me dizzy and nauseous. Sometimes after I eat some foods I feel the same way and after reading an email this morning about MSG - I think I know what is going on. MSG or Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein [another name or MSG] is in a lot of food we eat at home or eat in both fast and slow food places. Ask for the ingredient list and see if MSG or Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein is listed in any of the foods on your plate. You might be surprised.

What does MSG do? It makes food "taste better." This is from the The Glutamate Association

They tout it as a health benefit especially for older people as it causes them to eat more. I'm not sure I would equate eating more with better nutrition. And if they think it's good for adults - do they think it's good for children?

What the email I got showed, and which was a greater concern, is that MSG is addictive and is related to obesity. It is akin to nicotine - a known additive that creates an addiction but that no one wants to admit to. It would mean taking on the food industry.

Try this: Go here National Library of Medicine and type in the words "MSG Obese." You can then read a few of the over 100 medical studies that appear.

So is MSG a reason we have an obese population? I do not expect to get a truthful answer from the MSG lobbyists. But you might want to take a much more careful look at labels and ingredient lists when you are feeding your children.

And now this

LONDON (Reuters) - Childhood obesity rates will soar dramatically in most parts of the world by the end of the decade and raise the risk of diabetes in young people, health experts said on Monday.

By 2010 the number of overweight and obese youngsters in the European Union nations is expected to hit 26 million. An estimated 20,000 obese youngsters will have type 2 diabetes, a previously adult disease.

Over a million children will show signs of high blood pressure, raised cholesterol levels or early indicators for cardiovascular disease.

Please parents - it is not good for your child to be "chubby" or "fat." There are good foods that are available and they are mostly, in fact, cheaper than the fast food we let our kids eat.....2010 is FOUR [4] years away and it means that almost half the children will be obese at that time!

Exercise helps - as does better food - set an example for your family...be healthy - for everyone's sake - not just the kids.....

So what else is "new" news?

Fruits, vegetables not as nutritious as 50 years ago

By LANCE GAY
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

In spite of what Mother taught you about the benefits of eating broccoli, data collected by the U.S. government show that the nutritional content of America's vegetables and fruits has declined during the past 50 years -- in some cases dramatically.

Full article is here

Gee – I knew this years ago but I am glad the world is catching up with the fact that our growing crops for quick shipping to stores is not only killing the soil it is producing fruit and veggies that aren’t as nutritious.

So what do we do? Spend all day eating fruit and vegetable in order to get the nutrition we need? Or eat supplements?

Local organic produce is a good answer but it does not work if you live in a cold climate. If your “fresh” food is shipped to your local store – chances are that it ripened “en transit” - and the best nutrients come from vine/tree-ripened produce – not truck-ripened produce ☺

If you want information about phytonutrients [that’s the good stuff in your fruits and vegetables] go here then click "yes" when you see my picture.

For your children and grandchildren this product might taste better [again click yes under my photo]

Low fat "stuff"

I no longer get frustrated when the world caches up with me : )

For years I have said that the low fat and no fat foodstuffs [I have trouble calling that stuff food] were at best no help and at worst bad for you. Well the "no help" research has come out. Turns out that in a major research project it was found that low fat diets did not reduce the risk of breast cancer or colon cancer - nor did the diet high in fruit and grain prove to reduce risks.

My take is that the rate of obesity keeps pace with the number of low and no fat foods we have in the supermarket. Why? We need fat in our diets and taking it out means we eat more of the bad stuff in an attempt to appease our bodies - which seem to know they are lacking something - but our brain says NO NO NO to fat because the media has told us it is BAD BAD BAD and so we ignore our body's real message.

We all need a mix of carbs, fat and protein... I took a dietary assessment and I need to have 50% of any meal to be protein....others need 50 - 60 % to be carbs. There is never going to be one type of diet fits all - we all come from different types of ethnicities.

Many parents who themselves might be overweight or afraid of being overweight feed their children low fat and no fat foods. If adults need fat in their diet so do children. It's a human condition - not an adult - child thing.

A growing body needs ALL components - fat, carbs, protein - as well as fruits and veggies...

Food for thought

Are there foods that help your brain? There are some studies which indicate eating fish [omega-3] is good for the unborn child as well as good for the mother. All diets I have read about say eat fish....but I have read other reports that say be careful - some fish are filled with mercury and who know what else. Our oceans have become our toxic dumps and the fish food chain is not as healthy as it once was.

One has to make decisions about food for one's own family. Where you live, cost, overall budget, etc. are all factors that families weigh when making decisions about food. One factor that is important to know is that pre-packaged foods are more costly and if you read the ingredients - might be less healthy. For example macaroni and cheese, a family tradition for many, is much less expensive to make if you use cheese and pasta from your house and not from the cardboard box. Many foods can be prepared ahead and frozen... and now that we have microwaves, defrosting quickly for a hungry child [or adult :-)] is quicker than making the mix from a box.

Ditto bread. I once read a comment about the preservatives in bread which went something like this: I don't know why there are so many preservatives in bread; did you ever see a newly baked loaf of bread hang around your family for 3 weeks? I like to bake bread but do it rarely. No good reason. But when I buy store bread I buy what is fresh baked on the premises and with no preservatives. I cut all loves in half and freeze them.. when defrosted, they taste as good as the half I started on when bought.

Maybe I'll bake some bread today while I am watching football!

Are you what you eat?

I watched Supersize Me on TV the other night. If you have not seen this documentary I really suggest you get it from your library or elsewhere and see it. It's no wonder obesity and health problems are on the increase!

When my son was younger and I was busy with school and work, I admit we did McDonald's and Wendy's more than I knew was good for either of us. But at least on most days, we ate well at home. Given that we are both still healthy, I guess not much long term damage was done but after watching the movie I wonder why parents take kids there so frequently.

Childhood obesity is a triple whammy for kids:
One - they are made fun of by others.
Two - they tend to stay away from sports and physical activity - further isolating them from peers.
Three - it's a path to serious health issues.

What can parents do?
Provide good modeling. If you have food around that is full of what are known as empty calories - throw it out. Get rid of the soft drinks - they are just sugar water. Eat at home more often. And believe it or not, kids will eat vegetable and yogurt - or peanut butter.

Do you know why baby food has added sweeteners? For the parents! Marketers know that parents will taste test the food so they sweeten it. Does your baby need that sweetener? Nope. Will baby eat unsweetened food. Yup.

And - if you would like a free sample of a product that is good for your kids - one that is designed to package the nutritional goodness of 12 different fruits and vegetables, green tea powder, vitamins, and glyconutritionals into a delicious gummy-bear like snack - send an email to me at glycopdx@gmail.com with your name and phone number and I'll call you and tell you more.

Big apologies

Happy 2006...

I got very side tracked the last few months of 2005 and neglected my blogs :(

They all got together and said "either keep posting or give us up - we can't sit here without updates - it's not good for us."

So I listened to them and got back to posting...

Let's start 2006 with healthier everybody... especially you and your children

Most people start a new year with the resolution of being healthier...they promise to eat well lose weight, exercise and they start off with a bang. The health club I go to was jam packed yesterday I was told. I did not go until today. But why don't people stick with the plan they promise themselves? Mainly because the plan they set out to do is unrealistic. We are all creatures of the immediacy issue. I want it now!

Good health is a lifestyle - not a fad or irregular activity. And is has to be enjoyable because if it feels like a chore - we don't do it...And it helps if it is a social activity as we do better when we are with someone and feel accountable.

So for you and your family I suggest you write out realistic health goals for all and put the goal list on the refrigerator or wherever you post family messages. Everyone should have input into these goals because by taking part everyone feels more responsible for sticking with them.

Make sure some are family activities like walking the dog, taking a leisurely walk, playing physically active games etc. And many will be activities geared toward the individuals. The important thing is to make the goals, make them fun, and STICK with them for at least 3 months - without complaining and they will probably become part of your life. Kids will do what their parents do - so if you exercise, so will your children. If you play sports, so will they. If you eat well, they will too [until they hit their teens)]

Til next time.