Obesity in Children

Fighting childhood obesity Nationally, obesity rates have nearly quintupled among 6- to 11-year-olds and tripled among teens and children age 2 to 5 since the 1970s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Dr. James Holsinger Jr., the surgeon general nominee, says fighting childhood obesity is his top priority.

THE OBSTACLES:

Parents -- Experts agree that parents have the greatest influence, even a biological influence, over what their children will eat. "If the mother is eating Cheetos and white bread, the fetus will be born with those taste buds. If the mother is eating carrots and oatmeal, the child will be born with those taste buds," said Dr. Robert Trevino of the Social and Health Research Center in San Antonio.

Poverty -- Poorer children are especially at risk, because unhealthy food is cheaper and more easily available. Parents are often working, leaving children unsupervised and with access to snacks. Low-income neighborhoods have fewer good supermarkets with fresh produce.

Advertising -- Children age 8 to 12 see an average of 21 television ads each day for candy, snacks, cereal and fast food -- more than 7,600 a year, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study. Not one of the 8,854 ads reviewed promoted fruits or vegetables.

-- Associated Press

Baby fat is cute, and it usually means that your child is healthy. Infants are supposed to be a little on the pudgy side and if they aren't, it can be a cause for concern. The Failure to Thrive syndrome can mean your baby is in serious trouble and needs medical attention.

But this applies only to infants who need the extra calories to build up their immune systems and develop strong bones and muscles. Once a child reaches the toddler stage he or she should start becoming more active and thus use up that stored fat to balance things out.

A slimming child in this highly active phase is NOT an unhealthy child! Naturally, activity changes sugars and proteins into muscle and assists the child in their growing process.

The problem is that some times, as a parent, we lose track of our child's growing stages and forget that, once they become active, they'll "pudge out" for a time just before they reach a growing spurt and then slim down again. The slimming doesn't mean malnutrition, it means they've grown!

They simply just don't need the baby fat anymore. If they're eating regular meals, you have nothing to worry about!

The problem with fast food and processed products is that they're usually delicious. This is because the companies that make them and prepare them have only taste in mind. If your children are accustomed to eating this type of food frequently, their taste buds may not find natural and healthy foods very appealing.

However, the natural and healthy foods really do taste good once the processed sugars and chemically induced flavorings are taken out of the way. In fact, if you substitute fruit for processed sugar products over a period of just one week, your children will find the processed foods way too sweet and will most likely begin preferring the fruit.

Food is used as rewards for training of dogs, but not children. A pet learns to do tricks and obey when food is offered or denied as an incentive, however, human children tend to see it as something else.

Food is for sustenence, but when used as an emotional tool, it can have a long term effect.

Eating or not eating becomes a measurement of guilt, shame, and/or accomplishment. Psychologically then, this can lead a child to "crave the reward" and easily turn food into a comfort commodity.

The more guilt he or she may feel, the more food will satisfy that feeling of less than perfect. Likewise, the more food is used as a reward, the more euphoria it'll bring to eat.

The food you give your children should simply be to sustain their lives. Sure, eating can be an enjoyable thing to do, but not when its used as a manipulating tool.