Preventing Childhood Obesity
Is Your Child Overweight or Obese?
The rising cost of college tuition isn't the only increase parents need to worry about. The soaring weight of children is another. In the last three decades, the number of obese children in the United States has more than tripled. According to the American Obesity Association, about 15 percent are now obese, and 30 percent are overweight. This is not a cosmetic problem according to Stephanie H. Abrams, MD, an expert in childhood obesity at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, "This is a disease and it's an epidemic." Excess weight is responsible for a range of psychological and physical ailments. "It's literally killing our children," says Abrams. Kids can't reverse this worrisome trend by themselves; parents must be aware of risk factors and help steer their children towards good health.
How will you know if your child is overweight?
Regular pediatric appointments are essential. The doctor can tell you if your child's rate of gain is too fast, and can determine the rank of his or her weight relative to other children of the same age and sex by finding your child's Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is a number calculated with a specific formula using child's weight and height. The BMI figure is then plotted on the CDC's BMI for age growth charts for either boys or girls. Placement of the figure will tell you what percentile your child's weight falls into. Unlike adults, there is no strict raw number of BMI that makes a child overweight or obese. The definition is completely based on the percentile for age and sex.
You can determine whether your child's weight is healthy on your own with the CDC's Child and Teen BMI Calculator. This tool will also plot your child's BMI on the corresponding graph. If the number lies in the 85 to 94.9 percentile, he or she is considered overweight. If the number is equal to or greater than the 95th percentile, he or she is considered obese.
Preventing Childhood Obesity
Does this sound like your situation?
*Your child is getting heavier and rarely exercises and you don't know what to do.
*You are frustrated and frightened and you take it out on your child.
*Your child has no self-esteem or confidence and is embarrassed by his/her weight.
*You find yourself worrying about your child's health and future.
*Your child rarely participates in any physical activity and is embarrassed to go on school swimming trips.
*You, your child, your entire FAMILY are eating the wrong things and you don't know how to turn it around.
*You want your child to be healthy, energetic and happy, and YOU JUST DON'T KNOW HOW THINGS GOT THIS FAR
If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions, you need this instant download book:
"Childhood Obesity: How to Prevent It, How to Deal With It"
Click for instant access
*Your child is getting heavier and rarely exercises and you don't know what to do.
*You are frustrated and frightened and you take it out on your child.
*Your child has no self-esteem or confidence and is embarrassed by his/her weight.
*You find yourself worrying about your child's health and future.
*Your child rarely participates in any physical activity and is embarrassed to go on school swimming trips.
*You, your child, your entire FAMILY are eating the wrong things and you don't know how to turn it around.
*You want your child to be healthy, energetic and happy, and YOU JUST DON'T KNOW HOW THINGS GOT THIS FAR
If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions, you need this instant download book:
"Childhood Obesity: How to Prevent It, How to Deal With It"
Click for instant access
Preventing Childhood Obesity
You may think you've tried everything - but this book's no-nonsense approach to gradual and healthy weight loss can show you how to get your child involved in the process so they can develop their own plan and feel good about their results.
And the good news is that you don't need to turn your life upside down or drive your child to distraction!
You can:
*Set and achieve goals without a personal trainer and a personal chef by your side!
*Focus on Health Goals
*Set Short-Term and Long-Term Activity Goals
*Teach Your Child How to Make Good Food Choices
*Improve Your Child's Sense of Control Over Weight
*Do it ALL without Starving Your Child!
"Childhood Obesity: How to Prevent It, How to Deal With It" has the answers - not just for today, but for the rest of your child's lifetime.
Click for instant access
And the good news is that you don't need to turn your life upside down or drive your child to distraction!
You can:
*Set and achieve goals without a personal trainer and a personal chef by your side!
*Focus on Health Goals
*Set Short-Term and Long-Term Activity Goals
*Teach Your Child How to Make Good Food Choices
*Improve Your Child's Sense of Control Over Weight
*Do it ALL without Starving Your Child!
"Childhood Obesity: How to Prevent It, How to Deal With It" has the answers - not just for today, but for the rest of your child's lifetime.
Click for instant access
What are the signs that your child could be headed for a weight problem?
One signal is a lack of exercise. It used to be that kids came home from school and played outside until their parents called them in for dinner. "The parenting standards in our society have changed. Because of safety issues, parents now have to observe their children constantly. It's not doable, so they have to keep kids entertained in the house." The result? Little to no physical activity and hours in front of the television, computer or video games -- with snacks. If your son or daughter is not engaged in some kind of physical activity for at least an hour a day, whether it's organized sports or simply dancing to music or kicking a ball around, this is a red flag.
Shaq's Big Challenge
Someone had to do it, and who else but an athlete, a father, and an all-around champion?Shaquille O'Neal, the 7-foot-tall star of the NBA's Miami Heat, has spent the last year leading the charge against childhood obesity - first by designing a program for six overweight middle-schoolers in Florida, then by leading the fight into the school cafeteria, into the gymnasium, and onto our TV's.
In talking to the kids who were chosen to participate in the show, Shaq realized that a child's weight problem can begin at school, where physical education programs have been cut and cafeteria options are heavy on the soft drinks and fast food. He took it upon himself to go into the schools to see what was going on - and he discovered that PE programs had been cut due to budget issues and that industrial-size cartons of frozen food are the most affordable way to provide lunch for more than 1,000 students. In visiting the six kids at home, Shaq also realized that family dynamics, poor eating habits, and cultural
traditions can all compound the problem. It didn't take long for Shaq to realize that reversing the trends would be a big job.
Shaq enlisted his personal physician and trainer, Carlon Colker, to help him with the effort. Before long, he had signed up his old LSU basketball coach,
Dale Brown, along with nutritionist Joy Bauer, Miami Children's Hospital pediatrician William Muinos, Food Network celebrity chef Tyler Florence, and tough-talking trainer Tarik Tyler. Together the team tackled the food, fitness,and medical aspects of childhood weight issues. It soon became clear that the quest to help six kids lose weight was only the first step in a nationwide movement to conquer childhood obesity. Shaq's Big Challenge airs at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT every Tuesday night on ABC.
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Preventing Childhood Obesity
Causes of Childhood Obesity
Causes of Childhood ObesityAs with adult-onset obesity, childhood obesity has multiple causes centering around an imbalance between energy in (calories obtained from food) and energy out (calories expended in the basal metabolic rate and physical activity). Childhood obesity most likely results from an interaction of nutritional, psychological, familial, and physiological factors.
* The Family
The risk of becoming obese is greatest among children who have two obese parents. This may be due to powerful genetic factors or to parental modeling of both eating and exercise behaviors, indirectly affecting the child's energy balance. One half of parents of elementary school children never exercise vigorously.
* Low-energy Expenditure
The average American child spends several hours each day watching television; time which in previous years might have been devoted to physical pursuits. Obesity is greater among children and adolescents who frequently watch television, not only because little energy is expended while viewing but also because of concurrent consumption of high-calorie snacks. Only about one-third of elementary children have daily physical education, and fewer than one-fifth have extracurricular physical activity programs at their schools.
* Heredity
Since not all children who eat non-nutritious foods, watch several hours of television daily, and are relatively inactive develop obesity, the search continues for alternative causes. Heredity has recently been shown to influence fatness, regional fat distribution, and response to overfeeding (Bouchard et al., 1990). In addition, infants born to overweight mothers have been found to be less active and to gain more weight by age three months when compared with infants of normal weight mothers, suggesting a possible inborn drive to conserve energy (Roberts, Savage, Coward, Chew, & Lucas, 1988).
Preventing Childhood Obesity
Preventing Childhood Obesity
Obesity is easier to prevent than to treat, and prevention focuses in large measure on parent education.In infancy, parent education should center on promotion of breastfeeding, recognition of signals of satiety, and delayed introduction of solid foods.
In early childhood, education should include proper nutrition, selection of low-fat snacks, good exercise/activity habits, and monitoring of television viewing.
In cases where preventive measures cannot totally overcome the influence of hereditary factors, parent education should focus on building self-esteem and address psychological issues.
Preventing Childhood Obesity
Childhood Obesity News
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How do you know if your child's weight gain is normal and when it's leading to childhood obesity?Children, unlike adults, need extra nutrients and calories to fuel their growth and development. So if they consume about the number of calories they need for daily activities, growth and metabolism, they add pounds in proportion to their added inches. But children who eat more calories than they need gain weight beyond what's needed to support their growing frames. In these cases, the added weight increases their risk of obesity and weight-related health problems.
Childhood obesity is particularly troubling because the extra pounds often start kids on the path to health problems that were once confined to adults, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Preventing Childhood Obesity
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by GGeorge
About 25 million U.S. children and adolescents either are or approaching being overweight.
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