May 2004

How Can We Help Our Children Avoid the Obesity Epidemic?
Part 2

Last month, we introduced the topic of childhood obesity. This month we will elaborate on this theme and provide strategies to help you help your child achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
How can you determine what is a healthy weight for your child? When your child visits the doctor, the doctor will track his/her growth on a growth chart. The BMI-for–age chart will help identify what is a healthy weight for your child. A BMI-for-age above the 85th percentile indicates that the child is at risk of being overweight. When the BMI-for–age is above the 95th percentile, it means that the child is overweight and is more likely to have health risk factors.

An important point to keep in mind is that a child who is overweight/obese at puberty has a 70% chance of being overweight /obese as an adult.¹ One of the reasons for this is that fat cells can increase in number during at least two times in our lives. One time is at about 1 year of age and the other is just at or before puberty. Therefore, if a child is overweight at 10, fat cells will not only increase in size but also in number. Once fat cells are created they are there to stay and always have the potential to increase in size leading to a lifetime of weight and health problems.
So, what to do? Weight management and a healthy lifestyle must be a family affair. By including the whole family, no one feels singled out as the one who needs to “exercise and lose weight” and everyone benefits from the time spent together. Family activities can include such things as bike riding, tag, kick ball, hiking, or even a walk around the neighborhood. A brisk, 15-minute walk or nine minutes of jumping rope will use 100 calories!² Not only does exercise burn calories, but it can decrease the risk of heart disease.

Another factor in weight management is, of course, food How can you help your child learn how to make wise food choices and to know when enough is enough? It is important to establish a routine for mealtimes. This helps to reduce excessive snacking. Gradually reduce portion sizes. Rather than make a large noticeable change which may be rejected, the gradual reduction will be imperceptible yet achieve the same goal. Did you know that you can save 100 calories by: having 1 tablespoon of butter instead of two? Having 10 less potato chips than usual? Eating 10 less McDonald’s French fries?²

Discuss lunch options with your child. Find out what items will be served the next day at school and talk about which ones would be low in fat, high in fiber, or otherwise good choices for the lunch meal. If nothing fits the bill, make your child’s favorite lunch so that he/she feels special rather than penalized.

Eat meals together as a family. Mealtimes should have a relaxed atmosphere. A relaxed atmosphere encourages a more leisurely meal rather than the “eat and run” syndrome. It is important not to rush the meal because it takes 20 minutes for our stomachs to realize that we are full or satisfied. If we rush through our meal, we are more apt to have seconds and overconsume calories because the stomach has not had a chance to signal our brain that we are full.
Avoid the scale. Instead, watch how your child’s clothes fit. Are they looser than they were a month ago? Look for changes in his/her face and hands. Do they look slimmer? An emphasis on the scale is a continual reminder that the child has a weight problem, which can lead to a poor self image and, possibly, eating disorders.

Remember, small changes can make a big difference. And making changes together as a family can make the changes fun.

1 Thompson, C & Shanley, E. (2004). Overcoming Childhood Obesity. Boulder, CO: Bull Publishing.

2 “Small changes in diet, routine can have big results.” Poughkeepsie Journal 18 April 2004, sec. c: 1.