Tag Archives: Children

Establishing Healthy Habits for Kids

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You likely know by now that being overweight or obese increases your risk for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. In fact, AICR estimates that over 100,000 cancer cases a year are caused by carrying excess fat.

That’s a sobering statistic, and the latest numbers on childhood obesity suggest that number will keep growing. After all, children who are overweight or obese tend to grow into overweight and obese adults.

But you can help ensure a brighter, healthier future for your kids. How? By treating yourself right.

Think about it: Children model their parents’ behavior, so every time you prepare a healthy meal or make time for getting active, you’re instilling those same habits in your kids.

The Obesity Society recommends that parents keep only healthy foods in the house and choose the restaurants the family visits.

Anyone who’s unthinkingly polished off a bag of potato chips while watching their favorite program knows that eating in front of the TV encourages “passive overeating” – that’s why it’s a good idea to serve meals at the dinner table whenever you can.

Encourage kids to get and stay active any way they can. Planning family activities that revolve around walking, biking, hiking or swimming can help less active kids get their hearts pumping.

First Lady Michelle Obama has launched a nationwide campaign called Let’s Move! to help stop childhood obesity. The website’s got lots of ideas for getting kids interested in health and nutrition.

AICR has our own children’s website called the Taste Buddies, filled with games, quizzes and kid-friendly information to help kids learn that eating better and moving more can be fun.

Continuous Snack Attacks

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Apparently kids love snacks, now more than ever. According to a large study that looked at snack habits over three decades, children are now eating almost three snacks per day as compared with 30 years ago, when they ate an average of about one a day. And unfortunately, the snacks aren’t broccoli and apples.

The study found that snacks made up over a quarter of children’s daily calories — over 27%. The largest increases came from salty snacks and candy. Desserts and sweetened beverages were the major sources of calories from snacks.

The study was published in the March issue of Health Affairs; you can read the abstract here. Study researchers looked at national surveys of food intake in about 31,000 U.S. children, from 1977 to 2006.

One of the big findings came from preschoolers, who showed the largest increase in snacking. Children aged 2 to 6 consumed an extra 181 calories per day during snack time compared to two decades earlier.

Given the increase in US obesity rates and the health hazards excess weight brings — including increasing the risk of cancer — this study suggests unhealthy snacks may be one culprit in weight gain.

Need snack help for you or your kids? You can get ideas from Homemade for Health: Snacks.

Have healthy snack ideas of your own? Share.

Annual BMI Check-Up?

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Do you know your child’s BMI?

KidsVegetablesThis week, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released a recommendation for childhood obesity screening.  The task force recommends that “clinicians screen children aged 6 years and older for obesity and offer them or refer them to intensive counseling and behavioral interventions to promote improvements in weight status.”

Twelve to 18 percent of children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 are obese and are at high risk for type 2 diabetes, asthma and even nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.  Obesity also increases risk for certain cancers – so the long term consequences are serious.  Identifying these high risk children is only the first step in making a difference.  The second part of the recommendation – referring them to appropriate programs – is really the key to this report.

The Task Force reviewed over a dozen studies on behavioral programs targeted to overweight and obese children and adolescents.  They found that comprehensive programs using counseling, physical activity programs and behavioral management techniques were successful for modest weight loss that continued for at least 12 months after the program ended.

There are successful models and programs around the country for children and adolescents who struggle with overweight and obesity.  But in areas where these programs aren’t available, what will the clinicians do once they’ve identified at risk children?

Hopefully this report will help spur the growth of effective comprehensive programs that involve the entire family so that any lifestyle and behavioral change made by the child will be sustainable.

What do you think of the new recommendations?  Do you know of any comprehensive programs for children or adolescents in your community?