Beverly Monical

Leading By Example

Many kids are spending less time exercising and more time in front of the TV, computer, or video-game console. The busy family’s lifestyles have fewer free moments to prepare nutritious, home-cooked meals. From fast food to electronics, quick and easy is the reality for many people in the new millennium.
The percentage of overweight children in the United States is growing at an alarming rate, with 1 out of 3 kids now considered overweight or obese.

Preventing children from becoming overweight means adapting the way your family eats and exercises, and how you spend time together. Getting the parents to make wiser choices and decisions for the family’s well being needs to be handled first. Helping children lead healthy lifestyles begins with parents who lead by example.

Let’s talk about BMI, Body Mass Index. To calculate BMI, divide weight in kg by height in meters squared; for pounds and inches, divide weight by height squared and multiply the result by the conversion factor 703.

Once you know your child’s BMI, it can be plotted on a standard BMI chart. Kids fall into one of four categories:
1.underweight: BMI below the 5th percentile
2.normal weight: BMI at the 5th and less than the 85th percentile
3.overweight: BMI at the 85th and below 95th percentiles
4.obese: BMI at or above 95th percentile

BMI is not a perfect measure of body fat and can be misleading in some situations. For example, a muscular person may have a high BMI without being overweight (because extra muscle adds to a body weight — but not fatness). In addition, BMI may be difficult to interpret during puberty when kids are experiencing periods of rapid growth. It’s important to remember that BMI is usually a good indicator — but is not a direct measurement — of body fat.

The Effects of Obesity

Obesity increases the risk for serious health conditions like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol — all once considered exclusively adult diseases. Obese kids also may be prone to low self-esteem that stems from being teased, bullied, or rejected by peers.
These children are at risk for developing medical problems that affect their present and future health and quality of life.

Cardiovascular risk factors present in childhood (including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes) can lead to serious medical problems like heart disease, heart failure, and stroke as adults. Preventing or treating overweight and obesity in children may reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease as they get older.

Genetics also play a role — genes help determine body type and how your body stores and burns fat just like they help determine other traits. Genes alone, however, cannot explain the current obesity crisis. Because both genes and habits can be passed down from one generation to the next, multiple members of a family may struggle with weight.

People in the same family tend to have similar eating patterns, maintain the same levels of physical activity, and adopt the same attitudes toward being overweight. Studies have shown that a child’s risk of obesity greatly increases if one or more parent is overweight or obese. Again children follow their parents example. If you are obese and are reading this now, decide to stop being a poor example for your child.

The key to keeping kids of all ages at a healthy weight is taking a whole-family approach. It’s the “practice what you preach” mentality. Make healthy eating and exercise a family affair. Get your kids involved by letting them help you plan and prepare healthy meals, and take them along when you go grocery shopping so they can learn how to make good food choices.

 Don’t reward kids for good behavior or try to stop bad behavior with sweets or treats. Come up with other solutions to modify their behavior.
 Don’t maintain a clean-plate policy. Be aware of kids’ hunger cues. Even babies who turn away from the bottle or breast send signals that they’re full. If kids are satisfied, don’t force them to continue eating. Reinforce the idea that they should only eat when they’re hungry.
 Don’t talk about “bad foods” or completely eliminate all sweets and favorite snacks from kids’ diets. Kids may rebel and overeat these forbidden foods outside the home or sneak them in on their own

This is not new information but yet the rise of obesity in children is alarming. Parents must be proactive about their own health and their children will follow by example. Are you making good choices for your family. Let’s turn around this trend and stop Childhood Obesity today.