Boy, our lives are so busy these days rushing our kids from one event to another. How much easier it is to run through the fast food line to wolf down some non-nourishing food to fuel our kids for whatever activity they have for the afternoon or evening. Then we look around to see kids getting larger and larger.
I was recently handing out T-Shirts to my son's football team when one 10 year old informed me that he wears an adult XL. Wow, I thought "what size will he wear in high school, college, when he's thirty? What diseases will he have as a result of the food choices that are being made in his life right now?" I know I think too much.
He looks uncomfortable when he runs in football. How much longer will he choose to play sports before the pain of doing so will be greater than his desire?
There are several reasons that kids are struggling with obesity:
- Inactivity (watching TV or playing video games instead of playing outdoors to get exercise)
- Drinking soda or juice instead of water
- Easting sugar, including sugar – containing juices, cereals and snacks
- Eating junk foods
It's hard. I know it's hard. I am living it. But our kid's lives are important. They are our future. The single most widespread health problem facing our children today is obesity.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 percent of children (over 9 million) 6-19 years old are overweight or obese -- a number that has tripled since 1980. In addition to the 16 percent of children and teens ages 6 to 19 who were overweight in 1999-2002, another 15 percent were considered at risk of becoming overweight. ("Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Children and Adolescents: United States, 1999-2002"; Oct. 6, 2004)
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over the past three decades the childhood obesity rate has more than doubled for preschool children aged 2-5 years and adolescents aged 12-19 years, and it has more than tripled for children aged 6-11 years. ("Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Children and Adolescents: United States, 1999-2002"; Oct. 6, 2004)
Wow, we are losing this battle. But we are talking about our kids! Do you remember the fat kid at your school? Statics and experience show that overweight and obese children are more likely to suffer from low self-esteem and depression as a result of their being overweight. Obesity can take a huge toll on a child.
Overweight children are at higher risk for increased health problems including heart disease, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal problems, and in particular type 2 diabetes. These are issues that will affect their quality life, their health care costs, employment opportunities, their love life, their social life, etc. for the rest of their lives.
Let's consider the impacts of your child being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes:
So let's suppose that you're an obese child who is afflicted with diabetes. This is disease typically will almost guaranty a premature death in middle age. Over time, you might develop kidney failure and/or heart disease. Arterial disease might make you blind, or cause you to lose a limb. Can you envision this in your child's future?
Now let's think about the implications of avoiding snacks high in sugar, sodas and junk food. Now let's imagine replacing them with real foods: you know fruits, vegetables and good protein sources like low-fat yogurt, etc. Now let's imagine our children getting outside and playing like we did when were kids. You know burning off energy, renewing their minds and just having fun.
Do they baulk at first? We'll yeah! We banished the kids outside one Saturday. They whined for the first 30 minutes but we stuck to our guns. They had a blast. Kids have stopped using their imaginations with outdoor play because they are sitting on their behinds in the house being entertained. They finally got a group of kids together for a "Cowboy and Indians" event. At the end of the day they had ran, played, laughed, fought and came home dirty! Yes, dirt. We fed them, bathed them and they were ready for bed. Yes, mission accomplished.
Was it worth the whining? Yes! Did we have to listen to that a few times before they "got" it? Absolutely! But now we don't have to "ban" them to the outdoors. They like getting outside playing tag, baseball, riding bikes, etc.
We have to love our kids so much that we are willing to right our wrongs. We have to be willing to put up with their whining to set the stage for a lifetime of health. If they are outside socializing, running, playing and laughing, you set the stage for them to spend a lifetime seeking those things. If they are eating grapes, bananas, turkey roll ups for snacks and drinking water what do you think they will look like? What will the feel like? When you put junk food in your body you feel like junk! This is not rocket science.
Parents are the key to controlling childhood obesity, PERIOD. Let me state it again, parents are the key to controlling their child's obesity.
When you move your child from junk food to nutrition is it fun? NO! Do they complain? YES! Will they move past it? YES! Conversations at my house went "I don't like that". "Okay". "Would you like strawberries or grapes instead?"
This is worth repeating: parents are the key to controlling their child's obesity. Some of the ways parents can get involved in their child's life to prevent obesity and a lifetime of chronic diseases are:
- Make healthy snack suggestions in place of junk/processed food snacks to start. Offer grapes, apples, oranges, bananas, protein bars, etc. instead of potato chips candy bars or snack cakes.
- You cannot change their entire diet at once. You just start making slight adjustments.
- Offer a salad at dinner. If they want desert they have to eat the salad and a three bites of a green vegetable
- Offer pure waterto drink. Will they balk? Yes. Will they go thirsty for a little while? Maybe. However, they will drink. I keep less and less juice drinks and more and more water. My son is smart he figured out that it would be a while before I went back to the store and he was going to have spread those drinks out. They only have to drink all their juices and only leave themselves water to drink one time.
Something has to stop! We have to take a stand for our children's health.
Let me reiterate one last time. Is any of this easy? NO, absolutely not. Is it worth it? Yes. If you love your children you will suffer a little pain for long term gain. If you want to know what food addiction looks like listen to them whine. I will spend more time in my next blog talking about food addiction and the food industry's ways of making us addicted to food.
I know this is a tough topic. I am living it!
Remember you are not looking for a drastic change, just slow steady changes. STAY STRONG!
