12 Sep Why Our Children Are Obese And How to Help Them

1 in 3 children is either overweight or obese.  A child who is overweight or obese is 10x’s more likely to be over weight or obese as an adult.

We all want the children in our lives to be happy and healthy, but a recent WebMD Sanford Health survey found that parents and loved ones find it more difficult to talk to children about weight than sex, drugs, alcohol, or smoking!

Why are we afraid to discuss it?  Ignoring the problem doesn’t solve it.

Barriers that impede discussion:

1.  Fear of inducing an eating disorder – No evidence exists that talking to your children about healthy eating and activity in a loving, caring, productive, and motivating manner is harmful.

2.  Our own struggles – Whether we are overweight or underweight our own struggles and “demons” affect our willingness to discuss the problem.

3.  Confusion about what success looks like – There is disagreement on target weights for children.  Most experts, however, agree that children should exit their teens at a healthy weight.  (see resources at the bottom of the article for help determining a healthy weight for your child)

4.  Lack of understanding – Obesity is not a willpower issue.  It is a complicated problem with many causative agents including environment, genetics, learned behaviors, dietary and activity habits.

5.  Ignoring reality – Too many want to pretend that the problem doesn’t exist.  Unfortunately that philosophy doesn’t protect the child from the health or bullying consequences.

6.  Feeling like nothing seems to work – “I’ve tried everything.”  As we become more frustrated, we fear that we may become critical.

7.  Tired of feeling like the food police – The key is to be consistent with healthy food choices and activity levels.  Develop rules but include occasional treats.

Helpful Tips:

• Ask you child open ended questions about what they are experiencing and how they feel about their weight.

• Focus on weight as a health problem and not a cosmetic issue.  Don’t encourage a diet, skipping meals, and using diet pills.

• Acknowledge that losing weight is not an easy thing, but emphasize the health benefits.  Encourage healthy eating and physical activity behaviors that can be maintained long-term.

• Never tease your child about their weight, even in a playful manner.

• Be positive and supportive.

• Offer to work together.

• Concentrate on increasing the number of minutes being active.  Find what activities they enjoy and facilitate them.

• Limit the number of sweets and simple starches eaten.

• Increase the amount of outdoor activity and play.

• Limit screen time.

• Increase the number of meals that your family eats together.

• Don’t do other things while you eat, like watch TV.
• Limit the amount of fast food you eat as a family.

• Create activities that the entire family can participate in.

• Shop for healthy foods together and get them to help you plan the meals.

• Let them participate in food preparation and cooking.

• Increase the amount of fruits and vegetables available to eat.

• Participate in the process yourself.  Children are most successful when the entire family attempts weight loss/healthy living together.  Don’t single your children out by their weight.

• Be aware of the signs of bullying (withdrawal, desire to skip school, depression, anxiety, acting out, poor academic performance).  Bullying can have effects that reach far into adulthood.  Discuss it with your child and take steps with school administrators to stop it.

Post your helpful suggestions in the comments or send me an email.  We all need to help our children live healthy lives.

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Here’s to the Journey!

Resources:

Article on Weight vs. BMI vs. %Body Fat in adults:  http://www.nuvitalityhealth.com/how-to-determine-ideal-body-weight/

Complications of obesity in adults: http://www.nuvitalityhealth.com/obesity-just-the-facts/

Girls BMI for age:  http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set1clinical/cj41c024.pdf

Girls weight and stature for age:  http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set1clinical/cj41c022.pdf

Boys BMI for age:  http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set1clinical/cj41c023.pdf

Boys weight and stature for age:  http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set1clinical/cj41c021.pdf

(Dr. David W. Ball is an Internal Medicine Physician, speaker, and writer.  His mission is to help people be the healthiest version of themselves and then in turn make a greater impact in the lives of the people around them.)