Weight problems in children

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Childhood obesity

(Page 5)

Children should be taught to limit high-calorie soft drinks and foods such as candy and desserts, and salty snacks such as potato chips and french fries .However, even these types of snacks may have a place in the diet (in moderation, of course).

Warning: Children of preschool age can easily choke on foods that are hard to chew, small and round, or sticky, such as hard vegetables, whole grapes, hard chunks of cheese, raisins, nuts, and seeds, and popcorn. It's important to carefully select snacks for children in this age group.

Limit television viewing. In addition, discourage eating while watching tv. Try to eat only in the dining room or kitchen. Eating in front of the TV may make it difficult to pay attention to feelings of fullness, and may lead to overeating.

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MONITOR MEALS OUTSIDE THE HOME

Find out more about your school lunch program, or pack your child's lunch to include a variety of foods. Also, select healthier items when dining at restaurants.

INCREASE YOUR FAMILY'S PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Regular physical activity, combined with healthy eating habits, is the most efficient and healthful way to control your weight. It is also an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Some simple ways to increase your family's physical activity include the following:

Be a role model for your children. If your children see that you are physically active and have fun, they are more likely to be active and stay active for the rest of their lives.

Plan family activities that provide everyone with exercise and enjoyment, like walking, dancing, biking, or swimming. For example, schedule a walk with your family after dinner instead of watching TV. Make sure that you plan activities that can be done in a safe environment.

Be sensitive to your child's needs. Overweight children may feel uncomfortable about participating in certain activities. It is important to help your child find physical activities that they enjoy and that aren't embarrassing or too difficult.

Reduce the amount of time you and your family spend in sedentary activities, such as watching TV or playing video games.

Become more active throughout your day and encourage your family to do so as well. For example, walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, or do some activity during a work or school break-get up and stretch or walk around.

The point is not to make physical activity an unwelcome chore, but to make the most of the opportunities you and your family have to be active.

See also: Exercise and weight loss

ADDITIONAL HELP

If you need to make changes to your family's eating and exercise habits, but are finding it difficult, a registered dietitian (RD) may be able to help. Your doctor may be able to refer you to an RD, or you can call the National Center for Nutrition and Dietetics of The American Dietetic Association at 800-366-1655 and ask for the name of an RD in your area.

If your efforts at home are unsuccessful in helping your child reach a healthy weight and your doctor determines that your child's health is at risk unless he or she loses weight steadily, you may want to consider a formal treatment program. To locate a weight-control program for your child, you may want to contact a local university-based medical center.

Look for the following characteristics when choosing a weight-control program for your child. The program should:

• Be staffed with a variety of health professionals. The best programs may include RDs, exercise physiologists, pediatricians or family doctors, and psychiatrists or psychologists.
• Perform a medical evaluation of the child. Before being enrolled in a program, your child's weight, growth, and health should be reviewed by a doctor. During enrollment, your child's weight, growth, and health should be monitored by a health professional at regular intervals.
• Focus on the whole family, not just the overweight child.
• Be adapted to the specific age and capabilities of the child. Programs for 4 year olds are different from those developed for children 8 or 12 years of age in terms of degree of responsibility of the child and parents.
• Focus on behavioral changes.
• Teach the child how to select a variety of foods in appropriate portions.
• Encourage daily activity and limit sedentary activity, such as watching TV.
• Include a maintenance program and other support and referral resources to reinforce the new behaviors and to deal with underlying issues that contributed to overweight.

The overall goal of a successful treatment program should be to help the whole family focus on making healthy changes to their eating and activity habits that they will be able to maintain throughout life.

Some of this information was obtained from the National Institute of Health. NIH Publication No. 97-4096 and NIH Word on Health, June 2002.

Review Date: 10/01/2009
Reviewed By: David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc., and Neil K. Kaneshiro, MD, MHA, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).