This is a guest post by Christine Kane-McKenzie, owner at “Falling Through the Cracks”, a non-profit she created for single parents who have fallen through the bureaucratic cracks to help them achieve a better future. She is also a distributor for Juice Plus+®.
A few facts about Childhood Obesity in Texas
The statistics in 1962 showed that 13% of the U.S. population was obese but by 2000 this rate had increased to 31% according to American Sports Data. The population of Texas is about 24 million. The population of children, ages 10-17, ranks first in the US at 21.4% with 32.2% being overweight or obese, according to Trust for America’s Health . With that said, those same children rank 31.7% overweight or obese across the US. Their statistics also show that the state of Texas has 21.4% of children under 18 who are uninsured. Finkelstein and his collaborating researchers reported in Health Affairs – The Policy Journal of the Health Sphere – a drastic increase in medical coverage for obesity through Medicare/Medicaid since 1998. In 1998 approximately half of the over $78 Billion spent on health coverage was financed by Medicare and Medicaid. Through 2006 that number is estimated to have increased $40 Billion. Taking care of our health now will alleviate most insurance costs attributed to obesity.
What I’m getting at here is our children need to understand the importance of good health, good nutrition, and proper exercise practices. The first step to improving or maintaining a child’s proper weight is to inform the parents about nutrition, exercise, and quality time with children.
How do you determine if a child will be obese? Is it genetic?
The obesity-predisposing genotype is heritable in 10% of individuals according to a 2006 article in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Beyond genetics is the susceptibility to dietary variations, along with a major contribution of familial influenced learned behaviors such as exercise and regular activity away from the TV, computer, and video games according to researchers from Canada who published their findings in this article on PubMed.
Does this mean that everyone who has the obesity-predisposing genotype has to become obese?
No. It only means it’s a possibility.
The fact is anyone has the potential to become obese, unless they have hyperthyroidism, if their caloric intake outweighs their physical activity. Eric Ravussin, Chair in Diabetes and Metabolism at Louisiana State University and a prominent exercise researcher, was recently quoted in this TIME magazine article – “exercise is pretty much useless for weight loss”. Exercise is great to keep the body healthy and the ability to stave off disease processes such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and stress levels. Being in shape strengthens muscles that support the skeleton and alleviates back problems. I, for one, am living proof that obsessively excessive exercise has done nothing for me when it comes to losing weight. I felt great but the weight just hung around. During a five year period I had invested in a local work-out plan and also hired three separate trainers as well. I was well toned, to say the least, but still gained 5 – 10 lbs and was always exceptionally hungry.
Basically, we need to expend our energy on daily activities in balance with caloric intake. Think of it this way. Our ancestors (yes, even the kids) gardened, plowed fields, bailed hay, walked or ran everywhere, scrubbed everything around the house and barn by hand, took care of farm animals, and so forth, so their energy expenditure equaled or exceeded their caloric intake (in some cases they may have not had enough food). In any case, there were still a few individuals who became obese due to genetics. Now days kids get up, run out the door without breakfast, get on the bus for school, sit in a desk most of the day (most schools only have P.E. a couple times a week now), come home, relax in front of the TV/video game and eat unhealthy snacks before a hearty dinner, then off to bed. Where’s the energy expenditure?
What can be done before it begins or reverse the weight gain in children?
Children follow what they see. If your routine is to stop at the local drive-thru, you’re setting the scene for obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, and other chronic health risks. Delayed satisfaction is a great lesson for our children in this era of remote controls. Cooking wholesome nutritious meals together as a family will benefit everyone in more ways than one. The main point is, as a parent, what we do as parents we pass on to our children. We all want what’s best for them… is obesity one of those things?
Trimming the fat tips for the budget and the waistline
Here are a few tips for Cutting eating costs – even with special diets based on an article by the Chicago Family Health Examiner:
- Look up sites for coupons for whole foods.
- Go to farmers markets instead of the fruit & veggie aisle at the supermarket.
- Stop going out to eat so much and make good choices when you do.
- Have fun growing a garden with the kids – an herb garden, tomatoes, broccoli, and peppers are easy and really don’t take up a lot of room to plant.
- Look into supplementation like Juice Plus+® – 17 organic whole fruits and veggies, ground up and put into caplet’s for adults and chewables and gummies for kids for about $1.50/day.
- Another good site to look at is called “The Science of Appetite”. It has tips on what foods make you eat more, what people eat around the world, how to curb your appetite, and more.
Family fun and exercise = Quality time
Quality time is the most important part of having healthy balanced children. Taking time to talk about health together is just as important as talking about drugs and alcohol to your kids. Everyday should have some sort of fun activity that is shared by the family such as:
- Playing football or baseball
- Walks around the block a couple times a day
- Ride bikes
- Roller blade
- Skate boarding
- Dancing together
©2009 Littlestomaks.com
Disclaimer: I have not received any sponsorship from Juice Plus+® and publication of this article is not an endorsement of their products by Littlestomaks.com
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