Childhood Obesity: A Call to Action

Show your children the value of eating healthy foods 

Our children are at risk. Most parents identify drugs, alcohol, sex and violence as threats to the well-being of their children. In truth, childhood obesity will have a greater negative impact on more children than any of the concerns listed above. The most recent data from the National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) collected in 2007-2008 shows a marked increase in the prevalence of obesity from 1976-1980 in all age groups.

Prevalence of Obesity in US Children and Adolescents

   Age                    1976-1980                  2007-2008

2-5 years               5.0%                            10.4%

6-11 years             6.5%                            19.6%

12-19 years           5.0%                            18.1%

Nearly one third of children in the US are either overweight or obese and they are at risk for future health problems.

Overweight and obese children are the targets of many health and social problems. They are often exposed to early social discrimination, which can lead to low self-esteem. This in turn can hamper their academic and social functioning into adulthood. They are also at increased risk for cardiovascular disease due to high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and abnormal blood sugar levels. Additional health risks include asthma, fatty degeneration of the liver caused by a high concentration of liver enzymes, sleep apnea, and type 2 diabetes.

The causes of childhood overweight and obesity are many. Childhood obesity was aptly described by Dr. Hilde Bruch, a pioneer in the field over seventy years ago. She said, "To understand the obese child, one needs to remember that he (she) accumulated his (her) extra weight while living in a family that, wittingly or unwittingly, encouraged overeating and inactivity." The current culture of America encourages overeating and inactivity, and one must swim against the current to avoid these habits.

The solution is straightforward, but difficult to adopt for many families who are stressed for time. Calories must be balanced with eating healthy foods and engaging in daily activities. When looking for solutions to keep your kids healthy, look not further than your pantry and your own backyard.

Encourage Healthy Eating Habits

• Provide plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole grain foods.
• Offer protein from beans, lentils, nuts, fish, poultry and lean meats.
• Include some low-fat or non-fat dairy products.
• Offer smaller portion sizes.
• Limit sugar-sweetened beverages. One 12 ounce can of soda contains ten teaspoons of sugar.
• Encourage your family to drink lots of water.
• Limit consumption of sugar and saturated fat.
• Cook healthier meals at home and eat out less.
• Avoid calorie-rich temptations. An occasional treat is acceptable, but it should not be a daily occurrence.

Help Kids Stay Active

• Children should participate in at least 60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity every day. Examples are taking a brisk walk, playing tag, jumping rope, playing soccer, swimming and dancing.
• Have children join you in your physical activity routine.
• Limit television, video games, and surfing on the web to no more than two hours a day. Children younger than 2 years should not view television at all.
• Do not allow your child to have a television or computer in their bedroom.

With attention, support, and hard work, our children can lose and maintain healthier weights.

How Are We Teaching Our Children to Eat? Some Comments on McDonald's

Unfortunately, eating fast food regularly is a reality for many families 

I'm not quite sure what to think about McDonald's pledge to improve the nutritional offerings of their trademark Happy Meal. By the end of 2012 all Happy Meals will automatically include apple slices and the calorie content will be decreased by 20%. This is good, but will it really make a difference in battling childhood obesity? The bottom line for me is that allowing your kids to grow up eating McDonald's food (or any fast food) is like throwing them in a swimming pool without lessons and expecting them to know what to do. Let me explain.

When my kids were young, I would meet other mothers at a Maryland McDonald's so our kids could play. Our local McD's had a Playplace for the kids to climb and run. After an hour of play, we would buy the children Happy Meals. I noticed that my kids and my friend's kids would eat only a very little bit. We ended up throwing at least half of the meal away. The kids were little (under 5 years) so of course they couldn't eat the whole meal. We did this a few times and there were times that I did this with my kids alone. Despite being in the metropolitan Washington DC area, I was lonely and isolated from my friends because it took at least an hour to get anywhere. Letting my children play at McDonald's got us out of the house.

When I moved to Rochester, NY my two older children were 4 and 2 years old. I began stopping in at the corner McDonald's at lunch time on occasion. As I sat watching my kids barely eat their meals I finally got some sense. By continuing to take my kids to McDonald's I was teaching them to like fast food. In the world of nutrition and health, I was teaching them how to drown.

McDonald's will most likely benefit from all the hoopla surrounding their recent press release. Consumers will view the company as caring and wanting to improve the health of children. I don't believe it! Large companies care about their finances. If they truly cared about childhood obesity, they wouldn't market their foods to children with toys. The toys in Happy Meals will still be offered. McDonald's wants your children to learn how to like their food so that they will continue to eat it as they grow up.

I read through several comments at the end of one of the online articles about this topic. One reader suggested that McDonald's trash should be evaluated for all the wasted Happy Meal produce. I'm sure that there are a lot of wasted hamburgers, chicken nuggets and French fries in that trash too. We give up so easily when teaching our children how to eat better. We stop offering vegetables because they won't eat them not knowing that the simple act of consistently offering healthy foods is important.

My question to those who give up trying to feed their kids healthy foods; would you stop teaching them math just because they are having difficulty with subtraction? The way to work towards combating childhood obesity is to feed your children lots of vegetables, not buying them the "healthier" Happy Meal.

I'm giving away the family cookbook No Whine with Dinner by fellow RD's Janice Newell Bissex and Liz Weiss. Comment on this blog post by August 31st, 2011 and you will be entered to win this cookbook to help your kids eat healthier (just in time for the new school year)!

MyPlate Introduced. Now What?

The endless junk food aisle 

Yesterday was a big day in the world of nutrition. The 20 year old Food Pyramid was retired by the USDA and the new MyPlate was unveiled. The new food guide shows a plate with four sections for the basic food groups: grains, fruits, vegetables and protein. To the side is a cup of dairy. The new food icon was introduced by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin and First Lady Michelle Obama at a press conference yesterday morning. Vilsack commented that the personal health of the nation is as important to the wellbeing of the country as its fiscal and economic health. It is an issue of national security when many youth are too overweight and unfit to protect the country. Dr. Benjamin concurred that childhood obesity is one of the greatest challenges facing our nation. She stated that the goal of the new food icon is to provide clear and simple information based on science to guide the American people to make healthier food choices. First Lady Michelle Obama commented, "What is more simple than a plate?"

Michelle Obama goes on to say that there is still work to be done in leading our nation toward health. I can't agree more! I like the simplicity of the icon and the message to the American people to eat less that is a central tenet of the Dietary Guidelines. But I wonder if this new food guide will have any impact upon the way that Americans eat?

At the Future of Food Conference in Washington, DC last month, Secretary Vilsack commented that the way farm subsidies are appropriated will change with the new Farm Bill. He hopes to empower more small family operated farms which means decreasing (or ending) the subsidies paid to larger agribusinesses. To me, this is a more important step in changing the US food and health environments than the combined efforts of the new MyPlate, Dietary Guidelines and universal health insurance. The endless aisles of junk foods, cereals and beverages are directly related to subsidies paid to grow corn, wheat and soy which allowed the creation of cheap processed foods. Cheap processed foods are bad for health for many reasons, one of which is that they displace healthier foods such as vegetables, fruits and whole grains. When soft drinks and junk foods are more expensive and vegetables and fruits are less expensive, Americans will buy less junk. When we see smaller displays of junk foods at the grocery store, then we'll know that we are moving in the right direction.

Vilsack goes on to say at the MyPlate press conference yesterday that you have to walk the talk. He tells a story of how the new icon influenced him recently at a dinner where he was served a piece of steak that covered more than half his plate. He purposefully didn't eat it all. I hope Congress has the same good sense when it comes to passing a Farm Bill that will change the US food and health environments. Congress will have to turn a deaf ear to the wealthy and powerful food lobbies and do the right thing for the American people by voting to reduce subsidies to large agribusiness. Our national security depends upon it.

What Do Box Tops for Education Really Promote?

I collect Box Tops for Education for my daughter's elementary school. One or two products that I buy are involved in the program and I dutifully clip the box tops for the school. I recently noticed a commercial for Pillsbury® Toaster Strudel® Pastries promoting their affiliation with the Box Tops for Education Program. It got me thinking: How healthy are the food products that are involved the program?

"Box Tops for Education is a program created by General Mills to provide funding for education." This is the description of the program on the eHOW website. The official Box Tops for Education website claims to have raised over $320 million for schools since 1996 (each box top collected is worth ten cents). Compare this with the annual cost of obesity which was recently stated as $147 billion per year, and the benefit of the Box Tops program pales in comparison! With increasing rates of overweight and obesity in kids, it's pretty important that programs designed for schools promote healthy eating habits.

I surveyed the food products involved with the program and created three categories: healthy, pseudo-healthy, and refined. I classified each food in a category for each division of food products (refrigerated, frozen, beverages, etc.). This is by no means a scientific study and my criteria for healthy vs. pseudo healthy foods is perhaps a bit blurred (I classified Juicy Juice as a pseudo-healthy food. Consumed in small amounts, it is fine, but even 100% juice can contribute to weight gain when over-consumed). If a food contained a majority of whole grains, was in its natural state, contained lower amounts of sodium, and had limited added sugars, I considered it a healthy food. Food products close to their natural state, but with some added sugars (or high natural sugar content) and added ingredients to bump up their dietary fiber were considered pseudo-healthy. Foods with a high amount of refined grains and sugars (including artificial sweeteners) and higher in sodium were classified as refined foods (notice how I didn't call them unhealthy, although it is implied).

As you can image, most of the food products promoted by the Box Tops for Education program are processed. You can view the participating products for yourself. The list changes often as new products are added and limited products are deleted. Of the one hundred and eighty-eight products that I looked at, 14.3% were healthy, 14.8% were pseudo-healthy, and 70.7% were refined. These results are not so impressive, especially when it comes to feeding our kids!

Ehow suggests using the program only for products that you normally buy. But we all know that this is not really how promotions and coupons are intended to be used by their creators. They want us to buy their products and the more we buy the better. It behooves manufacturers to offer promotions to encourage us to buy; if we think that they are socially minded in the process, all the better for them. I wish they would just donate money to the schools without pushing us to buy products, but that's not how America works.

Fortunately, there are non-food products that are involved in this program, so you don't have to worry about contributing to childhood obesity because you want to clip a few box tops. Even better is the online program. There are many participating stores selling many non-food products that will provide a multiple of box tops per every $10 spent.

I'll continue to clip the box tops for the three food products that I regularly purchase and resist the urge to buy more because I think that I'm helping my daughter's school by doing so.