Better health

By gavi1126

June 12, 2006 10:19 AM | Link to this

I personally don’t have any kids but even as a family i check my parents on buying more food and junk!! Exercise is added to our daily regimes and when i do have kids in the future, i will strictly follow a healthy diet as i’m learing from the present genearation of kids and obesity.

By Jennifer

June 12, 2006 02:33 PM | Link to this

I am officially obese, though many people don’t look at me and think obese. I am 5’5” and 185 lbs. But since it’s very well distributed (large breasts and hips, relatively small waist) people are often surprised by my weight. But, alas, obese I am, as well as being overfat. I do exercise but I also enjoy good and bad food and drink.

My husband is also obese. He is 5’8” and 200 lbs. However, he is not overfat. He exercises 6 times a week with both cardiovascular and resistance training. He is overmuscled, not overfat. Lucky fat girl, huh?

Our child would considered in the 50th percentile for size. He is compact and muscular, much like my husband and myself were as children. It remains to be seen if he will chub out in his late 20s like me, or remain lean and stocky like his father.

As a family we practice good nutrition. We do not buy pre-packaged snack foods. We only keep uncooked chicken and beef, frozed or raw vegetables, and whole grains in our cupboards. We also engage our son in exercise whenever one of us works out. To date he questions us on what is healthy and what is not and prefers to eat healthy. He understands that unhealthy foods are “Sometimes” foods and healthy foods are “Anytime” foods.

Hopefully his genetics will favor his father. It’s heart-breaking to remain fit and thin until you hit your late 20s and then fight a losing battle. It’s heart-breaking to realize that the only way you’ll remain thin is to live with an extrememly uninspired and regimented diet (hard to do when you come from a culture of good Cajun food).

However, if he does take after me instead of his father he will have developed good habits. After all, research shows that people who have a healthy lifestyle but are still overfat are as healthy as their thin counterparts…

By frank123

June 12, 2006 05:57 PM | Link to this

My 13 year old son is overweight, and my wife and I are worried about him. He is about 5’4” and weighs about 155. He rather play video games. We have been taking him swiming 2-3 times a week (swim some laps) and bike riding on weekends. I am glad they have him running in his PE class in middle school.

By lynn

June 13, 2006 08:55 AM | Link to this

Frank, toss the vidio games!

By Ms.W

June 13, 2006 09:03 AM | Link to this

Both of my daughters (ages 9 & 12) gained a considerable amount of weight following the death of their father. I am very concerned and do not want them to go through their young years with this extra weight. My oldest daughter watches the music videos on t.v. and she believes that she is “fine”. She is 4’11” and weighs about 135. She is shapely, but a little thick to me.

I know that walking is always a good form of exercise and it allows you to talk and catch up on what your children are doing, but I don’t find many exercise programs for youth. Physicial education is almost cut out of most school programs. All the children are “thick” and/or obese.

Since both of my girls love to dance I am enrolling them in “hip-hop” dances at the local YMCA. I am trying very hard not make certain food purchases and we are eating more salads and drinking more water.

No one said that parenting was easy!

By ThinParents&DNA

June 13, 2006 09:23 AM | Link to this

My entire family eats lots of junk food, but our lack of obesity has more to do with our genes and DNA than the chips, cookies, snack cakes, etc. that I bring into the house. Look at the obese kids…they have obese parents. Stop blaming the junk food industry and look at the fat parents.

By Amanda

June 13, 2006 09:47 AM | Link to this

As a child, my family didn’t pay extra attention to diet and exercise, but we did always sit down at the dinner table together. There was, however, always dessert. I was never fat growing up (pretty thin, actually), but I think I owe that to dancing, cheerleading, and just a general high activity level. In college, healthy eating and regular exercise was a hard lesson to learn, but well worth it. I’m no saint, but I do make it to the gym 5 times a week and try to cook healthy food more often that I eat out.

My parents, on the other hand, are in their 50’s and I worry about them constantly. My mom is definitely obese, gets no exercise whatsoever, and eats whatever tastes good and is easy. If/when I have kids, they will be encouraged to get exercise DAILY and will learn healthy food choices as early on as I can make it happen. Even though I’ve tried to train myself to make healthy decisions, I still struggle with a few extra pounds, and skipping dessert is a constant battle. I think some education early on would have done better to instill really healthy habits.

By Ronnie

June 13, 2006 10:18 AM | Link to this

Whine whine whine! I’m PROUD that I can afford to feed my kids more than they need. Fat kids are a sign of success and privilege, like a big house or a fancy car or an exclusive country club membership. The day my kids have to lift so much as a finger in physical exertion is the day I’ve failed as a parent!

By Blonsky

June 13, 2006 10:18 AM | Link to this

Jennifer says - My husband is also obese. He is 5’8” and 200 lbs. However, he is not overfat.

You need to learn some definitions. “Obese” is a standard term meaning, generally, a high percentage of bodyfat. “Overfat,” although not really a standard term, means the same thing. If your husband is obese, he is “overfat.”

By wayne

June 13, 2006 10:48 AM | Link to this

frank, ditch the video games, or make it a reward for doing other things. Swimming is great exercise, but not the best thing for slimming down. Bike riding is good, but kids mostly just coast. It’s also a weight supported exercise, which means that he’ll have to do it longer than a non weight supported exercise.

Get your son some running shoes and find a nearby high school track. You and he can use it afterhours and on weekends. Do a mixture of jogging and walking (maybe something like 90 seconds/30 seconds and repeat). Keep this up for 20-25 minutes. Within 6 to 8 weeks, you’ll both make great gains.

Running is probably the least expensive, most practical cardio exercise.

By Jennifer

June 13, 2006 10:56 AM | Link to this

No, Blonsky, obese means having a BMI > 30. It is SUPPOSED to indicate overfatness, but it often does not, as in the case of my husband and many football players and other athletes.

My husband’s BMI is 30.4, making him right over the Obese category.

This is the problem with BMI.

@ThinParents&DNA - you are so right. DNA is a large component of whether you’re fat or not. My father is just like me, short and wide. My mother is tiny - petite and thin. My father is very active and my mother is not, though my father is the fat one and my mother is thin. I am very active, also, but still fat. However, whenever I go to the doctor and get bloodwork done I have a great profile - low cholesterol, great blood sugar levels, low blood pressure. Also, I took a fitness test and my max O2 consumption was > 40, indicating I am fairly aerobically fit.

But I am still fat….

My muscular lean husband, however, eats whatever he wants - lots of chocolate and sugar. He’s lean, aerobically fit, but he has bad cholesterol.

While you do have control over your fitness level you don’t have total control over your fatness level. Some of that is just genetically determined.

So, all you can do is live the healthiest lifestyle you can and let the rest of the pieces fall where they will.

If you ARE a fat parent then you need to realize that you were not gifted genetically. You are not one of those people who can eat what they want and stay thin. So, you need to adjust to a lifestyle that is healthy. This doesn’t mean you can NEVER eat junk food. It just means that you have to save it for special occasions.

By Brown eyed girl!

June 13, 2006 11:38 AM | Link to this

Ronnie, If you are serious,when that kid can’t lift his finger to call 911 because he’s having a heart attack or stroke(and it does happen to kids)I guess you will feel really special then. If you’re joking, not very funny!

By KATHLEEN

June 13, 2006 11:55 AM | Link to this

As a Registered Dieitian, I find this dialogue very interesting! Regarding BMI (body mass index), if a person has a BMI of 25-29, they are considered overweight and if they have a BMI of 30 or greater, they are considered obese. I have had several patients who would be considered obese according to their BMI but had a very low percentage of body fat. A high BMI does put a person at risk for certain chronic diseases, such as heart disease or Type 2 diabetes. If you are wondering how to calculate your BMI, it is your weight in kilograms (convert by dividing weight in pounds by 2.2) divided by your height in meters squared (convert by multiplying your height in inches by 2.54 to get your height in centimeters, divide this number by 100 to get your height in meters, then multiply this number by itself to get your height in meters squared).

Regarding the parents’ role in preventing childhood obesity, it is very important to not only get kids moving with activity that they enjoy (if they enjoy swimming, go for it!), but also to remember that if you are making dietary changes that the whole family needs to participate and the child should not be singled out—e.g., don’t serve a salad to the child while everyone else is eating McDonald’s burgers and fries.

There are many small changes that parents can do to help their child lead healthier lives. One way to learn more about what changes would be realistic for your family’s lifestyle is to consult a Registered Dietitian (RD), who is a nutrition expert. You can locate a Registered Dieitian in your area by going to www.eatright.org and look under “Find a Nutrition Professional”. There are many RDs in the Atlanta area and several who specialize in pediatric nutrition.

Food for thought.

By Tweety

June 13, 2006 12:14 PM | Link to this

Jennifer….how in heavens did you eliminate packaged snacks from your cupboard/groceries?!?!? My son is not overweight by a long shot but I would love to stop the pre-packaged completly! We still purchase the pre packaged mac-n-cheese, side pastas, and grab-n-go cheez-it, cc cookies and goldfish ect. ect for snack times. I find myself dipping in that every now and again…..help!!! If you could share with us parents about what some more other healthy snack items are it will be great. And yes we also definitly do fresh fruit, baby carrots, celery and sliced veggies to our grab-n-go. BTW - I am 5’5’ and 158 about to drop the last 10-15. My son is 4’ about 54 lbs.

By Eric

June 13, 2006 12:35 PM | Link to this

19 times out of 20… when you’re are looking at an obese child…. take a look at their lazy, fat azz parents. The kids are DOOMED.

By Natalie

June 13, 2006 01:24 PM | Link to this

I am a formerly obese woman, I lost 65lbs about 2 years ago, that is currently in the process of regimenting my overweight son into healthy eating habits. He is short and stocky but not overfat, however I am concerned that, like me, he will gain considerably more weight as he enters puberty. I have not completely cut off all “bad” foods from my diet to loss this weight and keep it off (yeah me!). I consider what nutritional value a food has before I serve and eat it. Those “bad foods” are a treat for every now and again. Please be concerned about this without having a medical problem cause you to be concerned, as I did.

By Jennifer

June 13, 2006 01:53 PM | Link to this

Tweety,

I would say that we had help with not buying pre-packaged snacks. When our son was born we were both in graduate school . We didn’t have enough money for daycare much less fancy pre-packaged food. While I breastfed for reasons of health it was also for reasons of economics! We were poorer than a pitcher (har har). And we stayed poor for the first year and half of our son’s life. So, when he started eating solid foods and having snacks it was easy to give him the good stuff.

We’re also fortunate that he LOVES fruits and veggies. He’ll eat a tomato like an apple and he loves broccoli and cauliflour.

Now, he does get some not so good food at school. I’m pretty sure the snacks they serve at school are pre-packaged. But, he very very rarely gets them at home. So, he doesn’t ask for them.

Here’s a typical diet of food for him on Saturday, when he’s home all day…

Breakfast: Two eggs, sunny side up. One slice toast with Smart Balance Spread. Glass of milk.

Snack: Apple or Orange or slice of whole wheat bread (Nature’s Own Extra Fiber) with Natural PB (no added salt, sugar, or oils, just ground up peanuts). If we have cherry tomatoes he’ll get a bowl of those. He also like grapes. He’ll sometimes eat a small amount of REAL cheese.

Lunch: Either a a PB sandwich as described above, or leftovers from dinner (usually some chicken and vegetable dish).

Snack: same as earlier

Dinner: I have a few mainstays. Various chicken and veggies (no butter or oils. if I need it to be creamy I’ll use low fat and sodium cream of something soup). Low-fat burgers or meatloaf. I make homemade pizza that is a little starchy but low in fat - it’s 100% homemade, even the sauce, which is simply tomatoes guts mixed with herbs. We also make red beans and rice a lot, using lean chicken and sausage.

We do have a few BAD things - we drink way too much diet soda. Even my son. Also, every Friday morning Dad takes him out for a single donut and chocolate milk before school. Occassionally the two of them go out for ice cream. I don’t like sweets so I don’t participate. Also, if he’s having a sleepover we’ll have chips and dip.

The main thing is, those junky foods are for special occasions and we don’t keep them in stock. It’s always been that way so he never asks for them. One pre-packaged snack we DO buy are the Morningstar Farms corn dogs. They’re vegetarian and smaller than regular corn dogs.

All I can say is that you can go cold turkey and ride out the complaining storm. It helps to have a spouse on board with the whole idea.

These are things I can think off of the top of my head. I will admit that there isn’t a lot of variety in our snacks. Also, we don’t eat between those four meals.

Congratulations on your weight loss. I would love to be 158. It sounds funny to say that. 10 years ago I was 130lbs and thought 158 was big. Now, at 185 I think 158 sounds just fine….

By lynn

June 13, 2006 02:09 PM | Link to this

Time magazine focuses on this throughout their entire magazine this week. According to what I have read, children develop their taste buds and appetite by the age of two. Parents chasing their babies around with a spoon are a lot of the problem. You push the kids to eat until their body gets use to the extra foods and therefore, require more and more. They are given treats for good behavior and treats are yanked for bad behavior which will make the children desire them (bad snacks) all the more. Mothers that don’t like certain foods never introduce the children to those foods which in turn makes the children desire less of whats good for them. Then you have the too busy moms who run through McDonald’s every afternoon to avoid having to prepare the meal. It’s our fault parents! Keep the babies on their formula & cereal till age 1, then introduce things like broccoli & califlower instead of cheese nips & cheetos.

By Tweet

June 13, 2006 02:38 PM | Link to this

Thanks Jennifer… i am going to incorporate the snack ideas you gave into our dailies. What we don’t do alot of is dairy and beef. Occasional burger at his school but so far it’s been good for us not to have at home. My son is 7 & he loves cheese REAL cheese and the more I buy the more he eats of it. That’d be the reason for the pre-packaged mac-n-cheese…because that’s not an us item that’s a his item. I add it to his dinner plate sometimes. We can also devour cheez-it’s and goldfish though. We dance and do other youthful activities together..he has no idea we are really getting some excercise. Then when he goes into 5th gear and really gets into it. I’ll say to him, That’s the diff. in youth vs. adult metabolism you can go on…and on… where I’m ready for water break. OH- yeah beverages…I don’t know all the value in Gatorade but that com[pany should pay us for drinking. He loves the stuff and perfers over any other drink.

…sideline comment parents….If your child makes comment when you are about to inhale something that’s not healthy for you. Don’t take it so hard. If they are learning to be healthy kids the first thing they are gonna do is help make you healthy parents.

Love.

By Jennifer

June 13, 2006 02:57 PM | Link to this

It certainly helps to have a child who likes fruits and veggies.

My son will choose cherry or grape tomatoes over chips and cookies any day. Even over grapes. He just LOVES tomatoes. When he was 1 and a half I grew some grape tomatoes in a bucket. I caught him standing by them and eating them off the vine.

Once, when he was 2 we went for a walk in the park and the blackberries were ripe. He watched as I picked some off and gave them to him. About 10 minutes later he was walking behind us and we didn’t notice immediately that he had stopped walking. The he started hollaring. We turned and he had fallen head over heel into a blackberry briar patch! He was laying still as could be under the vines so he wouldn’t get bit by the thorns! He had been trying to gather the berried himself and fallen into the patch.

funny thing is, he doesn’t like peanuts, though he likes peanut butter. He doesn’t like peas though he likes green beans and snow peas (in the pod). I think it’s becaus they roll around too much.

Now, mac-n-cheese. My son loves that stuff, too. I just use the high fiber noodles from Dreamfields and use cream of chicken soup instead of cheese (you could use the cheese soup mix, too - it’s lowfat). We add shredded chicken and broccoli to it. The soups (cream of chicken and cheese, etc) aren’t really healthy. they tend to ahve a lot of salt, but they’re lowfat.

We give him actual real cheese, just not tons of it.

One thing that is REAL popular in my house is rotisserie chicken. We have a George Foreman Rotisserie and it can cook up to 16lbs of bird (I think - I cooked 8lbs this weekend). That helps to de-fat the chicken and is tasty tasty!

By Tweety

June 13, 2006 03:44 PM | Link to this

George Foreman grills, rotisseries and that whole idea is a rescue for some good healthy inside grilling. When I first got mine I thought why’d it take so long for this to hit the market?!?! I was thrilled at the results….did you know it makes the best and quickest grilled cheese sandwiches…let alone chicken breast and t-bacon. It’s great..I love it. Next stop Rotisserie!!!!

Blackberry story is the cutest thing. I was that child….my family is from south Ga. and we lived in blackberry, plum and apple trees. It’s the best. Maybe that’s why we (4-cousins together every summer) were never overweight chldren. Though once my cousin OD’d on plums we had pick on summer when we were about 12-13. Long story but I remember we picke our snacks while outside in the the neighbors and any fruit tree fields during those hot summer days. Right after that we’d be ready to run it off…road racing…track mets had nothing on us.

By Jennifer

June 13, 2006 03:59 PM | Link to this

I had no problems with my weight, either, until after college. I was always stocky, but muscular and had no problems staying in size 6 juniors. It wasn’t until after college, after kids, and starting career that it became a problem. My dad was the same way.

But then, it’s easy to stay trim in college. I didn’t have any kind of real job, no spouse, no kids - I would work out 2 hours every day. I didn’t have a car, either, until I was 23 so I would bike everywhere I needed to go.

Now, I get up at 6:30 to commute hour and twenty minutes, work until 5:30, then commute another hour and twenty, get home at 7:00, feed the boy, spend time with the family. Now adays I only exercise for 30-45 minutes about 4 days a week on an exercise bike. And it’s just not enough to keep the weight off with my slowed metabolism. And I find I am just not willing to give up good food and drink or cut into family time to work out a ton.

I just hope that my son takes after his dad. And I hope that I don’t have any daughters. It’s not easy being a “big boned” girl in our society….ESPECIALLY if you’re married to a fit man.

But the best I can actually do is try to teach him good habits and also teach him that living healthy is better than looking healthy (ie, thin). Otherwise, if he DOES turn out like me then he’ll be tempted to look in the mirror and think his healthy lifestyle isn’t working. I battle that all the time. I don’t want him to.

By Tweety

June 13, 2006 04:30 PM | Link to this

He will probably be the healthier/thinner than the both of you. Seems as if you and your husband were not as much of veggie lover as your son is as a kid. Be it you guys all eat healthy but he seems as if he naturally loves the veggies more. Wait and watch he is going to be just fine and I mean lean as well..he’s starting out great.

I hear you on the hectic schedule and incoporating excercise that’s why I mention we sometime do youthful activities together..skating, running a race, playful games…it works those times you can’t make the structured excercise schedules.

Healthy kids really are around days. We (mothers) usually don’t produce a junkfood addict or obese child it’s an new day no-way habit that some have allow to happen to their children. These 21st century kids just don’t have the freedom to run/play freely all day as we did nor are there any of the fruit trees every other front yard as we remember as kids. So now “we” parents have to work a little bit harder to give our kids excercise and better eating habits. It’s not hard…it really isn’t.

By nan

June 13, 2006 04:49 PM | Link to this

I couldn’t help but smile while reading pervious posts. I firmly believe that as the parent, you are responsible for what your child eats. When someone tells me that that their child won’t eat anything but french fries and chicken fingers, I tell them that it is sad that their child is telling them what to do, not the other way around. If you do not give your child junk food, then they can’t eat it. It is as simple as that. No excuses parents. Own up to being lazy and give your child good food. My two year old loves the following foods: yogurt, any bean you can imagine, real cheese, grapes, tomatos, etc…I laugh like crazy when my mother, a typical high-fat southern cook tries to feed my son something yuck like hotdogs. He makes a terrible face and acts like he’s going to vomit! I love it. Fat kids are fat because of what they eat unless they have a genetic disorder which is extremely rare. Solution to being overweight? Put down the fork and spoon and push yourself back from the table (or get off the couch.)

By Tweety

June 13, 2006 04:56 PM | Link to this

Nan….that is great you daughter loves those things! We have got to get that in a bottle and sell it.

By Jennifer

June 13, 2006 05:15 PM | Link to this

Nan, I think it’s true that most kids aren’t fat naturally. I think that I’m-fat-despite-my-efforts type of thing kicks in later, as adults when your metabolism slows down. It happens to everyone, but just earlier to some. Not that I am excusing myself. I could be thin if I worked out 7 days a week and never ever ate anything that wasn’t a raw veggie and never consumed alcohol. But that sounds like a terrible trade off of QOL.

But, not all thick kids are destined to be fat, either. That lean mean spouse-o-mine was a big kid. Everyone thought he was going to grow up to be an OT. He was so thick! But, somewhere around the age of 12 he stopped thickening out. By the time he graduated high school he was his current hieght of 5’8” and 165lbs. It wasn’t until college and fascination with weight training came along that he reached his current weight of 200lbs.

Despite all this, it’s not hard to be confident in your child’s health if you start young.

Nan, my child likes hot dogs…but he prefers tomatoes. And he rarely gets them at home so he doesn’t associate them with food he should look for when he’s hungry.

By nan

June 13, 2006 05:59 PM | Link to this

I agree with metabolic slowdown, but as my family doctor put it, “we all slow down our activity as adults, but we consume the same or increasing amounts of food. The end result? Too much in, not enough output, we get fatter.” I also think that we tend to eat portions that are too big - and I’m not talking about super-sizing at Mc’Donalds either. We simply eat too much for the amount of energy we burn everyday. That is a very unfortunate side effect of modern society. Every thing is done for us by a machine - and I mean everything. I actually saw a salt shaker for sale that you press a button and it vibrates - therefore shaking the salt onto your food for you. Thatis the epitome of our society and what is hurting our kids today. We simply cannot eat the amounts we are used to, exercise as little as we do and expect to stay healthy. It is very depressing.

By goodtopic

June 15, 2006 05:01 PM | Link to this

(1) To the nutritionist who posted above: Why do we need BMI when the old weight charts did the same thing, gave a weight range for your height? (2) In my opinion it’s not so much what you eat as how much. Peanut butter is fine -unless you eat the whole jar. Look at the French: they eat small portions of very rich foods. I myself am not able to eat just one of my trigger foods; one cookie becomes the whole jar, one candy bar becomes five, and a dish of ice cream becomes the entire pint. Better for me to just avoid it. It just tastes so good I want more. (3) As an adult who spent a miserable heavy childhood and only became thin with lots of work, support groups and discipline (still), it breaks my heart when I see a heavy child with a heavy parent. I can only see that poor childhood doomed to an unhappy and unhealthy life. (4) No one has yet mentioned the emotional component. For some people there is emotional pain that is soothed with food, and these issues must be dealt with. For instance, it’s known that 50% of obese women have been abused. (5) I do not buy into the metabolism slows down excuse. I am 58 and have been active for decades; I still am able to keep my weight down with regular exercise.

By

June 15, 2006 05:08 PM | Link to this

To the poster who mentions huge portions: You’re so right. When I see the size muffins or sandwich (or bread) people ate decades ago it’s shocking to compare them with today’s sizes. And snack foods - some people can spend all day long snacking and then sit down to a huge dinner and then have a big bowl of ice cream later in front of the TV. I was once invited for dinner; two heavy children spent hours gorging on the appetizers then the parents nagged them to eat dinner. I wanted to say, they’ve been eating all afternoon, they don’t need more to eat. Unfortunately they had heavy parents. I love the idea of making it a family endeavor: exercise, nutrition, portion control, etc. I wish so much I had grown up like that.

By healthygal

June 15, 2006 05:15 PM | Link to this

Both my husband and I are very conscious of what and how we eat; we both had heavy childhoods and suffered unhappiness because of it. We both exercise regularly, keep nothing unhealthy in the house (if we want it we’ll make a special trip to go get it), no seconds (well, once a year maybe), and try to have low fat, low salt and moderate meals. When eating out we’ll watch our portions and take some home. Tonite, for instance, he stopped at the local Chinese and bought one daily special combo meal, which we will share. And I have good results when I take a minute to write down a daily food plan. That eliminates indecisiveness and poor choices.