Valerie Thomas helped her daughter get ready for the new school year by equipping her with a healthier way of living.

The Decatur mother recently completed a 12-week program at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta that trains families to adopt healthier diet and exercise practices to combat childhood obesity and prevent diabetes. Together, the Thomases learned how to combine proper diet with regular exercise to stave off weight gain and improve their health.

Chris Hunt / chunt@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Fitness expert Carla Fields shows how to exercise with kids

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"You have to do it all together," said Thomas, whose 12-year-old daughter, Micahla, was very active yet struggled with weight because of an unhealthy diet. "It's not that you don't know, but it's putting the pieces all together."

In Georgia, more than 59,000 middle school and 50,000 high school children are considered obese, according to the Department of Human Resources. Sedentary lifestyles and poor eating habits contribute to the growing problem.

Many parents such as Thomas often lack the knowledge to help their children fight weight problems, according to an online survey by DisneyFamily.com. More than two-thirds (67 percent) of respondents expressed concern about the ingredients in the food their children eat, but only one-third (33 percent) knew the correct number of food groups. Just 44 percent of parents claimed their children exercised 45 to 90 minutes each day.

To motivate children, parents should model the behavior they want without forcing or controlling the child, said Ruth Bell, an exercise specialist at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

"If a parent is overly restrictive and makes physical activity look like a chore, the child will push back," she said. "Kids do physical activity not because they think it's going to make them healthier but because they think it's fun."

The same applies to nutrition as parents and older siblings must eat the foods they want the child to eat.

"When parents try to control the amount of food and what they're eating, mealtimes become a power struggle," said Cristina Caro, a registered dietitian at Children's Healthcare.

The parent's job is to plan, prepare and provide balanced meals, but children as young as 3 should decide what, how much and whether to eat, she said. "They need to learn to trust you that you're going to let them make choices."

Thomas said her daughter makes better choices about food such as opting for vegetables instead of french fries if she orders chicken fingers or forgoing the complimentary bread before meals.

They exercise regularly, reduce unhealthy snacks and minimize fast food. Their small, incremental steps are building a foundation for a healthier lifestyle, she said.

"I can't say she has it [all together] because I can't say that I have it," said Thomas, a facilities director. "We're not applying it totally, but we're looking for opportunities where it can be applied more effectively."

Jump-start good habits

Mehmet Oz, a cardiologist at Columbia University and one of the most popular doctors on television (thanks to Oprah Winfrey), said that parents compound the obesity problem by making exercise too difficult and not allowing a child's taste buds to mature.

"Kids have more taste buds [10,000 compared with 3,000 for adults] so they don't experiment with food," said Oz, who described a child's taste buds as multiple and simplistic. "If they're never exposed to anything but burgers and fries, their taste buds never mature. They never get sophisticated in how they taste foods."

In 2003, Oz launched an organization to fight obesity, increase physical activity and improve mental resilience and self-esteem. Health Corps partners with local school systems and community organizations.

"Less than 10 percent of children walk to school compared to half in my generation," he said. Since children have little unorganized play, parents must find fun ways to incorporate physical activity into their lifestyles, he added.

"You don't have continuous all-day stuff going on outside," Oz said. "[But] a sedentary lifestyle is just unnatural."

More practical advice from Dr. Oz:

• Make it fun. If it's not fun, kids won't do it. Don't make food or exercise an issue.

• Make it a family affair. Everybody has got to do it. Everybody in the family has to be on the program.

• Don't go hungry. Always have nuts and fruits as snacks. Whenever they get hungry, they will eat that stuff.

• Make the big decisions in the supermarket and not the home. Once you bring it home, it will get eaten. Soups work well because you stay fuller longer.

• Downsize the dish. Use 9-inch plates for kids. The 2-inch difference saves half the food. Put stuff on their plate they should eat.

• Use peer pressure. The best person to teach a kid about health decisions is another kid — it's cool. An older sibling who eats broccoli will encourage a younger sibling. Or pick a neighborhood kid who likes to play outside. The younger child will follow.

• Keep tasting and trying. It takes about 12 tastes of a food for a child to begin to enjoy it.

• Eat together. You pass along good habits, and there's a set time.

• Start smart with breakfast. Don't eat out for breakfast because few acceptable fast-food options exist. Eat real food and no soft drinks. Try to give kids about half their fiber intake — about 7 to 10 grams — from their breakfast (such as steel-cut oatmeal and fruit). Fiber at breakfast keeps them full longer.

Physical Education

The following are basic codes regarding health and physical education in the school system:

• K-5: 90 hours per grade level per year required physical education and health.

• Grades 6-8: School must offer health and physical education but students are not required to take it.

• Grades 9-12: One credit of physical education or health is required to graduate (half a credit for personal fitness and half for health).

Source: Georgia Department of Education