Monday Moment - Prevent Childhood Obesity

In the last few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to do some teaching around preventing childhood obesity, and I thought I’d share some of that info with you all on this bright sunny Monday. In 2006, I worked on a project with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Program which helped me get a perspective on what parents and other caring adults might do to help kids develop healthy lifestyles – especially concerning weight issues. Here are a few highlights:

· Parenting/Caregiving Styles: Being Responsive and Firm – let’s call that Supportive – is the style that helps kids learn healthy attitudes toward food and activity. A Supportive Style is characterized by offering Choices Within Limits. Kids raised in either Neglectful (neither responsive nor firm) or Indulgent (responsive but not at all firm) styles may be twice as likely to be above healthy weight and are learning eating attitudes that will not serve them well as adults. Kids raised in a Dominating Style (not responsive but very firm) may be five times as likely to be above healthy weight. Five times! Choices within Limits is definitely the way to go!

· Divide Responsibility for Eating and for Active Play: Adults should only take responsibility for deciding WHAT food is served, WHEN it is offered, and HOW it is presented. Kids need to be allowed to decide WHETHER and HOW MUCH they will eat. Adults can require that kids take a “No thank you bite” to try a new food, but should even allow a child to spit out that bite if s/he wants to. Forcing kids to eat a food is not being responsive to their wants and needs! The same approach applies to Active Play. Adults provide opportunities and monitor safety and Kids decide WHETHER and HOW MUCH they move. This is a big shift in thinking for a lot of adults who are worried that kids get adequate nutrition – but dividing responsibility can also free families of unpleasant dinner-time dramas and make way for more pleasant associations with food experiences.

· Play more! Kids need 60 minutes of Active Play every day. And adults need at least 30 minutes of similar activity. Notice I didn’t say exercise. I said Active Play! Who doesn’t like to play? Sounds more appealing than exercise doesn’t it? And if kids have the chance to play – especially outside – they’ll run, jump, climb, and do all kinds of movement that their bodies need. They’ll get plenty of exercise!

· Limit Screen Time! Take televisions, computers, and video games out of kids’ bedrooms and put them into shared spaces in your home so you can control how much time kids spend in front of a screen. Aim at a max of 1-2 hours a day. Screen time robs kids of active play time – and exposes them to something like 10,000 food ads a year in addition to all the content that may be above their developmental levels. One system is to give kids coupons for a week’s worth of viewing, playing, or computer time, and have them choose – with your guidance – how they’ll use the time you allow.

· Watch out for sweetened drinks! Drink water or low-fat milk instead! A lot of popular beverages have loads of sugar in them – which can add up to a lot of extra calories. Read the label before you choose a drink and try to visualize how much sugar might be in a container. Remember that a lot of containers hold more than one serving, but the grams per sugar are listed per serving. For example, a 20-ounce bottle of cola might have as much as 15 teaspoons of sugar in it!

· Eat fast foods no more than 1-2 times a week! In spite of the convenience, fast foods tend to cost more, be high in fat and calories, and have large portion sizes! At a fast food restaurant, we’re more likely to have fried foods and sweetened beverages. When you do go to fast food, go armed with knowledge by downloading their Nutrition Facts charts. When you’re with a child, decide before you get there what two or three choices you’ll offer, and then let the child choose between the options you present.

These are just a few highlights of what I’ve learned. There’s more to know about raising kids with healthy attitudes toward food and play. You can get more info at mypramid.gov and lots of other places on the internet or from your local Cooperative Extension office. If you have a chance to influence a child, these tips – and remembering that the child will pay attention more to what you do than what you say – can help the child learn about healthy ways to eat and play!

Have a truly nourishing week!

Sally