My Child Has Diabetes Newsletter
Volume 21 September 2006

Contents

New Articles
Stress,Your Child, Diabetes, and You
By Russell Turner

Old Yeller
By Juliet Johnson

How To Motivate Kids To Get Ready For School in the Morning
By Cheryl Hall

Why Does Homework Cause So Much Grief?
By Robert L. Newkirk Jr.

Regular Features

Helping the Student with Diabetes Succeed (A Guide for School Personnel) - in PDF format

Past Articles

 

Overweight Kids: The Ball is in Your Court

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By Thomas J. Kersting, Ph.D

Published:
1-September 2006

 

In 1980 kids drank twice as much milk as soda. Today they drink twice as much soda as milk.

Being a kid today is a lot different than it used to be. Instant messaging, play-stations and Ipod's have replaced kick-the-can, tag and kickball as the activities of choice. The sedentary nature of these activities has created a plethora of overweight kids and an alarming number with Type II diabetes. If you spent a day in a high school or middle school and really analyzed this situation, you'd be amazed at how many chubby kids there are lumbering through the halls. And if you saw the foods they ate-well, let's not go there.

The average looking 13 year old is no longer the awkward, scrawny type with big feet and pimples peppered all over his face. The average 13 year old now looks more like Tony Soprano, with pimples. Because these physical changes have happened gradually, we don't notice them fully. We forget that kids throughout all of history, with the exception of a few, have always been scrawny with big feet, not big belly's. And it's not vanity I'm concerned about; it's health. Nationally 22% of kids are considered overweight. In New York City alone, the statistic is an alarming 45%. So what can parents do?

96 percent of school children can identify Ronald McDonald. Santa Claus is the only other fictional character with a higher degree of recognition

9 million people between the ages of 2 and 19 are over-weight.

The days of dad going to work and mom staying home are a thing of the past. Household now rely on dual incomes as both parents often work long hours. Because time is scarce for cooking family dinners, getting take-out food is much more common convenient but a lot less healthy. Statistics show that meals eaten outside of the home are larger in portion size and higher in saturated fat and calories. If you introduce your children to these kinds of foods now, it will have a direct impact on how they eat later in life. Habits develop during childhood.

If you really want to help your child's health, here are some steps you can take.

 

  1. If you must order take-out, be conscious of what you are doing. Order foods that are healthy and smaller in portion size. Instead of pizza or cheese-steaks, order the grilled chicken or sushi. Your child will get used to it. Better yet, start preparing more home-cooked meals. Do a little homework and you'll find that you can plan some simple, healthy meals ahead of time.
  2. Start changing your own eating habits. Let this sink in-"the way you eat is how your kids will eat." As parents, you have got to make sacrifices and lead by example. This undoubtedly translates to you reshaping your own eating habits.
  3. Send your kid to school with no money. That's right, no money. This may sound a bit harsh, but what do you think your kid spends his money on at school? Yes, food. Start brown bagging his lunch. This prevents him from purchasing the unhealthy foods and soft drinks that litter our schools. Put a granola bar in your child's bag instead of a twinkie. Give her a bottle of water instead of "juice" box or soda; she'll get used to it. After all, one can of soda contains 8-10 teaspoons of sugar and 140 calories, and some kids drink as many as 7 a day. Do the math.
  4. Pull the plug on the computer. Pull it on the x-box and the television too. I know I sound hard-nosed, but aren't you reading this article because you are concerned about your child's health? The countless time they spend on electronic entertainment is perhaps the biggest contributor to the overweight problem. In fact, a recent survey showed that kids prefer electronic entertainment over out-door entertainment. There are kids who come home from school, go straight to their room and hide behind the computer all night. Not good folks, not good.

Over the course of a year the American child will have watched 30,000 television commercials

Yes, times have changed, but if we don't do something about the overweight problem now, our kids are going to be in big trouble when they reach adulthood. In fact, 70 percent of today's kids will be overweight adults, and the age expectancy has already gone down for the first time in history. A little creativity and sacrifice is all it takes to get your child on a healthy track. Remember, you need to be a parent not a friend. That means removing computers, televisions and video games from your child's bedroom whether they like it or not; they will thank you later on. It means working harder at providing them with nutritious meals, and most of all it means making personal sacrifices with your own eating.

 

 

 

Thomas J. Kersting, LPC, Ph.D is the author of FAT PROOF: Power Programming Your Bodies Weight-Loss Computer (Harbor Press, coming in Winter 2006). Dr. Tom has helped countless people to lose weight with his methods. Please visit his website to receive a free copy of his Power Programming Weight-Loss CD. http://www.fatproof.net/ .