How to Help Your Child Overcome Childhood Obesity

Fatty, fatty, two by four, couldn't get through the kitchen door. Ah, the mean taunts of children. If you are not one of the so-called beautiful, slender people, you may be confronted with mean verbal jabs by your peers, like the one mentioned here.

What can parents do to help their children overcome obesity? One thing is by not enabling unhealthy behaviors. But before you beat yourself up for being bad parents, you should look at genetic health factors first. Have the pediatrician give your child a good physical to ensure they are not obese due to a problem beyond their control, such as Cushing's syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, thyroid issues, genetic heart conditions, diabetes, etc.

More than likely, though, your child's obesity is due to two factors. Over-eating and under-exercising. Yes, fuel is needed to make a body run and grow properly. Done in healthy moderation with appropriate exercise, one's body grows proportionately. If one over indulges, though, their bodies store fat, thus causing a child (or adult, for that matter), to be overweight.

One poor food choices that can and will cause a child to be obese is fast food. We live in an instant gratification society where we grab a value meal from any number of fast food restaurants while on the way to our children's overly scheduled lives. Another poor choice is too much soda. These are high in sugars which store as, you guessed it, fat.

Another poor choice with food is a parent's shopping choices. Again, we buy high calorie, to be fried foods, processed foods, which are chock-full of salts, sugars, and fats (even the so-called low calorie choices), sodas, frozen pizzas, etc.

Lack of exercise is a huge factor in a child's risk for obesity. There was a time when in the summer, youth's would play outside from sun-up to sun-down. Riding bikes, playing sand-lot baseball, shooting hoops, running (literally) through the neighborhood with all the other active kids was the norm. Sitting on the couch was not acceptable.

Gone, though, are those days. Now our children sit on the couch watching television, or in front of the computer playing video games or chatting. They play their Nintendo DS, Wii, Play Station, or X-Box 360, and while some of the games require getting their sedentary bottoms off the La-Z-Boy, a lot of the games can be played sitting down, or standing in one place. This obviously does nothing for the waist-line.

Older kids may run around the neighborhoods, but they are on four-wheelers or driving in cars. I see kids around the school who live within a block or two (in a very small community) that get picked up by family so they don't have to walk home. That could be understandable in frigid temperatures, but when it is nice? Let's be honest, those kids could hike themselves home!

Another issue that can cause a child to become overweight is self-esteem. Yes, self-esteem. If a child is sad, lonely, feeling stressed or bored, they may eat. And comfort foods are rarely carrots or celery. It is ice cream, or some other sugary, fatty snack. Be honest, even as an adult the most tempting foods are generally not healthy. I say this as I sit here at nine in the evening with a cola on my desk.

So what can we do to help our children overcome childhood obesity? First we need to make sensible food selections at the grocery store. More greens. Less processed foods. Fats and junk should be kept to a minimum. But, as a former fitness instructor, I fully believe that you should have a "pig-out" day or occasional treats. If not, everyone will sneak and the battle of being healthy will be even harder.

Encourage water drinking. Encourage fruits and vegetables. And exercise. Do this as a family. In nice weather, go for walks. Make it like a treasure hunt. What can we find on today's excursion? It can be amazing how much you can learn from your children and in turn, them from you when sharing quality time. In colder weather? Join a gym together if money is not a problem. If you have a Wii? Bowl or play tennis. I recently found this to be an outstanding workout. Do the dance games on Play Station. Anything to work up a sweat. And, in spending time together, self-esteem raises, thus, making your children mentally healthy to go along with physically happy.

The thing is this...parents have to work with their children to ensure happy, healthy lifestyles. If you want to help your child overcome obesity, get in the healthy trenches with them. Don't pick at them or criticize, encourage. Happy health to you and yours!

www.mayoclinic.com