Posts Tagged ‘parenting’
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
Improving your child’s diet does not have to be an arduous task. Little changes add up to big nutritional gains. Here are 10 quick and easy steps to makeover your child’s diet and prevent weight gain.
1. Don’t allow junk food in the house.
If it isn’t in the house, your kids can’t eat it. Or at least they will have a more difficult time getting their hands on it. Your first line of defense starts at the grocery store. Leave your kids at home when you are grocery shopping, if possible. Make a list before you leave your house and stick to it. Don’t get distracted by the tempting treats in the market. Buy healthy snacks to keep at home and save the junk for when you are out and can’t avoid it.
2. Don’t let your kids drink their calories.
Many children lose weight simply by giving up sugary beverages. Parents greatly underestimate the number of calories and grams of sugar in what their kids are drinking. Did you know that one can of soda contains 10 teaspoons of sugar? You would never knowingly give your child that much sugar to drink! And juice is not much better. I think of juice as sugar water. Children do not need to drink juice for its vitamin C. They get plenty of vitamin C from other sources. Think about it. When was the last time you met somebody with scurvy? Replace these sugary drinks with water, Crystal Light, or flavored seltzers.
3. Bigger is not better.
These days, even kid-sized servings are humongous. Most children in my weight loss practice have gained weight from eating too much healthy food, not from eating all junky foods. Remember, all food (even healthy ones) have calories and if you eat too many calories, you will gain weight. Be sure to serve your children appropriate portions of their meal. At a restaurant, share entrees or ask your waiter to pack part of your child’s portion away before he starts to eat it. We all know how difficult food is to resist when it is sitting in front of you!
4. Everything in moderation.
Tell a child (or an adult) that she can’t eat something and that is all she will want to eat. No food should be off limits. Banning foods leads to uncontrollable cravings. Instead, practice moderation. It is okay to eat ice cream as long as you save it for special occasions and limit it to an appropriate serving size.
5. Don’t promote the ‘clean plate club’.
The best thing you can teach your children is to eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full. Do not push your kids to eat more than they need, even if you think they have not eaten enough. Our understanding of a proper portion size for a child is overinflated. Push your child to eat the amount you think they need and they will eventually get used to eating that much. And then who wins?
6. Go back to nature.
Processed foods, while more convenient, tend to contain more calories than more natural foods. Whenever possible, stick to foods in their purest forms. Fruits, vegetables, meats and grains should make up the bulk of your child’s diet. Save the fast foods and processed foods for occasional treats.
7. Promote fat-free or low-fat dairy products.
Kids need the calcium in dairy to help their bones grow normally. But regular dairy products are very unhealthy because they contain so much saturated fat. Try to avoid full-fat dairy products. Instead, give your kids low-fat or fat-free cheese, yogurt and milk.
8. Nuts are a healthy snack.
Nuts are a great snack for children over the age of three who do not have any allergies. Nuts contain lots of protein, fiber and good fats that will keep your child full for hours. Children enjoy many different types of nuts, like pistachios, peanuts and almonds. Peanut butter is also healthy! Just be sure to stick to an appropriate portion size and make sure somebody is watching your younger child eat nuts as they can be a choking hazard if eaten too quickly.
9. If it’s fried, don’t eat it.
Teach your kids that fried foods are unhealthy and try to stay away from them whenever possible. In a restaurant, ask them to grill or bake your food instead of frying it. A great way to prevent cravings for fried food is to serve a healthier version at home. When my kids want fried chicken and french fries, I serve them chicken that has been breaded and then baked in the oven with potatoes that have been baked to a crisp. They love it and it satisfies their cravings for fried.
10. Incorporate movement into your child’s daily activities
While vigorous exercise is important, any increase in your child’s movement is helpful. Encourage family walks and bike rides. Grab a ball and play some basketball. When going to a store, pick the worst spot so you have to walk further to get to your destination. Ban elevators; take the stairs instead.
Incorporating these ten easy steps into your routine will greatly improve your child’s diet and your child’s health. Sometimes the smallest changes lead to the greatest gains.
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Thursday, May 7th, 2009
A new study suggests that there may be a link between child obesity and allergies. The findings, published in the May issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, indicate that controlling your child’s weight may prevent her risk of developing allergies.
The researchers analyzed data on 4,000 children and young adults ages 2 to19 from a new national dataset designed to obtain information about allergies and asthma. Obese children and teens in the study were significantly more likely to have an allergy to something, especially a food allergy. Obese children were 26 percent more likely to have allergies than normal-weight children. The increased risk of food allergies was even higher. The rate of food allergies was 59 percent higher in obese children.
While the study found a link between obesity and allergies, it did not necessary prove that obesity CAUSES allergies. More research is needed to make that determination.
“Given that the prevalence of both obesity and allergic disease has increased among children over the last several decades, it is important to understand and, if possible, prevent these epidemics,” said Cynthia M. Visness, Ph.D., lead author on the paper and a scientist at Rho Federal Systems Division, Inc. in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Hopefully this new study will give parents of obese children an additional reason to start their kids on a weight loss program.
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Posted in Weight Loss Study | 9 Comments »
Monday, May 4th, 2009
Kids should be taught to eat a variety of foods from an early age. Children who are exposed to various foods during childhood are more likely to learn to enjoy those foods in adulthood, even if they don’t like them while they are young.
The mistake parents often make is giving up on a new food after just one trial. It typically takes at least six to eight exposures of a new food before children will accept it. Sometimes it can even take ten to fifteen trials before children develop a liking for a new food. Eating a variety of different foods ensures your children are getting all the nutrients they need to grow.
Tips to Introducing New Foods:
1. Lead by example. Try new foods yourself.
2. Don’t let your children know that you don’t like certain foods. If you tell your children that you hate broccoli, it is unlikely that they will give it a fair chance.
4. Institute Dr. Dolgoff’s “Two Bite Rule”. Children must try two bites of each new food they are served. If they don’t like the food, they do not have to eat the rest. However, they do need to eat two bites of it each time it is served. It is likely that with time, your children will learn to like it. It is advised to wait at least one week before serving the same food again.
4. Do not force feed your children. Two bites is all you should insist they eat.
5. Continue to encourage your child to try new foods, different tastes and textures.
6. Introduce new foods with a variety of other foods, such as a casserole or a stir-fry dish, which may disguise a particular taste they may not like.
7. Don’t expect children to eat all foods offered to them; encourage tastings at first.
8. Select foods that are healthy and are already varied, such as multi-grain breads or cereals.
9. Serve a variety of foods from an early age. For example, expose your toddler to fish (besides shellfish) early on so he develops a taste for it from the beginning.
10. If your child still does not like a particular food after twenty or more tastes, you may move on. Your child may truly dislike the food.
~Reminder~
• Parents decide on what foods will be eaten and when meals will be served.
• Serve meals at the same time every day, if possible, to create patterns.
• Eliminate distractions during meal times. Turn off the television and computer. All attention should be focused on the meal.
• Expect rejection to new foods; continue to try again.
Did You Know?
Children are much more sensitive than adults to four sensations: Sweet, Sour, Bitter, and Salty. Children have five times more taste buds than adults.
Exercise for this week:
Bring the kids to the supermarket for a special trip. Walk through the fruit and vegetable section and have them pick out a new fruit or a vegetable that looks fun and interesting, such as a mango, pomegranate, papaya, apricot, escarole, swiss chard or Chinese eggplant. Then go home and research together on how to prepare the food item of the week!
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Tags: child, children, diet, healthy, kids, nutrition, obesity, parenting, picky, picky eater, weight
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Friday, May 1st, 2009
In the quest for an ‘ideal body’, mothers are putting their daughters’ self-images at risk. Dieting in normal-weight women is rampant in our culture. It seems that everybody wants to be supermodel thin. But at what cost? Women need to understand that in their own pursuit of perfection, they are teaching their daughters that ‘good’ is not ‘good enough’.
I have yet to meet a woman who is completely happy with her body. My friends are beautiful, intelligent, successful women who spend a large amount of time talking about dieting and complaining about their bodies. What messages are their daughters picking up?
It is one thing for an overweight mother to go on a diet to prevent future health risks. It is another thing for a size eight mom to diet down to a size four. Body size has a strong genetic component. It is very likely that a size eight mom will have a size eight daughter. And don’t we want our daughters to feel great about themselves? If they see us dissatisfied with our bodies, they will be dissatisfied with their own bodies. All this diet talk from normal-weight women is not healthy.
When a normal-weight woman tries to diet down to an unrealistic size, she normally winds up gaining weight. Weight regain rates in adults are extremely high, often approaching 80%. Maybe not immediately, but within a year or so, the weight usually returns. Weight regain is even more likely when the dieter starts out within the normal weight range. Not all bodies are meant to have such low levels of body fat. We can’t fight our own body physiology. It is a losing battle. Yet thin women continue to engage in it day after day.
I was at an eight year old’s birthday party recently with a group of beautiful, thin (but not super-skinny) mothers. I listened to them talk about dieting, unaware that their children were in earshot. One little girl asked her mom (a size six at most) why she didn’t eat any birthday cake. The mom nonchalantly replied, “Ugh. I am trying to resist it because I have to lose some weight.” I am sure that little girl looked at her slim mother and then down at herself and thought, “Do I need to lose weight?” And if she didn’t think it now, she will surely think it before long.
Women have to give up this futile fight for their daughters’ sakes. Dieting in normal-weight women will not result in long-lasting weight loss and is extremely detrimental to their daughters. Moms need to think about how their negative body talk and constant conversations about dieting sound to their little girls. We need to do all we can to support positive self images in our daughters. Berating our own normal bodies is not helpful. Instead, we should focus on teaching our children to make healthy food choices from an early age. We should model healthy exercise behaviors from the beginning. And we should keep the focus on heart health, not the size of our thighs. We need to celebrate all the different shapes that women come in. The best way to teach your daughter to love her body is by showing her that you appreciate your own.
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Monday, April 27th, 2009
What is the best way to ensure that your child sticks with an exercise regimen? Make it fun! It is best to disguise exercise in the form of playing. And there is a calorie-burning superstar just sitting in your garage, waiting to be used! You probably bought it for about $4.95- much less than any other type of exercise equipment. It is time to look at the jump rope in a whole new light.
Read on for a great jump rope exercise routine for your child.
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How many calories will we burn?
Jumping rope is one of the best forms of cardiovascular exercise around. Jumping rope burns about 10 calories per minute- that’s 300 calories in a half hour and 450 calories in a 45 minute sweat session. Few exercises allow children to burn quite so many calories.
But jumping rope doesn’t only burn calories; it is also an effective way to burn fat, increase stamina, improve coordination and firm muscles.
Where can we jump rope?
Jump ropes are both affordable and transportable. Prices range from $5 to $25. And since jump ropes easily fit in your child’s backpack, exercise can happen at any time, on the spur of the moment. Kids can jump rope outdoors or inside. All you need is a high enough ceiling and enough space to turn the rope without knocking anything over.
What type of rope should I buy?
There are a few different types of jump ropes. Your best bet is a rope made of plastic. Cloth ropes are pretty flimsy and leather ropes take a long time to break in. Try to find a rope with soft foam handles and a swivel-like turning action for best comfort. Adolescents can try a weighted rope once they have mastered the regular jump rope.
Jump ropes are not one-size-fits-all. When picking a rope, lie the rope along the ground. Have your child put one foot on the center of the rope and pull the rope straight up along the side of the body. Ideally, the handles should reach up to your child’s armpit.
What moves do we need to know?
The routine will incorporate a few different moves.
Forward Hop-Overs: Place the rope on the ground in a straight line. Have your child face the rope and jump back and forth over the rope.
Side Hop-Overs: Place the rope on the ground in a straight line. Have your child stand with the rope to his/her right side. Your child should jump side-to-side over the rope.
The Workout
Each step should be done for two minutes. The length of the routine depends on how long you want to exercise. The ideal length of the workout is between 30 and 45 minutes.
Warm Up:
March in place for 2 minutes and then jog in place for two minutes.
1. Jumping Jacks
2. Jump Rope
3. Forward Hopovers
4. Jump Rope
5. Side Hopovers
6. Jump Rope
Repeat steps 1-6 as desired.
Cool down:
Cool down by jogging in place for 2 minutes and then marching in place for 2 minutes.
Tips to increase the “fun” in the workout:
1. Make it into a “Simon Says” game.
2. Invite friends to join.
3. Exercise with your child.
4. Let your child pick which move comes next.
5. Make up your own moves!
Remember: Exercise is fun!
Make sure your child drinks plenty of water before, during and after the workout. And always consult a doctor before starting your child on an exercise regimen.
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Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
Several states now send home “weight report cards” to parents. The school reports the child’s body mass index and informs parents if their child is considered underweight, normal-weight, overweight or obese. The note home also includes nutritional tips and guidelines. Parents around the country are fuming! Should schools get involved in this arena? Is it appropriate for a parent to receive such a letter?
In my opinion, the answer is YES!
Quite honestly, I don’t understand what all the uproar is about. The information is completely confidential and parents can do with it what they please.
Studies show that the majority of parents of overweight children fail to recognize that their kids are overweight. And if they don’t realize that their children are at medical risk due to their weight, they will not take the appropriate steps to help them.
A 2007 study from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital found that only 13 percent of parents with obese children ages 6 to 11 rated their child as being very overweight, compared with 31 percent of parents with obese children ages 12 to 17. And, less than 10 percent of parents with obese children ages 6 to 11 said they were “very concerned” about their child’s weight.
One out of every three children in this country is overweight and at risk for medical disease. Our children are developing medical conditions that used to be seen solely in adults. And according to the CDC, this generation of children will be the first to die younger than its parents. We clearly need to do something to help these overweight children.
Some parents are concerned about the cost of such a program. School budgets are already stretched thin. Parents are complaining that this program is simply an unnecessary expense.
Schools have always mandated that doctors send them information on each students height and weight. So they have had this information but have not done anything with it! The only change is informing the parents of the results. The cost of this program is truly nominal!
Eating disorder activists worry that this program will cause overweight children to develop disordered eating. But studies show that if you treat an overweight child in a sensitive manner and give them the necessary tools to lose weight, you actually DECREASE the incidence of disordered eating. These children are at a MUCH higher risk of medical disease from being overweight than they are of developing an eating disorder. The key is to handle the situation appropriately. That is why schools are not giving the information directly to the child. Nobody is telling a student that he/she is overweight. The school is simply giving the parents the information along with some nutritional guidelines. It is then up to the parent to handle the situation appropriately.
We are in the midst of an obesity epidemic that is shortening the life span of our children. As a society, we need to do everything we can to help the each child of the next generation live as long and as healthy a life as possible. I believe that informing parents, who may be unaware, that their children are overweight will help. When it comes to a child’s health, ignorance is definitely not bliss!
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Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments »
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
It seems that everybody enjoyed my top ten food myths so I decided to add to the list.
Pick up any magazine and you will read about the latest diet fad or the next wonder food. These tips often sound too good to be true because they are not! Read on to learn the truth about some more food myths. You will be surprised at what you learn!
11. Fruit juice is healthy
Fruit juice is a source of empty calories. Eating a piece of fruit provides vitamins, fiber and tends to reduce intake of other food. But most fruit juices are just sugary beverages, providing extra calories — all from refined carbohydrates — without sating appetite. And this goes for all juices, from apple and grape juice to acai berry or pomegranate juice.
12. Antioxidant water prevents disease.
Antioxidant water is a marketer’s dream come true because it really sounds like it should be healthy and naturally-occurring antioxidants in other foods have been shown to prevent illness. However, none of the antioxidant waters have shown any health benefits. Antioxidant water is just overpriced water with added sweeteners, flavoring, and supplements. Studies of antioxidant supplements have shown no benefits and their is no reason to believe that the antioxidant supplements in these waters will be any different.
13. Frozen vegetables are less nutritious than fresh ones.
The best time to eat a vegetable is right after it is picked. However, for those of us who do not live on a farm, this is not quite feasible. Nutrient levels drop during shipping and storage. They drop further as the veggies sit in your refrigerator. By the time you eat that fresh vegetable, is has far fewer nutrients and is not quite as fresh. Frozen veggies, on the other hand, are flash-frozen immediately after they are picked so they retain most of their nutrients.
14. Pork is fattening.
It’s true that sausage and ribs are loaded with calories, but three ounces of cooked pork tenderloin has only 140 calories ‑- exactly what you’d find in three ounces of skinless chicken breast. That’s why they call pork “the other white meat”!
15. You should drink eight glasses of water a day.
Studies show that people often mistakenly believe they are hungry when they are simply thirsty. They then eat unneeded calories instead of just drinking a glass of water. A good diet strategy is to make sure you are fully hydrated at all times. However, you do not need to drink eight glasses of water a day to stay fully hydrated. Four glasses of water a day should be sufficient.
16. Trans fat-free foods don’t contain any trans fats
There is a loophole in the FDA’s trans fat labeling law. Any food with less than 1/2 gram of trans fat per serving can be called “trans-fat free.” Manufacturers get to choose what a serving size is, and it rarely matches up with what you want a serving size to be. A cracker company can decide that one small cracker is a serving but if you eat 12 “trans fat-free” crackers, you could have eaten up to 6 grams of trans fat. The key is to look at the ingredient list. If the product contains hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated oils, it contains trans fats. Since trans fats are so unhealthy, these products should be avoided.
17. Sugar causes behavior problems in kids.
A 1995 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that “sugar does not affect the behavior or cognitive performance of children,” yet the American Academy of Pediatrics reports that 93 percent of parents ask about avoiding sugar when their children are diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. There is no evidence that sugar increases hyperactive behavior in children.
18. Wraps are a healthy lunch choice.
Whoever ran the marketing campaign for the wrap is a genius. How did this incredibly unhealthy and fattening product get the reputation of being a health food? A wrap (without anything in it) can have more than 300 calories. Wraps are never a healthy choice.
19. Exercise makes you hungry.
I have heard dieters say that they don’t exercise because it makes them hungry. The truth is, exercise does not significantly increase hunger. However, many people feel that they “deserve” to eat more calories because they exercised and so they allow themselves to indulge.
20. Skipping meals will help you lose weight.
Skipping meals is one of the worst things you can do when dieting. Yes, you save calories at that meal but studies show that you more than make up for those calories during the rest of the day. Also, you put your body into “starvation mode” so your metabolic rate lowers and your body tries to do whatever it can to hold onto calories. You are much better off eating small mini-meals every three or four hours.
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Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Sometimes it seems that there is more nutrition misinformation floating around than actual truth. It is hard to distinguish between what is fact- and what is mere fantasy. Read on for the debunking of some of the more common food myths.
1. You will gain weight if you eat after 8 pm.
The bottom line for weight loss: calories in must be less than calories out. It doesn’t matter when you eat the calories. The problem with late night eating is that most people eat the appropriate number of calories during the day and then go overboard at night, especially when eating in front of the television. So feel free to eat at night- just keep your total number of calories in check.
2. Fat-free foods are healthy.
Not all fat-free foods are healthy. In fact, sugar is the quintessential fat-free food and nobody would dare say that sugar is healthy. Many fat-free products actually contain more calories than the original. To maintain flavor, anufacturers have to add something back when they take out the fat, and that something is usually sugar. Be wary of fat-free snacks and always look at nutrition labels.
3. You should not eat carbohydrates if you want to lose weight.
Carbohydrates are a part of a healthy diet! However, some carbohydrates are healthier than others. Whole grains, like brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and whole wheat bread, can help facilitate weight loss by keeping you full. Diets that don’t include any carbohydrates often fail because dieters get too hungry and feel deprived, increasing the likelihood of a binge!
4. Some foods have ‘negative calories’.
It is a commonly-held belief that chewing and digesting certain foods burns more calories than the foods actually contain. It is said that you can lose weight by eating these foods. These purported miracle foods include cucumbers, celery and grapefruit. Unfortunately, this is not true. No food truly has ‘negative calories’.
5. Decaf coffee has no caffeine.
Decaffeinated coffee contains caffeine; it just contains less caffeine than regular coffee. A cup of regular coffee has 100-150 mg of caffeine while a cup of decaf has 8-32 mg of caffeine. You are better off drinking herbal tea with is truly caffeine-free.
6. Margarine is healthier than butter.
Neither margarine nor butter is healthy. Butter has saturated fat that can increase LDL (bad cholesterol) levels, increasing the risk of heart disease. Margarine, however, often contains trans fats which not only increase LDL but also lower HDL (good cholesterol) and can increase the risk of heart disease even more! I recommend using a little bit of heart-healthy olive oil instead. Olive oil contains monounsaturated fats which are proven to decrease the risk of heart disease.
7. Bananas are fattening.
One medium banana has only 105 calories and is full of fiber, magnesium and potassium which can help manage blood pressure. Bananas also contain vitamin B6 which helps with immune function. It is true that, per serving, bananas may have slightly more sugar, carbohydrates and calories than some other fruits. But they are still a very healthy part of a balanced diet.
8. Cooking veggies destroys their vitamin content.
Cooking vegetables actually increases your body’s ability to absorb the nutrients in certain vegetables. Tomatoes are a great example of this. Lycopene, a phytonutrient that helps prevent cancer, is much stronger in cooked forms of tomatoes than in raw tomatoes. It is true, however, that overcooking some vegetables in large amounts of water can decrease their vitamin levels by allowing the nutrients to slip out of the vegetables into the water. To prevent this, do not overboil veggies. Try to steam, roast, or microwave vegetables with as little water as possible and keep cooking time to a minimum.
9. High-fructose corn syrup is more fattening than regular sugar
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and table sugar (sucrose) contain similar amounts of fructose. The two most commonly used types of HFCS are HFCS-42 and HFCS-55, which are 42 and 55 percent fructose, respectively. Sucrose is almost chemically identical, containing 50 percent fructose. The bottom line: there is no evidence to show any differences between these two types of sugar. Both will cause weight gain when eaten in excess.
10. Salt causes high blood pressure and should be avoided
The truth is that restricting salt in people with high blood pressure can help lower blood pressure. But that doesn’t mean that salt causes high blood pressure in normal individuals. There is no reason for people with normal blood pressure to restrict their sodium intake.
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Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
An overweight woman is putting her child’s health at risk! This simple fact should help motivate women to lose weight.
Women in America are more overweight than ever. But even more disturbing, their children are too. In fact, according to the CDC, this generation of children will be the first to die younger than its parents. It is not just mom’s health at risk. Women are usually shocked to learn that a child with two normal-weight parents has a 7% risk of being overweight. If one parent is overweight, the risk jumps to 40%. And a child with two overweight parents has an 80% risk of being overweight.
Moms can significantly lower their children’s risks of obesity by losing weight themselves! Children model their parent’s behaviors. Every mother knows that nothing is more attractive to a child than what is on mom’s plate! A child who sees that mom doesn’t value eating a healthy diet will learn to eat junk. On the other hand, when a child sees mom enjoying healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables, he will want to eat those foods too.
My own children taught me this lesson last summer! I was sitting in my kitchen with a mango. But not just any mango- a perfectly ripe, juicy mango. “What a treat,” I exclaimed as the juice ran down my face. “This is really the best.” The next thing I know, my kids had jumped onto my lap, begging to try it. Truthfully, I didn’t want to share- it was that good! But I gave them some and thus began my kids’ love affair with mango. It all has to do with how you react to the food yourself! Now, when I sit down with a new healthy food, I make sure to let my children watch me enjoy it. More often than not, it prompts them to want to try it too.
The same goes for exercise. Children of mothers who exercise are significantly more likely to enjoy exercise themselves. If moms don’t exercise or exercise begrudgingly, kids learn that exercise is a chore. But if kids see their mothers looking forward to working out, they want to join in too. My kids are thrilled when I let them join me on a morning run or an afternoon bike ride!
Mothers always want what is best for their children. We need to remember that our weight directly influences our children’s weights. It is not selfish for a mother to take an hour a day to exercise. In fact, in a sense it is selfish not to! Reminding mothers that they must lose weight to help their children is often all the incentive they need to begin, and continue, their weight loss journeys.
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