Obesity in Kids

Parents Hold The Power To Fight Overweight And Obese Kids

By Dr. C. Farquharson-Deveaux, MD 

Everyone (who is being honest with themselves) is aware of the increasing number of people (including children) who are overweight or obese in our country today.  The lack of physical activity combined with eating large amounts of unhealthy foods is the main cause of this problem.  How often do we look at a picture of ourselves as a child or teenager, and marvel at how skinny and lean we were back then?  Remember how active we were, playing out in the streets.  Games like kick the can, ring play, socking and rounders were our regular source of entertainment.  And the only time we stopped to eat was to pick a guava, some scarlet plums, coco plums or sugar apple off the tree and wash it down with some cool refreshing tap water.  Our children today may be better off with regards to better access to education, technological advances and financial prosperity, but they are paying a much bigger price in that their health is being sacrificed.

As adults, we need to accept responsibility for our actions (or lack of action) regarding the epidemic of overweight and obesity amongst our children.  Using U.S. statistics, which can easily be compared to our population, about 20% of children between 2-19 years old are overweight or obese.  That means for every 5 children you see, at least 1 is 'fat'.  This increasing number also means that there is an increase in poor physical, mental and social health that tends to be associated with being overweight or obese.  These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, arthritis, abnormal periods, lack of self-esteem and self-worth, depression, poor relationship and career choices, and early death from stroke, heart attack and complications of diabetes.  Our children deserve the best we can give them which most importantly is a healthy, happy life.  This can be easily provided regardless of our financial situation, level of education, social status, or how we were raised.

So how soon should we start developing healthy lifestyles for our children?  Well, proper eating and physical activity practices are most easily formed and kept early in life, so children need to be taught as early as possible.  From birth, infants have an inborn sense of exactly how much food their body needs to grow and be healthy and their appetite is driven by hunger only.  The child will feed on whatever is provided to it until the hunger is satisfied and then it will stop. The total amount of food taken in will equal how much energy it needs to grow and play.  These on demand feedings occur fairly regularly and consistently in newborns and infants (e.g. every 2 - 4 hours) when the child's activity level is quite predictable and consists mainly of sleeping, eating and very little else.  As children reach the toddler and young childhood phase, the hunger drive tends to become quite erratic and unpredictable as they become more mobile, easily distracted and their activity level fluctuates.  Needless to say, this can be extremely frustrating for parents and caregivers who become concerned that the child may not be getting enough food, or seem to be stuck on just one type of food.  We tend to overestimate how much food our children need [based a lot on our own adult eating habits] while ignoring or underestimating the child's activity level.  The mistake we as well-meaning parents then make is to provide our children with large amounts of food that have very high calorie content but very little nutritional value in hopes of packing all that energy in, even to the extent of bribing or threatening the child to eat.  The child's natural pattern of eating is then disrupted and they begin to learn unhealthy eating habits.  Other things that can also cause the development of this behaviour include forcing young children to have strict eating times, restricting access to certain foods and closely monitoring non-eating behaviour.

These can prove detrimental to a child's eating habits and pattern, especially in the toddler (1-4yrs) and adolescent (12-17yrs) stages when they are trying to establish a sense of independence and identity.  Children may refuse food or may form other negative (social) behaviours as a means to exert their own authority or as a means of rebellion against a sense of powerlessness. They may also inadvertently become an overeater which is usually triggered by external or emotional factors.  The child will quickly eat large amounts of tempting or comfort foods usually in secrecy and because the trigger for this type of eating is not hunger, then becoming satisfied is not sufficient to stop the eating.  Instead these children will eat until there is no more food, until they are interrupted or until they are uncomfortable.  All this excess food is then stored as fat because these children usually are not motivated or have no available form of activity to burn the extra calories.  This emotional eating cycle is very strong and unfortunately continues into adulthood.  Children at highest risk for this include those with overweight or obese parent(s) and those in homes where an unhealthy lifestyle is already the norm. 

As parents, we are obligated to provide our children with a variety of healthy, nutritional foods for snacks and meals, in an unpressured, comfortable, non-distracting environment preferably with no television on and hopefully with other  family members present.  Allow younger children to be gradually changed to a clock-defined meal time as they get older and can understand.  Feed them balanced, age appropriate foods and snacks like peanut butter sandwiches, fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals and crackers, yogurt and cheese.  Drink lots of water and proper servings of milk and 100% fruit juices.  Give them a nutritional breakfast and send a healthy lunch to school, especially if there is no controlled, healthy school lunch program. Serve small portions and let them ask for more if they are still hungry. Avoid adding sugar to foods in attempts to make it more tasty and tempting to children.  Avoid high fat foods like cheeseburgers, french fries, macaroni, anything fried, cakes, cookies, sodas and potato chips.  These tend to only satisfy hunger for shorter periods of time but with the faster return to hunger it eventually leads to over eating and contributes to indigestion and acid reflux.   When these unhealthy types of food are eaten they also cause abnormally fast and high levels of sugar in the blood, and through a series of chemical actions, can quickly lead to sleepiness, difficulty concentrating, difficulty learning, and lack of energy.  Don't ever use food as a substitute for comforting your child or as a reward for specific behaviours.  Purchase your child a ball (any kind), skates, a bike or jump rope and let them loose in the backyard or take them with you to a safe play area. Children model what they see and hear, so it is extremely important to be an example and let them see you make healthy lifestyle and food choices.  Unless your child is obviously sick or not growing well then allow them to eat only what they want, even if it appears erratic and not enough.  Over the course of a few days, you should notice that their average food intake balances out.

Take your children for routine physician health-checks, and point out any concerns you may have.  They should have their height, weight and body mass index (BMI) done.  If you are unsure of what is appropriate or healthy, then ask!  Don't ignore or be in denial of your child's unhealthy physical and/or emotional health status.  The sooner we are able to admit and take responsibility for the problem, the sooner we can deal with the issue and get started to a healthier, happier Bahamas.