How do I put my 11-year-old on a diet?
Question:
How do I put my 11-year-old daughter on a diet? She is 50 pounds overweight, though she only looks about 20 pounds over. She has a lot of muscle. She plays sports year-round.
She is a picky, picky eater. She has asked to go on a diet, but I don’t think that an 11-year-old should, even though it’s unhealthy to be so overweight. I have told her she will need to give up sweetened drinks, sweet snacks and white bread products.
Any other ideas that will not be too drastic but will show results?
Expert answer
Hi Lisa. I answered your question a couple of months ago but I received some excellent feedback from pediatric endocrinologist Craig Rudlin MD, FAAP, so I wanted to expand on my answer and make a slight correction based on the information that Dr. Rudlin provided.
A 2005 paper from the Pediatric Endocrine Society about childhood obesity suggested a more aggressive approach based on the associated health complications of overweight children, including high cholesterol, high blood pressure and pre-diabetes.
Specifically, for children with a BMI (body mass index– here’s a calculator) of 85-95 percent, rather than focusing on weight maintenance, as I previously stated, the paper recommends “a modified diet with decreased sedentary activities.”
A majority of adults in California are obese or overweight, and more than 2 million have been diagnosed with diabetes, according to a new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
Both conditions — which are related to each other as well as to heart disease — increased significantly in just six years, with the prevalence of diabetes alone jumping nearly 26 percent between 2001 and 2007.
The “epidemic” of obesity and diabetes leaves no racial, ethnic, economic or geographic segment of the state unscathed, according to the researchers. [See maps of obesity and diabetes prevalence in California.]
Although American Indians, African Americans and Latinos are particularly affected by both obesity and diabetes, these conditions increased among all racial and ethnic groups between 2001 and 2007. Similarly, while both conditions disproportionately affect the poorest Californians, there were upward trends in prevalence among all income groups during the same time period.
California’s youth are also affected: More than a quarter of California adolescents — some 970,000 children — are obese or overweight.
Novato’s nutrition education program received praise Thursday from U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, who called the district’s efforts to put local produce in its schools’ cafeterias a model for the nation.
“You are one of three school districts in California that are considered models for how we are trying to improve the school lunch program,” said Allen Ng, western regional administrator for the USDA’s food and nutrition service. He also praised Southern California’s Riverside and Ventura school districts during a presentation at Novato High School. In particular, USDA officials singled out the Novato schools’ gleaning program in which students, parents and other volunteers gather vegetables and other crops left over after a harvest at a local farm.
“Simply because of aesthetic requirements, 20 percent of our food gets left in the field,” said Helge Hellberg, executive director of Marin Organic, which sponsors the program. “Harvesting that food allows schools to get some of its food for free and purchase local, organic food from our growers at below-market prices.”
A major study was just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine from Harvard. In approximately 85,000 women who were followed for 26 years and 45,000 men who were followed for 20 years, researchers found that all-cause mortality rates were increased in both men and women who were eating a low-carbohydrate “Atkins” diet based on animal protein. However, all-cause mortality rates as well as cardiovascular mortality rates were decreased in those eating a plant-based diet low in animal protein and low in refined carbohydrates.
It is important to look at many actual measures of disease, including mortality, not just risk factors such as HDL cholesterol when considering a lifestyle change to a popular diet such as an Atkins diet. This is the first study that has examined mortality rates in those consuming an Atkins diet, and it confirms what many people have been mentioning, “a diet high in animal protein and fat, such as an Atkins diet, is not healthful and may shorten your lifespan.”
OK, school is now officially back in session in full force. There is so much to do each morning to get the kids out the door on time with everything they need to succeed. Lunch preparation becomes one more chore to squeeze in with all the other deadlines of the AM rush. But what you put in your kids mouths and stomachs each day can have so much of an impact on how they feel and learn all day. Take time to do it right from a nutrition standpoint. You only get to prepare them health-wise for the rest of their life once.
And while you’re at it, why not make lunch for yourself? Just as we can’t (unfortunately) count on our schools to supply the healthiest of lunch options these days, you may find yourself having to settle for “fast-food” meals in your day without some advance planning.
To help you and the kids power an afternoon of learning, growing and achieving, experts say a nutritious lunch should include lots of fiber and whole grains, some protein and healthy fat, a veggie and just a bit of natural sugar, like a piece of fresh fruit.
Easier said than done, you may be thinking.
Teens Turning Green is spearheading an unprecedented initiative called Project Lunch at the start of the new school year. The goal of Project Lunch is to inspire students, in partnership with Food Service Directors, teachers and community stakeholders, to green school lunch programs providing healthy food at all schools for all students. We want to help create healthy, nutritious, locally-sourced, and organic food offerings, with zero waste and a small footprint along each aspect of the meal at schools and in student lunchboxes. In the process we will partner with existing healthy lunch programs, highlight best practices and facilitate change.
Get Involved: We are looking for students to participate in Food Clubs and adult community mentors to volunteers. Please let us know if you want to get involved!
Learn more about Project Lunch
Sign up to Participate
Here’s your chance to support local ranchers committed to bringing Marin, Sonoma and Napa beef lovers healthier and more humane options.
Panorama Meats, Inc., the nation’s largest producer of USDA Certified Organic and 100 percent grass-fed and finished beef, has developed a unique program that brings beef raised on its Marin County, Napa County and Sonoma County ranches directly to Whole Foods stores in those three counties.
The new Blithedale store in Marin County became the first store in the region to carry the super-local beef, which is raised at Lunny Ranch in Inverness and Diamond W Ranch in Petaluma and is also processed locally in Merced. The beef is being rolled out to the remaining Whole Foods stores in Marin County, Napa County and Sonoma County during the next few months.
“This is the first of many programs from Panorama that connect local ranchers with the stores in their backyards,”
I sort of stumbled into this whole healthy eating/proper nutrition has amazing restorative powers thing. Well actually I was “pushed” by my doctor who wanted to prescribe Lipitor for my high cholesterol, and I said, “no way.” You can read about what happened to me on my journey via the blog on the Engine 2 Diet website. As you’ll see from the article, it is not so much about what’s going on with your body on the outside as it is the amazing changes proper nutrition can bring about on the inside.
There are many schools of thought on exactly what constitutes the ideal diet for each individual
Leading up to Non-GMO Month this October, the Non-GMO Project’s Facebook page will be hosting a non-GMO book club series with three leading authors on the topic.
In August, Robyn O’Brien will kick off the series with her book “The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It” (published by Random House May 2009 and now out in paperback). This is the story of how one brave mother, who left her job as a Wall Street analyst to stay home and raise four children, chose to expose the role that chemicals and GMOs in our food supply are having on the health of the American children. Her meticulously detailed book highlights the role that federal policy and financial incentives play in the toxicity of the US food supply, and Robyn’s work has been recognized by Ted Turner, Erin Brockovich, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Dr. Oz and others.
An update on HR 5044, The Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act
The Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act (H.R. 5504) will dramatically improve children’s access to nutritious meals, enhance the quality of meals children eat both in and out of school and in child care settings, implement new school food safety guidelines and, for the first time, establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools. (Original bill text)
This new legislation, which was amended and passed by the Committee on July 14, 2010, will answer President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s call to reduce childhood hunger and support school and community efforts to reduce childhood obesity. (Supporters of H.R. 5504)
