Q & A: how to help an overweight 11 year-old
This original post appeared on a blog of cnn.com. “Every weekday, a CNNHealth expert doctor answers a viewer question. On Friday, it’s Dr. Melina Jampolis, a physician nutrition specialist.” While this exact scenario may not match your child’s, there are good references in here on diet make-up, daily activity vs. sedentary and body mass. The original link appears below and at the bottom.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.”
Obesity, diabetes epidemics continue to grow in California
Greater than 50% of the adults in California are obese or overweight. More than 25% of California adolescents — some 970,000 children — are obese or overweight.
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.
School district promotes healthy eating habits in the classroom
USDA calls Novato a model of nutrition education
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.”
Marin grass roots TEEN group advocates healthy food at school
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!
Robyn O’Brien and “The Unhealthy Truth” Kicks Off Non-GMO Book Club on Facebook!
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.
Update: Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act
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)
Help Children Remain Active
Children Need To Remain Active Physically Despite Our Era Of Hot Gizmos
The media culture is strengthening its grasp on our children. The era of tech gadgets and hot gizmos is really taking everyone by storm and children are not left out. You will often find kids queuing up outside a toy store on the morning a video game is released. This makes them especially vulnerable to obesity as they stay indoors playing games and using these gadgets.
Your children need physical activity if you want them to have good health. If your child gets accustomed to a life of sitting indoors and doing nothing physical the whole day, this pattern of a sedentary lifestyle will continue into adulthood, with devastating consequences.
Forum on Childhood Obesity
Congressman Mike Thompson co-hosts a community forum on the causes, effects and possible solutions for the nationwide epidemic of Childhood Obesity. The Forum takes place August 12th from 9:00am to 11:30am in the Main Conference Rooms at Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa, CA. Joining Congressman Thompson will be a number of physicians, educators and other national and regional experts on childhood obesity - along with Napa area residents who will share inspiring, personal experiences and successes in overcoming this developing health crisis.
If you are unable to attend the event this Thursday morning, there is a second forum being held Friday evening on the topic of obesity and its causes - “Sugar: The Bitter Truth”. Find out what is really behind our National Obesity Epidemic. Queen of the Valley Wellness Center hosts a panel of experts as UCSF researcher Dr. Robert Lustig exposes what’s really behind our nation’s obesity epidemic. Find out what is hidden in almost every type of processed food being sold. Friday August 13th at 5:30pm.
It will take all of us, each doing a little part, to help stem this epidemic. For more information, contact Susan Carrington, Queen of the Valley Medical Center at 707-251-2015 or click here for more information.
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It appears the Friday event has reached maximum capacity. Additional information follows:
Sugar: The Bitter Truth
What’s Really Behind our National Obesity Epidemic?
On average, men and women weigh 25 lbs more than they did 30 years ago and children are heavier and less fit than ever before. Join Queen of the Valley Wellness Center and a panel of experts as UCSF researcher Dr. Robert Lustig exposes what’s really behind our nation’s obesity epidemic that’s hidden in almost every type of processed food we buy. Dr. Lustig is a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at UCSF in the Division of Endocrinology. He is Director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health Program. Anyone concerned about their own health and the health of their children should attend “Sugar: The Bitter Truth.”
WHERE: Westin Hotel, 1314 Mckinstry Street St, Napa, CA 94559
WHEN: August 13, 2010
PROGRAM:
5:30-6:15 pm – Presentation: “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” – Robert H. Lustig, MD
6:15-6:45 pm – Panel Discussion:
Moderator: Marko Bodor, MD
Cheryl Forberg, RD, Nutritionist, “Biggest Loser” TV show
Mel Mari, Educator/Healthy Eating Specialist, Whole Foods
Amy Myrdal-Miller, RD, MS, Program Director, Strategic Initiatives, Culinary Institute of America
Scott Warner, Executive Chef, Bistro Don Giovanni
To register for “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” call 1-877-QUEEN LINE (1-877-783-3654)
Foods served in schools should promote the health of all children.
The Healthy School Lunch Campaign, sponsored by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), is dedicated to improving the food served to children in schools by educating government and school officials, food service workers, parents, and others about the food choices best able to promote children’s current and long-term health.
Menus in most school lunch programs are too high in saturated fat and cholesterol and too low in fiber- and nutrient-rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes (see PCRM’s 2008 School Lunch Report Card). Major changes are needed to encourage the health of the nation’s youth and to reverse the growing trends of obesity, early-onset diabetes, and hypertension, among other chronic diseases, in children and teens.
High cholesterol in youth may do its damage later
Take note, kids. What you do to your body today really could hurt you a few decades from now.
A new study that followed more than 3,000 young adults into middle age found that people who had high cholesterol in their 20s were much more likely to show early signs of atherosclerosis in their 40s than those who had “optimal” cholesterol levels.
That may seem kind of obvious - after all, anyone who has high cholesterol in his 20s is likely to have high cholesterol in his 40s and 50s too. What’s compelling, researchers say, is that the study suggests that the people may actually be doing irreversible harm in their youth.
