Child Obesity: Turning Childhood Obesity Around Starting With Small Changes

The “small changes” that got results were:

• Consuming one less soda or candy bar a day.

• Walking an extra 2,000 steps every day.

These small changes can help prevent excessive weight gain in children, and begin to turn the tide on child obesity, according to researchers.

This is really good news for families, says Dr. James O. Hill, the investigator, because he found that “With some very small changes you can begin to push back against childhood obesity.” His findings were presented during the 2006 Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in San Francisco.

Dr Hill’s study followed 216 families, all of which had at least one overweight or obese child, aged 7 to 14 years, were assigned to the on-the-move program.

By the end of the six-month study, children had decreased their average body mass index — a measure of weight that takes height into consideration.

GETTING SUPPORT AS A FAMILY is important so that parents can be both nurturing and authoritative. The SHAPE DOWN program has work books for both kids and parents to get back to healthy eating -- child friendly!

Find a SHAPE DOWN Program for Fat Kids In YOUR AREA

How To Get Fat Kids To Be More Active?

• Being able to provide a safe place for UNSTRUCTURED PLAY is what's missing for many families.

Olympic medal winner and mother, Silken Laumann has a web site and book that are a great resource that encourages safe neighborhood activities.

Laumann has found that it can be as easy as knocking on several neighbors’ doors to make one night a week an ongoing supervised “Park Night” at a neighborhood playground.

She gives the example of one mother who started a “walking school bus” by walking her kids to school and picking up others along the way. Everyone has fun, including kids who would otherwise get a ride to school.

• How to create safer neighborhoods and fostering unstructured play, see Laumann’s book: Child's Play : Rediscovering the Joy of Play in Our Families and Communities

* Lauman's Website for GETTING KIDS TO BE MORE ACTIVE * COOL SITE FOR KIDS: Get Sweaty Playing Games Created By Kids * Find A Fitness Vacation For Your Next Family Holiday * End Child Obesity: Find A "Families on the Move" Program Near YOU *

Forget the DIET SODA, Drink Water:

Researchers say that calories in drinks play a big role in weight gain and child obesity because people don’t realize the calories that are in these drinks.

These drinks also leaves a fat child hungrier than food does, for the calories consumed!

By 2001, soda, juice, milk, beer and other beverages accounted for 21 per cent of the calories consumed in the US, which was a 16 per cent increase over 20 years, according to Barry Popkin, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• NO MORE ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS: Splenda or NutraSweet!

Although everyone eats artificial sweeteners to lose weight, the research shows that they INCREASE INSULIN, so that in the long run they increase the appetite and therefore cause people to GAIN WEIGHT, and actually increasing child obesity!

* Best Healthy Natural Sugar Substitutes * Why Not Use Artificial Sweeteners? * Healthier Shopping Tips at the Supermarket Guru *

Why Begin Making Small Changes Now?

Dr. David Katz, an outspoken critic of fast-food culture and the high calories that go with it, says that some children are already grappling with heart disease before their teenage years are finished, because of child obesity.

“We’re all in the same sinking ship,” says Dr. Katz of the Yale University School of Medicine. He points out that the toll is enormous, so that children now growing up will face a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

For help with curbing appetite and cutting down portions while changing to healthy eating child friendly, you can use a natural shake.

Get Recommendations for Child-Safe Healthy Appetite Suppressing Shakes

Resources Against Child Obesity

* Some Kids Might Enjoy Reading "Fat Kid Rules The World" * Rescuing the Emotional Lives of Our Overweight Children: What Our Kids Go Through-And How We Can Help * Slim & Fit Kids - Raising Healthy Children in a Fast-Food World * Healthy Kids, Smart Kids – Kid tested * Carbohydrate Addicted Kids: Help Your Child or Teen Break Free of Junk Food and Sugar Cravings--for Life! * Healthy Eating for Life For Children * Real-World Fitness: Fun And Innovative Ways To Help You Sneak In Activity At Home, At Work And With The Kids *

Child Obesity; Childhood Obesity and Fat kids: Making Small Changes That Work for Child Obesity tand getting Kids Eating Healthy

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