Fat kids: Small Changes Can Give Fat Kids A Better ChanceGood News for Parents of Fat KidsTHE GOOD NEWS ABOUT OUR KIDS:"Children are better behaved than they used to be, BUT they are packing on the pounds," according to a Washington study Report on America's Children which says that kids are: • smoking less • drinking less • and violent crime is WAY down • BUT kids are fatter! THE BAD NEWS: There are a lot of fat kids, but also, a lot of PARENTS are in denial, says Dr. Mark Tremblay, chairman of “Active Healthy Kids,” who reports there to be a “real disconnect” on the part of parents. Here’s Why Parents Need To Make Changes Now• Experts say that the obesity epidemic of fat kids is rooted in the simple fact that humans have not adapted since the prehistoric age when food was scarce, and people burned thousands of calories to find their next meal.Today, fat kids do little more than lie on the couch or play computer games in between visits to the kitchen. • Some of today’s children are grappling with heart disease before their teenage years are finished. There is also type 2 diabetes and fatty livers in kids. According to the journal Pediatrics, 6.5 million US children have fatty livers. A fatty liver is when liver cells are gorged with fat, like a stuffed goose, explains Dr. Brian Mc Crindle, a professor of pediatrics. “Fatty liver,”or “foi gras” is what happens to a goose when you force-feed it, and stuff it full of food. This happens to "stuffed" fat kids too! • WHY? “We live in a toxic nutritional environment that causes fat kids,” says David Katz, director of medical studies in public health at the Yale University of School of Medicine, “It is a sea of calories in which we are drowning. We are all in the same sinking ship in a high-speed, high calorie world.” • Find out why this has come about and why you are not alone: Fast Food and Super Sizing of America Fat Land Fast Food Nation Here Is Something You CAN Try At Home• Making Small Changes CAN Give Fat Kids A Better Chance Having only ONE less candy bar OR soda a day, AND walking an extra 2,000 steps every day has been found to prevent excessive weight gain in children. Dr. James Hill, of the University of Colorado Health Sciences, set out to find something that families can adopt relatively easily and that that is child appropriate, to prevent bulging waist lines and excessive weight gain in kids. Hill and his team investigated the effectiveness of the America on the Move Foundation’s, Families on the Move Program designed to prevent excess weight gain in children. A total of 216 families, all of which had at least one overweight child, aged 7 to 14 years, were assigned to the on-the-move program. The 111 families in the intervention group were instructed to make two lifestyle changes: increase their physical activity by walking an extra 2,000 steps per day, and eliminate 100 calories from their daily diet. By the end of the six-month study, children had experienced decreases in their average body mass index — a measure of weight that takes height into consideration. Keep it Simple: Find Out About America on the Move Foundation How to Get Fat Kids to Be More Active?How to get fat kids away from the computer and off the couch? Providing a safe place for unstructured play is what ‘s missing for many families and for all kids, not just for fat kids. Olympic medal winner and mother, Silken Laumann has a web site and book that are a great resource that encourages safe neighborhood activities.Here are ideas for how to include all kids, especially fat kids. 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. • For safe neighborhoods and fostering unstructured play, see Laumann’s book, “Child's Play : Rediscovering the Joy of Play in Our Families and Communities” WEBSITE FOR GETTING FAT KIDS TO BE MORE ACTIVE COOL SITE FOR KIDS: Get Sweaty Playing Games Created By Kids Find A Fitness Vacation For Families Forget the DIET SODA, Drink Water• “INVISIBLE” LIQUID CALORIES in beverages, say researchers, play a big role in child weight gain because people don’t realize the calories that are in these drinks. These drinks also leave kids 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. • ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS: 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. How to Use ONLY Healthy and Natural Sugar Substitutes Why Not Use ANY Artificial Sweeteners? Healthier Shopping Tips at the Supermarket Guru Why Make Small Changes Now?Our high-speed, high calorie world is dangerous for kids who often do little but lie on the couch and play computer games in between visits to the kitchen.Dr. David Katz, an outspoken critic of fast-food culture and the high calories that go with it, says that some fat children are already grappling with heart disease before their teenage years are finished. “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. To help cut down on portions and starting eating healthy, you may want to use an all natural diet shake that suppresses the appetite to kick start fat burning. A Before-the-Meal SHAKE that’s Safe for Kids and Teens SHAPE DOWN Program With Workbook for FamiliesFind out if there is a Shape Down Program in your area for getting support as a family:• There is a workbook a fat child can follow from week to week and another one for parents. • The workbook stresses that people come in all shapes and sizes, and that families can re-discover the pleasure of eating healthy foods. • Helping parents to be both authoritative and nurturing for working through emotional issues along with giving eating healthy advice for kids: Find out if there is a Shape Down Program in your area Hard Making Small Changes?If the problem is too big, too frustrating, too anything to begin NOW to make even small changes, you may want to contact the West Virginia Initiative for Innate Health , to begin to overcome obstacles.Or listen to how Sydney Banks one day, got ONE insight, and then totally stopped being miserable. Then he found out how to “Deal with it, get over it, and move on,” and has inspired thousands of others to do so too. Links for Fat KidsRescuing 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 Fat Child or Teen Break Free of Junk Food and Sugar Cravings--for Life! Healthy Eating for Life For Fat Children Real-World Fitness: Fun And Innovative Ways To Help You Sneak In Activity At Home, At Work And With The Kids A book some kids will enjoy: "Fat Kid Rules The World" Recommendations for Healthy Weightloss Shakes Safe for KidsGo to Health Discoveries HOME PAGE Making Small Changes And Eating Healthy Advice For Kids and Fat Kids
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