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Nutrition by the book
  
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By CYNTHIA LESCALLEET
Experts at Texas Children’s Hospital are concerned about the rising number of overweight and obese youths they’re seeing. So they’re challenging families this month (and beyond) to get informed and help curtail that alarming trend.
It used to be unusual to see a young patient 50 pounds overweight, but now, “500-pound teenagers are almost common,” said Roberta Anding, TCH’s director of sports nutrition for the adolescent medicine section.” Never in my life did I think I’d see what I’ve seen in the past few years.
“We need to do something,” she said. “If it (pediatric obesity) were an infectious disease, every resource would be marshaled against it.”
To help curtail the weighty matters in children and related health issues, TCH has launched an awareness and education program this month called “A+ Nutrition” and will be holding presentations around the city. (See info box.)
And, an interdisciplinary team of TCH health experts has produced a family guide to healthy eating and more.
Called “The Family Guide to Fighting Fat: A Parent’s Guide to Handling Obesity and Eating Issues,” the book covers the causes of childhood weight issues and provides evidence-based, practical information on how to change bad habits into healthier ones.
Anding, one of the many experts who volunteered to author the contents, described the guide as “empowering” since it instills steps toward permanent behavioral changes. It is not a diet book, she said. Rather, it shows ways to make small changes that, with patience, will bring results.
To beat the odds, healthy habits must become a way of life for the entire family, said Claudia Conkin, TCH’s director of food and nutrition services in a prepared statement.
Obesity is the number one public health crisis in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control, and childhood obesity is a major health issue leading to the early onset of diabetes and a general health crisis for children.
The TCH book comes at a time when more than 30 percent of children in the United States are classified as overweight and roughly half of that group is classified as obese, CDC figures show. The number of obese children has doubled in 10 years.
It’s worse in Houston, where about 36 percent of youths are overweight, Anding said.
Put another way, a child born in 2000 has a one in three chance of developing diabetes, she said.
Families can work together to improve their eating choices and increase their activity levels, she said.
The format of the book includes questionnaires at the beginning of each chapter so readers can evaluate their family’s health, eating behaviors, exercise habits and barriers to success.
Contents also include healthy recipes, food journals, sample shopping lists, food group portion sizes, a body mass index calculator and growth charts.
With the TCH guide as a, well, guide, a family can set both goals and strategies for dealing with road blocks.
And with myths.
Fast food restaurants, for example, do have a few lower impact meals. But you have to order them, she said.
Even small changes will sit with you, she said, if you’re patient.
Let’s say you drink three 8-oz. glasses a day. Switch from whole milk to 2 percent milk and your child will drop 10 pounds in a year. And that’s not accounting for other meal modifications.
Healthy choices can also be less expensive ones. Simply preparing a meal at home will reduce a family’s food bill, for example, and the food doesn’t have to be organic. (And if you’re eating less, you’ll also save money.)
If you can spend money on a cell-phone and texting bill, you can afford fruit, she quipped.
For information on health and nutrition programs for children under age 12, visit www.texaschildrens.org/carecenters/GINutrition, and for children older than 12, visit www.texaschildrens.org/carecenters/AdolescentMedicine.
Common causes of kid corpulence
There are countless contributing factors to weight gain. Here are three Texas Children’s Hospital nutrition expert Roberta Andlings found common:
Portion distortion. There has been a gradual creep up in what’s served. A muffin, for example, can be deceptive. Eat just one and a brisk walk around Rice University won’t be enough to counter-act its calorie impact, she said.
Sweat aversion. “We don’t want to move,” she said, but break a sweat and calories will melt away. Still, it is possible and even common to out-eat exercise. (See previous example.)
Family dinner’s demise. “We have lost the concept of the family meal together,” she said. It’s where food choices can be modeled.
Presentations and book-signings
Texas Children’s Hospital invites parents to free interactive sessions on weight management strategies for their children. These programs are offered:
6 p.m. Sept. 4
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
3003 West Holcombe Blvd. and
10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sept. 23
Central Market
3815 Westheimer Road
Copies of TCH’s new book “The Family Guide to Fighting Fat: A Parent’s Guide to Handling Obesity and Eating Issues” will be available at the events as well as at area bookstores.
It used to be unusual to see a young patient 50 pounds overweight, but now, “500-pound teenagers are almost common,” said Roberta Anding, TCH’s director of sports nutrition for the adolescent medicine section.” Never in my life did I think I’d see what I’ve seen in the past few years.
“We need to do something,” she said. “If it (pediatric obesity) were an infectious disease, every resource would be marshaled against it.”
To help curtail the weighty matters in children and related health issues, TCH has launched an awareness and education program this month called “A+ Nutrition” and will be holding presentations around the city. (See info box.)
And, an interdisciplinary team of TCH health experts has produced a family guide to healthy eating and more.
Called “The Family Guide to Fighting Fat: A Parent’s Guide to Handling Obesity and Eating Issues,” the book covers the causes of childhood weight issues and provides evidence-based, practical information on how to change bad habits into healthier ones.
Anding, one of the many experts who volunteered to author the contents, described the guide as “empowering” since it instills steps toward permanent behavioral changes. It is not a diet book, she said. Rather, it shows ways to make small changes that, with patience, will bring results.
To beat the odds, healthy habits must become a way of life for the entire family, said Claudia Conkin, TCH’s director of food and nutrition services in a prepared statement.
Obesity is the number one public health crisis in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control, and childhood obesity is a major health issue leading to the early onset of diabetes and a general health crisis for children.
The TCH book comes at a time when more than 30 percent of children in the United States are classified as overweight and roughly half of that group is classified as obese, CDC figures show. The number of obese children has doubled in 10 years.
It’s worse in Houston, where about 36 percent of youths are overweight, Anding said.
Put another way, a child born in 2000 has a one in three chance of developing diabetes, she said.
Families can work together to improve their eating choices and increase their activity levels, she said.
The format of the book includes questionnaires at the beginning of each chapter so readers can evaluate their family’s health, eating behaviors, exercise habits and barriers to success.
Contents also include healthy recipes, food journals, sample shopping lists, food group portion sizes, a body mass index calculator and growth charts.
With the TCH guide as a, well, guide, a family can set both goals and strategies for dealing with road blocks.
And with myths.
Fast food restaurants, for example, do have a few lower impact meals. But you have to order them, she said.
Even small changes will sit with you, she said, if you’re patient.
Let’s say you drink three 8-oz. glasses a day. Switch from whole milk to 2 percent milk and your child will drop 10 pounds in a year. And that’s not accounting for other meal modifications.
Healthy choices can also be less expensive ones. Simply preparing a meal at home will reduce a family’s food bill, for example, and the food doesn’t have to be organic. (And if you’re eating less, you’ll also save money.)
If you can spend money on a cell-phone and texting bill, you can afford fruit, she quipped.
For information on health and nutrition programs for children under age 12, visit www.texaschildrens.org/carecenters/GINutrition, and for children older than 12, visit www.texaschildrens.org/carecenters/AdolescentMedicine.
Common causes of kid corpulence
There are countless contributing factors to weight gain. Here are three Texas Children’s Hospital nutrition expert Roberta Andlings found common:
Portion distortion. There has been a gradual creep up in what’s served. A muffin, for example, can be deceptive. Eat just one and a brisk walk around Rice University won’t be enough to counter-act its calorie impact, she said.
Sweat aversion. “We don’t want to move,” she said, but break a sweat and calories will melt away. Still, it is possible and even common to out-eat exercise. (See previous example.)
Family dinner’s demise. “We have lost the concept of the family meal together,” she said. It’s where food choices can be modeled.
Presentations and book-signings
Texas Children’s Hospital invites parents to free interactive sessions on weight management strategies for their children. These programs are offered:
6 p.m. Sept. 4
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
3003 West Holcombe Blvd. and
10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sept. 23
Central Market
3815 Westheimer Road
Copies of TCH’s new book “The Family Guide to Fighting Fat: A Parent’s Guide to Handling Obesity and Eating Issues” will be available at the events as well as at area bookstores.
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