By Joen Lane
One in three children are diagnosed with some form of childhood obesity. This is not just “baby fat” or something that children outgrow. As outlined in our previous articles, obesity in children is a growing problem that has both immediate and long-term effects on health and well-being. Perhaps the most compelling reason to be alarmed is the fact that children and adolescents who are obese are likely to be obese as adults and are therefore more at risk for adult health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.
It’s time to stop the insanity and begin to take control of our children’s eating habits. Food is the preventive medicine of the future, and it’s not just better eating habits and exercise that will help our children—it’s the quality of the food we feed them. How we grow, harvest, clean, process, and prepare our food makes a difference when it comes to quality. Drive-through food needs to be eliminated from children’s diets as much of it is void of any nutritional value. The return to the family table is critical. Not only does it help to curb and cure the obesity issues, but the statistics on the incidents of drug and alcohol use in children who sit down with the family to eat more than three times a week is enough to take a second look at the value of investing time in our gardens, kitchens, and food preparation.
Time spent with children in these activities increases their knowledge base about health and well-being in their youth, which carries over into their adult years. I remember vividly the time spent in my grandmother’s garden and kitchen. The healthy lifestyle she lived by example is only part of the memory that fuels my passion to help our nation become a healthier, happier, whole society. The other part of that time was bonding, talking, cooking, and spending time together. It wasn’t so much what she said to me, it was the way she said it and the loving intention for me to learn what was needed to ensure my own family would someday be healthy and be able to love, live, laugh, work, and play as long and as hard as my grandparents did. My grandmother worked into her 90s!
Today’s busy lifestyles and the plethora of activities that many children are involved in make it difficult to invest more time at home. However, when you weigh the results against the potential risks, then creating time slots to prioritize this much-needed process just makes sense. You can begin with baby steps. Following are some suggestions:
- Participate in a community garden project or attend farmers markets.
- Investigate organic foods, and begin to shop the outside aisles of the grocery store rather than the aisles that include canned or boxed processed foods.
- Plan meals so that preparation can occur one day a week with the entire family involved, and yet you can plan easier prep meals on busy nights.
- Get the family involved. Mondays could be meatloaf night—a great way to hide veggies for kids and adults, too. Tuesdays could be tacos in a bowl, a perfect combination of good proteins and good carbohydrates, fats, and literally no sugar. Wednesdays could be
- Wild West cookouts. The recipe on the next page is a huge favorite for picky eaters, as they get to choose what goes into their cookout. You get the idea.
If none of the above seems doable, then the one single thing you can do to begin is to eliminate unnecessary sugars from your daily food intake. Did you know that just one tablespoon of ketchup has four grams of sugar? And here we thought it was a “healthy” vegetable! I implore you to watch the movie That Sugar Film on Netflix. This single action will kick-start a healthy change in your life and the life of your children. I promise.
If you missed the previous articles on childhood obesity, you may read them online at www.HealthyCellsBN.com or contact Cheryl Eash at 309-664-2524.
Joen Lane is a certified weight loss coach with Ideal Family Weight Loss & Life Balance Center, offering Ideal Protein, the medically developed, sensible weight loss protocol. The center is located at 2103 E. Washington Street in Bloomington. Their mission is to help people take control of their weight and keep it off. Classes are offered on a variety of food and lifestyle topics. For more information,
please call 309-661-3235.
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