Tag Archives: childhood obesity

Straight, No Chaser: Your Guide to Fighting Childhood Obesity (Works for Adults, Too!)

September 4, 2017Diet and Nutrition, Medical Treatment, Pediatrics/Kids Health, Health Prevention844-SMA-TALK, Behind the Curtain, childhood obesity, Diet (nutrition), Sterling Medical Advice, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Straight No Chaser, There are 72 Hours in a DayJeffrey Sterling, MD

Would you start your child on a fad diet? Of course not. Combating obesity means consistently applying principles that bear fruit (and include fruits over time). So you have an overweight child and want to do better to protect his or her health. Today on Straight, No Chaser, we discuss tips to promote better habits and health. You may want to keep this list. Of course it starts with you. Be careful! You may discover these tips work for you as well.

Things for the parents to do

Understand that this process involves many individuals (e.g., you, your physicians, dieticians, psychologists – even your personal healthcare consultants). None of you should be expected to do this alone. Ask for help.
Appreciate that you are the message. Your words are not enough. You are your children’s role model. They will aspire to look and be like you. Protect your own health.
Don’t isolate your child. Get the entire family involved in developing healthy eating and physical activity habits.
Don’t mentally punish your child. If they are led to believe they did something wrong or disappointed you, they could adopt dangerous behavior to compensate or punish themselves. Be supportive and positive.

Healthier eating habits

General conditions

Make healthy choices easy and unhealthy ones more difficult. Put nutritious foods where they are easy to see, and keep high-calorie foods out of sight. It takes multiple servings for anyone’s tastes to get used to new foods. Stick with it!
Figure out how to avoid fast food. When you do go, choose the healthier options, such as salads with low-fat dressing.
Plan special healthy meals and eat together as a family. Make it an adventure, and make it fun and rewarding.
Don’t use unhealthy foods as a reward when encouraging kids to eat. Promising dessert to a child for eating vegetables, for example, sends the message that vegetables are less valuable than dessert.
Don’t make your child clean his or her plate. This promotes overeating.
Learn to limit eating to specific meal and snack times. At other times, the kitchen is “closed.”
Avoid large portions. Start with small servings, and let your child ask for more if he or she is still hungry.

Limit the bad

Avoid any fats that are solid at room temperature (e.g., butter and lard)
Avoid foods that are high in calories, sugar and salt (e.g., sugary drinks, candy, chips, cookies and French fries)
Avoid refined grains (white flour, rice and pasta)

Add the good

Introduce fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and whole grains (e.g., brown rice). Don’t worry. They’ll eat them if that’s the option you’re providing.
Use fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products or substitutes (e.g., soy beverages)
Offer your child water or low-fat milk instead of fruit juice
Serve lean meats, poultry, seafood, beans and peas, soy products and eggs

Control the snacking

Go with air-popped popcorn without butter
Gradually train your kids to like fresh, frozen, dried, or canned fruit served plain or with low-fat yogurt
Gradually train your kids to like fresh vegetables like baby carrots, cucumber, zucchini or tomatoes
Snack on low-sugar, whole-grain cereal with low-fat or fat-free milk or a milk substitute fortified with calcium and vitamin D

Stay physically active

Kids need about 60 minutes of physical activity a day. Several short 5-10 minute periods of activity throughout the day are as effective as one 60-minute session. If you are starting from scratch, start from where you are and build up to the 60 minutes target. It only works if you stay diligent.
General considerations:

Be the message! Show your child that physical activity is fun, and demonstrate how you enjoy it. Have family activities that include being physically active, such as a walk.
Encourage participation in organized sports or classes, such as basketball, dance or soccer.
If sports don’t work, other fun activities include dancing to music, playing tag, jumping rope or riding a bike.
Assign active chores such as making the beds, sweeping/raking or vacuuming.

Activities that kids choose to do on their own are often best. Try these – and play with your kids. You need to be active, too!

Catching and throwing
Climbing on a jungle gym or climbing wall
Dancing
Jumping rope
Playing hopscotch
Riding a bike
Shooting baskets

Cut back on inactive time spent watching TV or on the computer or hand-held device.

Limit screen time to no more than two hours per day.
Substitute these relatively inactive activities with stimulating ones such as acting out books or stories or doing a family art project.
When watching TV, get up and move during TV commercials. By all means, discourage “couch-potato” activity of snacking when sitting in front of the TV.

I know this is a lot, but your kids are worth it, as are you. These actions are habits, not just actions. Work over time to incorporate as many as possible into your family’s routine, and I promise you’ll see the difference.
Feel free to ask your SMA expert consultant any questions you may have on this topic.
Take the #72HoursChallenge, and join the community. As a thank you for being a valued subscriber to Straight, No Chaser, we’d like to offer you a complimentary 30-day membership at www.72hourslife.com. Just use the code #NoChaser, and yes, it’s ok if you share!
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new books There are 72 Hours in a Day: Using Efficiency to Better Enjoy Every Part of Your Life and The 72 Hours in a Day Workbook: The Journey to The 72 Hours Life in 72 Days at Amazon or at www.72hourslife.com. Receive introductory pricing with orders!
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2017 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: Your Guide to Fighting Childhood Obesity (Works for Adults, Too!)

September 4, 2016Diet and Nutrition, Medical Treatment, Pediatrics/Kids Health, Health Prevention844-SMA-TALK, Behind the Curtain, childhood obesity, Diet (nutrition), Sterling Medical Advice, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Straight No ChaserJeffrey Sterling, MD

Things for the parents to do

Understand that this process involves many individuals (e.g., you, your physicians, dieticians, psychologists – even your personal healthcare consultants). None of you should be expected to do this alone. Ask for help.
Appreciate that you are the message. Your words are not enough. You are your children’s role model. They will aspire to look and be like you. Protect your own health.
Don’t isolate your child. Get the entire family involved in developing healthy eating and physical activity habits.
Don’t mentally punish your child. If they are led to believe they did something wrong or disappointed you, they could adopt dangerous behavior to compensate or punish themselves. Be supportive and positive.

Healthier eating habits

General conditions

Make healthy choices easy and unhealthy ones more difficult. Put nutritious foods where they are easy to see, and keep high-calorie foods out of sight. It takes multiple servings for anyone’s tastes to get used to new foods. Stick with it!
Figure out how to avoid fast food. When you do go, choose the healthier options, such as salads with low-fat dressing.
Plan special healthy meals and eat together as a family. Make it an adventure, and make it fun and rewarding.
Don’t use unhealthy foods as a reward when encouraging kids to eat. Promising dessert to a child for eating vegetables, for example, sends the message that vegetables are less valuable than dessert.
Don’t make your child clean his or her plate. This promotes overeating.
Learn to limit eating to specific meal and snack times. At other times, the kitchen is “closed.”
Avoid large portions. Start with small servings, and let your child ask for more if he or she is still hungry.

Limit the bad

Avoid any fats that are solid at room temperature (e.g., butter and lard)
Avoid foods that are high in calories, sugar and salt (e.g., sugary drinks, candy, chips, cookies and French fries)
Avoid refined grains (white flour, rice and pasta)

Add the good

Introduce fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and whole grains (e.g., brown rice). Don’t worry. They’ll eat them if that’s the option you’re providing.
Use fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products or substitutes (e.g., soy beverages)
Offer your child water or low-fat milk instead of fruit juice
Serve lean meats, poultry, seafood, beans and peas, soy products and eggs

Control the snacking

Go with air-popped popcorn without butter
Gradually train your kids to like fresh, frozen, dried, or canned fruit served plain or with low-fat yogurt
Gradually train your kids to like fresh vegetables like baby carrots, cucumber, zucchini or tomatoes
Snack on low-sugar, whole-grain cereal with low-fat or fat-free milk or a milk substitute fortified with calcium and vitamin D

Stay physically active

Be the message! Show your child that physical activity is fun, and demonstrate how you enjoy it. Have family activities that include being physically active, such as a walk.
Encourage participation in organized sports or classes, such as basketball, dance or soccer.
If sports don’t work, other fun activities include dancing to music, playing tag, jumping rope or riding a bike.
Assign active chores such as making the beds, sweeping/raking or vacuuming.

Activities that kids choose to do on their own are often best. Try these – and play with your kids. You need to be active, too!

Catching and throwing
Climbing on a jungle gym or climbing wall
Dancing
Jumping rope
Playing hopscotch
Riding a bike
Shooting baskets

Cut back on inactive time spent watching TV or on the computer or hand-held device.

Limit screen time to no more than two hours per day.
Substitute these relatively inactive activities with stimulating ones such as acting out books or stories or doing a family art project.
When watching TV, get up and move during TV commercials. By all means, discourage “couch-potato” activity of snacking when sitting in front of the TV.

I know this is a lot, but your kids are worth it, as are you. These actions are habits, not just actions. Work over time to incorporate as many as possible into your family’s routine, and I promise you’ll see the difference.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have on this topic.
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new book Behind The Curtain: A Peek at Life from within the ER at jeffreysterlingbooks.com, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and wherever books are sold.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2016 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: Your Guide to Fighting Childhood Obesity (Works for Adults, Too!)

August 5, 2015Diet and Nutrition, Pediatrics/Kids Health, Health PreventionStraight No Chaser, 844-SMA-TALK, Behind the Curtain, childhood obesity, Diet (nutrition), Sterling Medical Advice, SterlingMedicalAdvice.comJeffrey Sterling, MD

Things for the parents to do

Understand that this process involves many individuals (e.g., you, your physicians, dieticians, psychologists – even your personal healthcare consultants). None of you should be expected to do this alone. Ask for help.
Appreciate that you are the message. Your words are not enough. You are your children’s role model. They will aspire to look and be like you. Protect your own health.
Don’t isolate your child. Get the entire family involved in developing healthy eating and physical activity habits.
Don’t mentally punish your child. If they are led to believe they did something wrong or disappointed you, they could adopt dangerous behavior to compensate or punish themselves. Be supportive and positive.

Healthier eating habits

General conditions

Make healthy choices easy and unhealthy ones more difficult. Put nutritious foods where they are easy to see, and keep high-calorie foods out of sight. It takes multiple servings for anyone’s tastes to get used to new foods. Stick with it!
Figure out how to avoid fast food. When you do go, choose the healthier options, such as salads with low-fat dressing.
Plan special healthy meals and eat together as a family. Make it an adventure, and make it fun and rewarding.
Don’t use unhealthy foods as a reward when encouraging kids to eat. Promising dessert to a child for eating vegetables, for example, sends the message that vegetables are less valuable than dessert.
Don’t make your child clean his or her plate. This promotes overeating.
Learn to limit eating to specific meal and snack times. At other times, the kitchen is “closed.”
Avoid large portions. Start with small servings, and let your child ask for more if he or she is still hungry.

Limit the bad

Avoid any fats that are solid at room temperature (e.g., butter and lard)
Avoid foods that are high in calories, sugar and salt (e.g., sugary drinks, candy, chips, cookies and French fries)
Avoid refined grains (white flour, rice and pasta)

Add the good

Introduce fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and whole grains (e.g., brown rice). Don’t worry. They’ll eat them if that’s the option you’re providing.
Use fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products or substitutes (e.g., soy beverages)
Offer your child water or low-fat milk instead of fruit juice
Serve lean meats, poultry, seafood, beans and peas, soy products and eggs

Control the snacking

Go with air-popped popcorn without butter
Gradually train your kids to like fresh, frozen, dried, or canned fruit served plain or with low-fat yogurt
Gradually train your kids to like fresh vegetables like baby carrots, cucumber, zucchini or tomatoes
Snack on low-sugar, whole-grain cereal with low-fat or fat-free milk or a milk substitute fortified with calcium and vitamin D

Stay physically active

Be the message! Show your child that physical activity is fun, and demonstrate how you enjoy it. Have family activities that include being physically active, such as a walk.
Encourage participation in organized sports or classes, such as basketball, dance or soccer.
If sports don’t work, other fun activities include dancing to music, playing tag, jumping rope or riding a bike.
Assign active chores such as making the beds, sweeping/raking or vacuuming.

Activities that kids choose to do on their own are often best. Try these – and play with your kids. You need to be active, too!

Catching and throwing
Climbing on a jungle gym or climbing wall
Dancing
Jumping rope
Playing hopscotch
Riding a bike
Shooting baskets

Cut back on inactive time spent watching TV or on the computer or hand-held device.

Limit screen time to no more than two hours per day.
Substitute these relatively inactive activities with stimulating ones such as acting out books or stories or doing a family art project.
When watching TV, get up and move during TV commercials. By all means, discourage “couch-potato” activity of snacking when sitting in front of the TV.

I know this is a lot, but your kids are worth it, as are you. These actions are habits, not just actions. Work over time to incorporate as many as possible into your family’s routine, and I promise you’ll see the difference.
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new book Behind The Curtain: A Peek at Life from within the ER at jeffreysterlingbooks.com, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and wherever books are sold.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.

Straight, No Chaser: Your Guide to Fighting Childhood Obesity (Works for Adults, Too!)

March 8, 2014General Health and WellnessSterlingMedicalAdvice.com, 844-SMA-TALK, childhood obesity, Diet (nutrition), Sterling Medical Advice, Straight No ChaserJeffrey Sterling, MD

Ok. So you have an overweight child and want to do better to protect his or her health. Today on Straight, No Chaser, we discuss tips to promote better habits and health. You may want to keep this list. Of course it starts with you. Be careful! You may discover these tips work for you as well.

Things for the parents to do

Understand that this process involves many individuals (e.g., you, your physicians, dieticians, psychologists – even your personal healthcare consultants). None of you should be expected to do this alone. Ask for help.
Appreciate that you are the message. Your words are not enough. You are your children’s role model. They will aspire to look and be like you. Protect your own health.
Don’t isolate your child. Get the entire family involved in developing healthy eating and physical activity habits.
Don’t mentally punish your child. If they are led to believe they did something wrong or disappointed you, they could adopt dangerous behavior to compensate or punish themselves. Be supportive and positive.

Healthier eating habits

General conditions

Make healthy choices easy and unhealthy ones more difficult. Put nutritious foods where they are easy to see, and keep high-calorie foods out of sight. It takes multiple servings for anyone’s tastes to get used to new foods. Stick with it!
Figure out how to avoid fast food. When you do go, choose the healthier options, such as salads with low-fat dressing.
Plan special healthy meals and eat together as a family. Make it an adventure, and make it fun and rewarding.
Don’t use unhealthy foods as a reward when encouraging kids to eat. Promising dessert to a child for eating vegetables, for example, sends the message that vegetables are less valuable than dessert.
Don’t make your child clean his or her plate. This promotes overeating.
Learn to limit eating to specific meal and snack times. At other times, the kitchen is “closed.”
Avoid large portions. Start with small servings, and let your child ask for more if he or she is still hungry.

Limit the bad

Avoid any fats that are solid at room temperature (e.g., butter and lard)
Avoid foods that are high in calories, sugar and salt (e.g., sugary drinks, candy, chips, cookies and French fries)
Avoid refined grains (white flour, rice and pasta)

Add the good

Introduce fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and whole grains (e.g., brown rice). Don’t worry. They’ll eat them if that’s the option you’re providing.
Use fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products or substitutes (e.g., soy beverages)
Offer your child water or low-fat milk instead of fruit juice
Serve lean meats, poultry, seafood, beans and peas, soy products and eggs

Control the snacking

Go with air-popped popcorn without butter
Gradually train your kids to like fresh, frozen, dried, or canned fruit served plain or with low-fat yogurt
Gradually train your kids to like fresh vegetables like baby carrots, cucumber, zucchini or tomatoes
Snack on low-sugar, whole-grain cereal with low-fat or fat-free milk or a milk substitute fortified with calcium and vitamin D

Stay physically active

Be the message! Show your child that physical activity is fun, and demonstrate how you enjoy it. Have family activities that include being physically active, such as a walk.
Encourage participation in organized sports or classes, such as basketball, dance or soccer.
If sports don’t work, other fun activities include dancing to music, playing tag, jumping rope or riding a bike.
Assign active chores such as making the beds, sweeping/raking or vacuuming.

Activities that kids choose to do on their own are often best. Try these – and play with your kids. You need to be active, too!

Catching and throwing
Climbing on a jungle gym or climbing wall
Dancing
Jumping rope
Playing hopscotch
Riding a bike
Shooting baskets

Cut back on inactive time spent watching TV or on the computer or hand-held device.

Limit screen time to no more than two hours per day.
Substitute these relatively inactive activities with stimulating ones such as acting out books or stories or doing a family art project.
When watching TV, get up and move during TV commercials. By all means, discourage “couch-potato” activity of snacking when sitting in front of the TV.

Straight, No Chaser: Childhood Obesity

March 7, 2014Diet and Nutrition844-SMA-TALK, childhood obesity, Diet (nutrition), Sterling Medical Advice, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Straight No ChaserJeffrey Sterling, MD

You may have heard March is National Nutrition Month…

Amazingly, approximately one of every three children between the ages of five to 11 is either overweight or obese. It’s not too late. If you’re looking across the breakfast table at a child that’s overweight or obese, please take the time to learn about childhood obesity, the consequences of allowing it to continue and the proactive steps you can take to ward off those consequences. Read on.
If by chance you’re thinking that you have no idea if your child is obese or just looks that way because everyone else in the family looks that way (is “genetically predisposed”), perhaps the first step is to get a better understanding of normal vs. abnormal.

No matter you perceptions of how “good” or “healthy” it may look, normal is less a function of appearance than a reflection of your heart and other organs’ abilities to perform their tasks. Using the heart as an example (and admittedly being overly simplistic), it is a muscular pump serving the purpose of moving blood around the body, delivering oxygen and nutrients to the cells of your various organs. The more weight it has to pump against, the harder the task becomes, and the heart will eventually increase the pressure to compensate (i.e., develop high blood pressure). The sooner this process starts, the more at-risk you are for the consequences of the development of high blood pressure and other conditions (including cancer) down the road. Beside high blood pressure, other health issues associated with childhood obesity include the following:

Breathing problems
Joint problems
Diabetes
High cholesterol

It is important to acknowledge that “big” is not always unhealthy. The amount of body fat changes with age and based on where children are in their growth curve. A physician will take these things into consideration when you have your child evaluated for clinical obesity. On the other hand, please understand the social pressures children may face at school from being overweight. If they perceive a problem to exist, one does.
In the next Straight, No Chaser, we will discuss in detail what you can do to help children who are obese. To no one’s surprise, a heavy dose of healthy eating and physical activity will be on the prescription. As a prelude to that conversation, I will suggest that you should not be placing a child on a diet without a physician’s order. Healthy eating habits will be the way to go.

Overall, just remember that either the positive or negative habits children learn are likely to last a lifetime. As a parent, you will be best positioned to guide children along the appropriate path.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2014 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress