Eight tips to keep families fit and healthy

Childhood obesity rates have risen drastically over recent years. Experts at The Children's Hospital in Denver, Colo., cite a variety of reasons for this increase, including the following:

“The important thing is for families to feel empowered and confident.”

• Portion sizes have nearly tripled in the last 20 to 30 years
• Kids often drink too many sugar-sweetened beverages
• Recess and physical education have drastically decreased in schools
• Kids eat out more than ever before

With so many risk factors prevalent in today's society, parents are increasingly concerned about making sure their children don't fall prey to this alarming trend.

According to Renee Porter, obesity clinical nurse coordinator at The Children's Hospital, to avoid the serious, often lifelong health risks associated with childhood obesity, parents should focus on prevention. "Parents should focus on being positive with regard to making changes in their homes," says Porter. "The important thing is for families to feel empowered and confident."

Prevention can take the form of simple lifestyle changes such as the following eight tips offered by The Children's Hospital:

• Increase parental involvement at school and at home.
  • Know food and exercise policies at your child's school and try to influence those policies if there is concern.
  • Don't send young children to school with money for vending machines.
  • Send lunch to school with your child and involve your child in packing that lunch.
  • Prepare food for the week on Sunday nights.
  • Prepare healthy snacks ahead of time. Cut up fruits and vegetables to "grab and go."
• Keep it predictable. Setting regular schedules for healthy eating and physical activity is important for children, especially young children, because it makes them feel secure, and they are more likely to adopt them as habits.
• Eat the right breakfast. Skipping breakfast leaves children with an empty stomach and low on energy, but eating the wrong breakfast can be just as bad. Children should eat a breakfast high in protein and fiber and low in sugar.
• Eat at home. Eating out exposes children to unhealthy food choices and inappropriate portion sizes. Children who eat at home are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables than children who eat many of their meals at restaurants.
• Keep it small. Children do not need to eat as much as adults, but parents often feed them as though they do. "I often have to remind parents that a two-year-old needs a different portion size than a 15-year-old," says Porter.
• Lose the soda. Most kids who drink sugar-sweetened beverages will drink an excess of 200 calories a day, calories that are over and above the daily needs of most children. The problem extends beyond soda to include any sugar-sweetened beverage, including fruit juice drinks. Most fruit drinks contain 10 percent juice and 90 percent water and sugar. Unless children drink 100 percent juice, it is no better than drinking soda, as it is all sweetened with sugar.
• Eat your fruit, don't drink it. Children who drink fruit juice instead of eating a whole piece of fruit often end up consuming more calories. Solid fruit fills children up more than juice.
• Play outside. "Studies have shown that kids who are more fit do better in school," says Porter. "We advise parents to promote physical activity by encouraging kids to play outside. This can include any activity, like biking or hiking with the family, but can also include simple outdoor exploration. The important thing is that children get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. For children more than adults, this is usually divided into many short bursts of activity."

Nancy Krebs, M.D., director of the clinical nutrition program at The Children's Hospital, adds, "Parents should be role models with regard to the food choices that are made and provide encouragement to their kids. Children will follow the examples that their parents set."

SOURCE The Children's Hospital