Protecting Our Children from Obesity

The topic of childhood obesity has been making the rounds in headlines across the country. Last year’s report, F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America 2009, brought the startling news that over 30 percent of children in 30 states are overweight or obese (with Mississippi leading the pack at 44.4 percent). Some blame this fate on fast food, video gaming, bad parenting or the lack of physical education in the schools, but the truth is that no single factor makes a child obese. The combination of too many calories and not enough exercise are the biggest culprits, and those are things we can all be better about, not only for ourselves, but for the generations that follow us.

While the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force is now recommending that pediatricians provide obesity screening in early childhood, there are things that you, as a parent, can do to keep your child(ren) healthy and off the obesity track.

Right now we face tough economic times, meaning cutting back at every level, including the grocery store. Time is also in short supply, given working parents–some with multiple jobs—and children with school and extracurricular activities. These factors equal the need for inexpensive and quick food alternatives.

Eliminate fast food: While the ills of the world cannot be blamed on McDonalds, calorie counts at the nation’s top franchises are downright scary (not to mention the sodium and fat content). A Quarter Pounder with Cheese is 530 calories. Add a medium French fry (430) and a Coke (200) and you are at almost 1200 calories, 60% of a typical daily diet. There are quickie alternatives: Subway has a large number of sandwiches under 400 calories, which you can enjoy with an iced tea, diet soda, or milk. Your local taco shop (or Baja Fresh and Chipotle) makes fresh shredded chicken for tacos or burritos (use rice and beans only)—add some high in flavor, low in calorie salsa to punch up the flavor. The Jamba Juice chain has more than twenty 16-ounce smoothies under 400 calories.  There are alternatives, it’s just a matter of finding them. Simple things to remember: hold the cheese (usually processed and high calorie), hold the mayo, grilled over fried, and whole grain bread or bun.

Breakfast at home: A new study, conducted by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, shows that cereals marketed to our children have 85 percent more sugar, 65 percent less fiber, and 60 percent more sodium, not to mention the additional unnecessary calories that they add to the breakfast bowl. So take the time to check the sugar content on cereal boxes before buying. Or switch to hot cereal during these cold winter mornings: oatmeal, cream of wheat and cream of rice all have quick-cooking versions that take about 3-4 minutes total. Yogurt and fruit, whole grain toaster waffles, andwhole grain English muffins also make a good start to the day. And don’t forget that 100% juice or glass of milk.

School lunches: The School Nutrition Association (SNA) recently held their Child Nutrition Industry Conference and the idea of finding ways to reduce childhood obesity in America was foremost on the agenda. While there are admirable lunch programs developing, we still live in a world where tater tots and pizza are popular cafeteria fare and ketchup counts as a vegetable. Low-income families rely on reduced cost lunches for their children, and we need to be doing better. Ann Cooper, aka the "Renegade Lunch Lady" and founder of The Lunch Box Project offers scores of healthy, balanced recipes suitable for school foodservice, geared to feed 100 children. She is developing a one-stop shop with hundreds of kid-tested recipes, all nutritionally analyzed, priced and scalable, plus it plans to offer how-to videos, photos and manuals. The Lunch Box will even provide menus and production records to help districts stay compliant with the National School Lunch Program. Bring this to the attention of your principal, your PTA, anyone who will listen. Meanwhile, if you have the resources, pack your child’s lunchbox. But don’t be constrained by the typical PB&J. For menu suggestions, check out my column, Packing the School Lunchbox.