Four Tips to Help Kids Maintain a Healthy Weight

At the Yellin Center, we devote a lot of focus to students’ minds and brains. But the health of their bodies impacts their learning, too, and childhood obesity is one of the most common health problems faced by young people today. Children who are obese are far more likely than their slimmer counterparts to grow into obese adults. They are at risk for a host of health problems as they grow older, including Type 2 diabetes, stroke, and heart attack. And obesity wreaks an emotional toll as well as a physical one: overweight children are more likely to be bullied and to suffer from poor self-esteem.

According to Dr. Chad Hayes, author of the pediatrics and parenting blog Chad Hayes M.D.  and pediatric resident physician in South Carolina, a few small changes are often all that’s needed, particularly if your child is still growing. Most overweight kids don’t need to shed pounds; rather, if they can maintain their current weight as they grow, things will balance out on their own.

Dr. Hayes reminds parents to focus on kids’ health, not on the numbers on the scale or kids’ appearance. He also offers parents the following four tips to help their kids attain, and maintain, a healthy weight:

1) Chew your calories. In other words, offer only calorie-free beverages. Juices, a common part of children’s diets, are filled with sugary, mostly empty calories and don’t curb kids’ appetites. The calories from just one serving of a sweetened beverage per day (juice, Gatorade, sweet tea, etc.) are enough to add up to a weight gain of 10 pounds per year. Hayes believes that once children are old enough to obtain adequate nutrition from solid foods, the only beverage they need is water. Sound boring? We suggest sparkling water. Or try keeping a pitcher of water filled with lemon or cucumber slices or mint leaves in the refrigerator for variety. Remember that unsweetened iced tea is calorie-free, too (although most types contain caffeine, which should be used in moderation and only for older children), and many fruit-flavored teas are available.

2) Stop bringing junk into the house. Suburban parents, we’re talking especially to you, here. Many kids in New York City can pick up their own snacks because of the freedom and autonomy offered by a pedestrian-dominated city, but the average suburban family has to drive to obtain groceries. That means parents have almost total control over whether their kids have access healthful foods or junky snacks. “If it’s not there,” says Hayes sensibly, “they won’t eat it.” Offer low-fat string cheese, fresh or dried fruit, sliced vegetables, air-popped popcorn, or raw nut mixes instead of chips and cookies (and don’t forget to keep an eye on kids’ portions).

3) Eat from farms. Nutrition labels can be confusing, but luckily the best foods for you tend not to have labels at all. Pick up foods that don’t come in packages, like fruits and vegetables. Hayes suggests navigating the grocery store strategically by shopping only around the perimeter, where the produce, butcher, and dairy sections tend to be located. The center aisles are home to processed food and should be avoided, especially when one shops with children who may beg for the things they see there.

4) Get moving. Banish kids to the backyard or park, if those are safe places for them to go on their own. If not, accompany them and transport yourselves on foot or bicycle if that’s a reasonable choice. Busy parents can try to coordinate with neighbors to share supervision duties or sign kids up for sports teams of all kinds; look for options like rock climbing at an indoor gym or tae kwon do if your child isn’t much of a jock. Remember that biweekly participation in a sport is not license to supersize kids’ diets, though. Hayes cautions that it’s a lot easier to eat 200 calories than it is to burn them.

Nutrition News... And More

Sometimes it seems like one subject just shouts out to be the subject of a blog post -- and today that subject is nutrition.

First, we came upon an engaging new book called Jesse's Magic Plate - The Fun Way for Kids to Learn About Healthy Eating, by Donna Daun Lester, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and teacher.


Written as a read-aloud story for children as young as three and to be read on their own by older children, this colorfully illustrated book uses a magical plate to explain healthy eating in terms children can apply to their own eating preferences. Lester uses the idea of "power foods" and the benefits they bring to children to encourage children to try new, healthy foods. As the magical plate explains to Jesse when telling him about the importance of eating colorful fruits and vegetables, "We feel our best when we eat them, but it may take some practice to like some of them."

The book is based upon the USDA My Plate food guidance system, and Lester urges her readers to visit the site and use its wealth of information.

Jesse's Magic Plate includes separate sections with lists of healthy foods, broken down by category -- protein, grains, vegetables, etc. -- along with colorful illustrations of food groups. Several pages of illustrated faces and other components for children to use to make their own "magic" plates are also included.We particularly liked that this book is designed for children, to help them understand the benefits of healthy eating and the steps they need to take to make eating better part of their daily lives. Parents can't always be around to help children make smart food choices and it is crucial to empower kids to enable them to make wise food decisions on their own.

Of course, not every food is right -- or even safe -- for every child, and food allergies can be a huge concern for many families. We recently encountered the mouth-watering baked goods created by No Nut Nation, which are certified free of peanuts and tree nuts. If this is an issue for a child or an adult in your life, this can be a delicious solution to finding safe prepared baked goods.

And, finally, a new article published as a supplement to Pediatrics earlier this week, builds on studies of a group of about 1,500 children who were followed closely up to age one. The follow up studies looked at several aspects of the children's nutrition when they reached age six. Among the findings were that early preferences for fruits and vegetables -- and for sugary beverages -- developed during the first year of life were still evident at six years of age. As the researchers noted, "It is not clear whether these associations reflect the development of taste preference during infancy or a family eating pattern that manifests at various ages, but the studies do point to the need to establish healthful eating behaviors early in life."

ChopChop: Healthy Cooking with Kids

The bad news: Child obesity is on the rise, our diets include increasing amounts of processed food, and it seems that more and more kids aren’t getting the nutrients they need. According to the Mayo Clinic, kids with unhealthy eating habits are likely to continue those habits into adulthood, putting them at risk for a host of dangerous health problems.

The good news: Children and even teenagers tend to listen to their parents about nutrition (really!) and tend to follow their lead. According to experts, family cooking sessions are great opportunities to talk about nutrition, encourage kids to try new things (even picky eaters are more likely to dig in when they've had a hand in the preparation of unfamiliar foods), and, of course, have fun.

For parents interested in cooking with their children, ChopChop is an invaluable resource. The mission of the organization is to inspire kids to cook real food, and their products give kids the know-how to do just that. ChopChop produces a cookbook (containing “more than 100 super yummy crazy fun totally doable recipes”) and a quarterly magazine in Spanish or English. Each issue of ChopChop includes inexpensive, kid-friendly, healthy recipes, fun food facts, games and puzzles, and interviews with admirable public figures who are committed to healthy lifestyles. Recipes are accompanied by clear, step-by-step instructions – all of which begin with the mandate that kids wash their hands and clean the counter.

Even non-subscribers can access ChopChop’s collection of recipes on their website where fare is divided into five categories: breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and snacks. It’s difficult to imagine anybody not finding something to suit his or her tastes among delicious, hugely diverse options like chicken soup, panzanella, Parmesan yogurt dip with carrots, toshikoshi soba, sunshine smoothies, chai tea, German pancakes…hungry yet? The website, cookbook, and magazine are colorful, accessible, and appealing. Information is conveyed in simple language and accompanied by vivid pictures of food, and of kids in the midst of cooking up a storm.

ChopChop doesn't post calorie counts or nutritional content, or demonize any individual foods, though their content is reviewed by a team of medical and nutritional advisors. One of ChopChop’s most valuable lessons can be learned simply by scrolling through the appealing pictures of the dishes they recommend: healthy eating can, and should, be fun, adventurous, and delicious.

Bon Appetit!