The Wild Divine Newsletter

November 2007 - Issue 32

During the holiday season we sometimes need to make extra efforts to stay balanced and eat well. With parties, family gatherings, travel and work functions stress can easily unfold. Obesity creeps in. There are several ways we can avoid feeling stressed and or at least deal better with it. Eat well and exercise this season.

Simplify and give yourself the gift of wellness.
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2. Child Obesity and the Holidays

—Tina Shubert

With the biggest eating and lounging season fast approaching, now's a great time to get your kids on path toward a New Year’s Resolution for a lifetime.

There is good reason why there is so much talk about the rise in childhood obesity. The epidemic is directly related to the sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits of kids born since 1980, leading to a tripling of diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure at an early age.

Not long ago, these were health risks normally found in parents and grandparents. But according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 percent of children aged 6-19 are overweight or obese. That’s 9 million kids!

Now, with the holidays upon us and the temptations of rich, fattening foods and all sorts of sweets during family gatherings, it's a great time to turn the health focus toward our children, whose weights for their age and height have climbed into the danger zone for “adult” diseases.

There are two simple lines of “offensive defense,” if you will: getting active, and monitoring diet.

Years ago children played outside during free time by riding their bikes, climbing tress, playing sports in the yard or local park, and using their mind to create active games with friends.

A trip to a friend’s house was easier by access of safe sidewalks and less highway traffic. In schools, there was more time for physical education and less stress on state-mandated testing scores. Families were not always on the go and in such a hurry; home-cooked meals were more of a regularity.

But in an era of video games, computers and cable TV, kids are more likely to stay inside, to themselves and remain sedentary. Don't allow this! Find a minimum of 150 minutes of physical activity a week for elementary school-aged kids, and 225 minutes per week for older kids.

MCRD has several youth exercise classes to get children active: “Baton,” “Cheerleading,” “Boxing Workout,” “Introduction to Weight Training,” or a low-impact aerobics class such as “Junior Jazzercize.”

The exercise can also be as simple as a swimming or ice skating class or lessons, youth dance, an instructional sport, martial arts, rollerbladding, badminton, or joining you for a walk or short run each day. Anything to get the heart pumping and lowering blood pressure while raising metabolism.

Many households have both parents working—rushing in the mornings and evenings so the child likely gets breakfast and lunch from the school cafeteria. Snacks are easy to grab while the parents are still at work, and a fast food stop or frozen pizza often suffices for dinner.

If you ask many children today if they ever have a carrot stick or an apple for a snack, don’t be surprised if the answer is “no.” Many may not be able to tell the difference between a fruit and a vegetable.

So how do we change these habits?

Start by getting children involved in fun, active programs that fit their interest and can also teach them about healthy eating. They can also learn how to create healthy meals without complicated ingredients. It's amazing how many kids like to cook. Invite them to help you or even have their own meal night—with the emphasis on healthy cooking and eating.

Many places now offer nutrition workshops such as “How to Kick the Sugar Craving” and “Supersize Your Energy” for both children and adults. They also offer several cooking classes focused on healthier lifestyles. Many of these classes are available for child and parent. There's no shortage of fun, easy and inexpensive options for you and your child toward this new healthy resolution. Fight off the temptations of the holidays. And the best way to teach children about a healthy lifestyle is leading by example.

5 Things to Help Parents Make Their Kids Healthy
Monitoring and assisting your child's activities and eating habits are really up to you. Here are a few tips to help you get both moving:

Start at Home—Get rid of all high-fat, high-calorie and high-sodium prepackaged foods such as chips, candy bars, Twinkies, pudding, whole milk, cheese, fruit snacks (no it doesn’t count as a fruit serving), and so forth. This will thwart your children, who are home after school while parents are working, from grabbing unhealthy snacks and eating too much junk. Fill the cabinets and fridge with individual helpings of baked chips, whole pita chips, air popcorn, pre-cut vegetables and fruit, low-fat yogurt, low-skim string cheese, etc. . . .

Plan Activity Time—If the child loves video games, purchase Dance Mania or the Wii Game. Both of these get people up and moving to play instead of just exercising their thumbs. Or, pick up a family kickball game, take a bike ride, or schedule a family walk after dinner. Join your local Community Center exercise room or exercise program and be active together.

Lower Fat and Sodium—Making meals at home is the first step; however, making sure the meals are healthy is the harder step. When cooking, use just enough olive oil to coat the pan for meat and vegetables or, even better, use a spray bottle to reduce the amount. You don’t need to add butter. Try some fresh-squeezed lemon or lime. Taste the food before adding salt. The food is normally favorable enough without the seasoning.

Think Wellness—It's not always about the physical well-being of the kid, but the emotional and stressful state, too. Yoga classes can not only relax a stressful kid, but stretch and strengthen the body, too. Kid Yoga is a fast-growing genre of wellness.

Get Regular Physicals—Many children have no clue they may have high blood pressure, glucose or cholesterol levels. However, after receiving a physical and seeing the numbers on paper, begin changing bad habits into good ones.

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