Obesity in Children

I just read an article about childhood obesity which stated that the current rate in our country is 16% of children. Holy Cow! That is a statistic for obesity, mind you, not just overweight children. The percentage of overweight children must be much higher. When I was a kid, there was that one kid in the class that was a bit chunky and everyone was relentlessly calling them names and labeling them as the "fat kid". Now, probably close to 1/4 of the kids are in the "chubby" category. In most cases, the children reflect their parents weight problem and bad food choices. You see more and more very heavy families. So now we see the numbers of gastric bypass surgeries in children increasing drastically. Just from 2000-2003, the rate tripled! The rate in 2003 was 800 kids. I know the surgery has saved lives in individuals that battled with weight for years and years so I don't want to knock the surgery, but it's just unfathomable for me that a pre-teen or teenager would need this kind of surgery. It seems very irresponsible to make this surgery a way out of weight problems. We have seen with all the "Reality Fit" shows that it's as simple as eating right and exercising. Parents need to be educated along with their children in nutrition and be committed to an exercise regimen instead of receiving the easy out. After gastric bypass, patients must make huge changes in their diets in order not to undo surgery. In the beginning, they eat extremely small portions and are restricted in the kinds of food they can eat. It's a very hard reality. Why not make some changes before this drastic measure? Try a few changes and then try a few more. This problem is just going to grow and grow with the trends of our society. Over 64% of our population is overweight so it's bound to increase in our children along with mom and dad.

What can we do? We can start with our own families. Make sure we are eating right and exercising and we are passing good habits to our kids. Provide healthy food options for your kids. They'll want to eat what you're eating! Share your secrets to your success with others. We all want to know what's working for other people. Educate yourself and then educate others.