Childhood Obesity - Do you have an overweight child? We offer tips to help your child lose weight and get fit!

Nutritionist Joann Bruso has photos of a McDonald's Happy Meal posted on her blog. A strange choice for a nutritionist? Not really. For the last 12 months, Bruso has had the same Happy Meal sitting on a counter in her Colorado home, waiting for it to decompose. Shes still waiting.

On March 3, Bruso posted a "Happy Birthday" message to the Happy Meal -- and a warning to parents who have made fast food a regular part of their family's diet:

The next time youre tempted to purchase a Happy Meal for your child, think about these photos. Food is SUPPOSED to decompose, go bad and smell foul&eventually. ...

Food is broken down into it's essential nutrients in our bodies and turned into fuel. Our children grow strong bodies, when they eat real food. Flies ignore a Happy Meal and microbes don't decompose it, then your child's body can't properly metabolize it either. Now you know why its called "junk food."

I think ants, mice and flies are smarter than people, because they weren't fooled. They never touched the Happy Meal. Children shouldnt either.

Labels: diet, health, fast food

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Does eating too much fast food make children less intelligent? A study from Vanderbilt University found that children who ate at fast food restaurants often were more likely to score lower on reading and math tests:

• Dr. Kerri Tobin and her colleagues studied 5,500 children ages 10 and 11 years old.
• Half of the children who were studied ate fast food three times a week, 10 percent ate fast food four to six times a week, and two percent ate fast food four or more times a day.
• The ones who ate fast food four to six times a week scored seven points lower on math and reading tests, and the ones who ate there once a day or more scored 14 points lower.
• The researchers reported that both of these measures were "statistically significant."

Dr. Tobin said she was unsure if it was the fast food itself causing lower scores. She speculated that having parents who are "more lenient" could be the actual link to lower scores.

A spokesperson for McDonalds restaurants said that the majority of the fast food chain's customers visit a restaurant two or three times a month.

Health and fitness experts have long argued that the excessive consumption of fast food is a prime cause of rising rates of childhood obesity in the United States.

Labels: fast food, academics

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Researchers from the University of Minnesota have discovered that the type of food that is available in your neighborhood influences how much you weigh.

Dr. June Chen analyzed 54 studies of neighborhoods and their food outlets, such as fast food restaurants, supermarkets, and convenience stores. She found that residents of neighborhoods with many supermarkets and few convenience stores were at less risk for being overweight. Low-income areas were more likely to have few supermarkets and many fast food restaurants, and residents there were more likely to be overweight.

This study appeared in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Labels: fast food, neighborhoods, influences

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One of the best ways to help your child make changes in her diet is to have her keep a food diary so that she is more aware of what she's presently eating. This may sound silly, but how many times have you grabbed a handful of pretzels while passing the kitchen, or nibbled on cheese while cooking? It's easy to consume a lot of extra calories before you realize it.

A diet diary can also be a useful tool for figuring out personal triggers for unhealthy eating, such as snacking while watching TV, or eating when feeling stressed.

The diet diary should be kept for 3-7 days without changing normal habits. Everything that is consumed should be recorded, including snacks, drinks, and extras such as dressing and condiments. Some of the things to include in a diet diary are:

Time of day
Type of food
Amount of food (approximately 1 cup, a handful)
Where you are when eating
Who you are with
Mood or feelings at the time of eating (happy, stressed out, angry, neutral)

It's important for the food diary to reflect normal eating patterns rather than an attempt at eating correctly. This way you and your child can look at the diary and see what kinds of changes can be made to improve the diet. For example, if she tends to munch on snacks when feeling stressed, you can discuss other options, such as taking a walk with the dog, calling a friend, or taking a bath.

Labels: diet, nutrition, fast food, food diary

Posted By: Lori S 0 Comments

Doctors at Johns Hopkins and other medical institutions have noticed a curious, if not alarming, increase in children with kidney stones. The painful condition may be a consequence of America's dependence on processed foods with a high-salt content.

The childhood obesity epidemic already has resulted in a dramatic rise in cases of Type 2 diabetes among young children. Fats and sugar are the main culprits in childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes - and the kidney stones may be the result of the other problem with fast food - too much salt. Though kidney stones are still not commonly found among children, specialists who once saw only a handful of cases each year now diagnose many times that number.

"'Five years ago, we used to see maybe a handful of children a year, maybe five or six,' said Dr. Yegappan Lakshmanan, a pediatric urologist at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. 'Now, it's five or six a month. Some are repeat patients, but it's definitely a trend.'"

Kidney stones, once found almost exclusively in adults, are tiny mineral deposits that can cause excruciating pain when they lodge in the urinary tract.

John Hopkins has even established a pediatric kidney stone clinic because of the increased incidence in children, as have the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee and the Harvard-affiliated Children's Hospital in Boston.

Labels: causes of childhood obesity, fast food, overweight children, fast_food

Posted By: Lori S 0 Comments

A new law in Santa Clara County, California, would prohibit fast food restaurants from putting toys in children's meals.

The County Board of Supervisors passed the law which bans toys only if fast food restaurants do not come up with a voluntary program for improving the nutritional value of their children's products.

The law was controversial even among the supervisors.

"This ordinance prevents restaurants from preying on children's love of toys to sell high calorie unhealthful food," said supervisor Ken Yeager.

Supervisor Daniel Gage was not so sure.

"If you cannot control a three-year-old child for a toy, God save you when they get to be teenagers," he said.

 

Labels: fast food

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 0 Comments

In a Nov. 13 column on the website of the Arkansas News, columnist Micki Bare took exception to new laws in San Francisco that were designed to help reduce rates of childhood obesity:

If a fast food restaurant in San Francisco wants to include a prize, the meal not only has fall below the 600-calorie ceiling, but also must include fruits, vegetables and drinks that are low in sugar and fat.

While I can see the rationale behind the legislation -- super-sized children are the rule these days, rather than the exception -- I believe the passing of the new ordinance to be rash as well as inconsistent with core American values.

Freedom to ruin our health and the health of those around us has a strong history in our country. It is firmly rooted in our constitutional freedoms and nourished by the very capitalism that built this great nation.

Are health initiatives such as this one an attack on U.S. freedoms -- or are they a necessary regulation on companies who are contributing to deteriorating health statistics among our nation's youth?

Labels: fast food

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