HEALTHY HOME HABITS

By Ashley Puljic

 

The treatment and prevention of childhood obesity begins at home. As a parent it’s important you do everything you can to stop obesity from striking your kids – by promoting an active and healthy lifestyle.

Here’s how to change unhealthy behaviours and create a healthy-weight environment for the entire family.

A healthy diet

Children are more likely to develop healthy eating habits when they are provided with a choice of healthy foods within their home. Dietician Eve Reed, suggests only buying food that you want your children to eat. “Don’t have soft drink in the house if you don’t want your kids to drink it,” she says.

So put healthy foods on your shopping list and prepare nutritional meals and snacks for the whole family. Having fewer unhealthy foods (like soft drinks, chips and lollies) in your cupboard means you won’t have to ‘police’ what your children eat.

Make a distinction between ‘everyday food’ and ‘sometimes food’ and give your child clear definitions of what ‘sometimes’ means. Nutritionist Dr. Rosemary Stanton says nothing needs to be banned, but a treat should be something you have once a week, not three times a day.

“Eat together as a family as often as possible with no substitutes for the foods being served. I think it’s fair to allow each member of the family to have three foods they don’t like and are not expected to eat,” she says.

“With other foods, if a child doesn’t eat what’s on offer, offer nothing more than a piece of fruit until the next meal and put up with the grizzles until the child understands that food is eaten at the table at mealtimes, not as a constant series of snacks.”

If you let your child help with food preparation, meal planning and choosing healthy items when shopping, they’re more likely to gain an appreciation for nutrition and healthy food in general. “A three year old can toss salad leaves and also help choose

Vegetables for the family,” Stanton says. “Growing veggies is the best way to encourage kids to eat them. This makes vegetables fun rather than a nutritional ‘chore’.”

Chocolates and beverages should be restricted to a minimum, as they’re high on calories. So encourage your children to east fresh fruits, by including a few of them in each of their meals. Let them develop the habit of eating fruits and they will themselves choose fruits over chocolates. Stanton also suggests keeping small bottles of water in the fridge to take on car journeys. “Don’t buy fruit juice, but occasionally make it in the kitchen, for example – squeeze oranges.”

Get active as a family

According to Rosemary Stanton, physical activity is vitally important. Parents need to set an example, and plenty of evidence shows parents who are physically active themselves are more likely to have children who are active.

“It’s also important to let children walk when they are toddlers. By encouraging kids to walk you establish a walking habit,” Stanton says.

“Parents should also walk with their children to school, or if the distance is too great, park somewhere convenient and walk for some of the way.”

Organise family outings that involve physical activity, such as bike rides together, playing backyard cricket, going to the beach, swimming, bushwalking, or family visits to the park. Include children in active chores, such as washing the car or walking the dog.

 

PHOTO: courtesy of www.sxc.hu

 

Sometimes children who are forced to exercise or participate in activities that they don’t enjoy develop a negative attitude to physical activity, so talk about these as fun rather than exercise. Encourage your kids to participate in school or community sports – or to dance, jump rope or do other physical activities on their own.

“Active presents are also a good idea, such as sporting equipment for Christmas or birthdays,” Rosemary Stanton suggests. “However, excessive competitiveness may backfire so choose some things just for fun, like kites, bikes, or snorkeling gear.”

Television, computers and videogames, prevent your child from indulging in physical workouts. According to Eve Reed you should limit screen time to a maximum of two hours per day, keep TV’s and computers out of the bedrooms, and don’t allow eating in front of the TV or computer.

Practice what you preach

Remember, the best way to get your child onboard with the new, active lifestyle is to commit to the changes yourself. Eve Reed says promoting healthy eating and physical activity is all about being a good role model for your children. Eating meals together as a family is important and ensure you offer and eat a variety of foods.

“Have regular meals and planned snacks, and children don’t need to eat in between these times. Restriction doesn’t work – if you think your child is overweight, let them eat as much as they want at mealtimes, but nothing in between,” Reed explains.

“Offer ‘extra’ foods occasionally at mealtimes for example, biscuits at afternoon tea, chocolate as dessert.”

Your actions teach your child what to eat, how much to eat and when to eat. You also encourage your child to be physically active every day if you make it a priority yourself.

If you’d like your child to be healthy, start by looking at yourself and your family. Eventually healthy habits will become routine, and you’ll be well on your way to preventing childhood obesity and improving your family’s health.

HEALTHY TAKE AWAY?

By Ashley Puljic

 

Preparing healthy meals for your children at home is easier said than done, especially when fast food is a simple alternative. But with growing concerns of childhood obesity, could new healthy fast food choices make meal time effortless?

Nutritionist Kristen Beck from Beck Health and Nutrition says it is likely that poor eating habits have contributed to the rise in childhood obesity.

However, she says that “despite extensive research into the contribution of fast foods, snack foods, and portion sizes, research has so far only been able to demonstrate a clear association between childhood obesity and the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.”

An article on the Australian Food News website (12/09/08) reported that McDonalds Australian CEO Peter Bush believes the childhood obesity issue is down to a lack of exercise.

Research undertaken by the fast food giant suggests that 1 in every 72 meals a child has comes from McDonald’s (about 1 meal every 3-4 weeks) and Mr Bush believes pointing the finger at McDonald’s was not reasonable. “You’ve got to look at those other 71 meals kids consume that often come out of the cupboard at home,” he says.

Kristen Beck explains emerging Australian and international research suggests the number of fast food outlets in lower socioeconomic suburbs is more than double that of wealthier areas and “that this increased density is associated with less healthy dietary patterns.” There is however still no clear link between regular consumption of fast food and childhood obesity.   

According to Dietician Milena Katz, people don’t normally eat healthy foods when eating fast food and it “will usually override other healthy choices.”

But that doesn’t mean the option isn’t there.

Kristina Milic, Crew Trainer at Albion Park McDonalds says there are many different healthy food options available. “We have new deli wraps which include caesar salad, sweet chili chicken and tandoori. We also sell Caesar, classic and garden salads, and our snack wraps are a healthier option to a burger,” she says.

“We also offer a lean beef burger with a lean patty, yoghurt and apple slices, a choice of juices, heart tick meals, and toasted sandwiches and foccacia’s at McCafe.”

Numerous fast food restaurants have been adopting these sorts of healthy food choices, and the question remains on whether this is a step forward in combating childhood obesity?

It would appear McDonalds are encouraging children to eat healthy through additional choices in the happy meal menu. “Kids have a choice of either a cheeseburger, three or six nuggets and a snack wrap as a main item; either fries or apple slices along with juice or another beverage they desire,” Kristina Milic says.

Healthy offerings in fast food restaurants may have the potential to improve dietary quality, but only if customers actually choose to eat them. According to Kristen Beck, these menus blur the boundaries of healthy and ‘occasional’ foods. “I doubt many people actually go to a fast food outlet to purchase a piece of fruit,” she adds.

“Quite honestly, most adults [and children] already understand that most fast foods are not healthy options and should not be eaten too regularly. Promoting water as the drink of choice and any move to reduce or eliminate ‘upsizing’ of meals would be valuable.”

Exactly what is the responsibility of food retailers, marketers and manufacturers? Is it to alter menus by consistently providing healthier products, stop promoting unhealthy products or simply provide enough information that consumers will be able to make an informed choice? Milena Katz says more should be done on the public health issue.

“McDonalds selling salads or choices with the heart tick is great, but it’s not their job to reduce obesity. It’s the job of the government to ensure children are being taught about healthy foods throughout their school curriculum,” she explains.

From the fast food operator’s point of view, obstacles to including healthier menu items are short shelf life of produce, increased preparation time, low sales, and high labour costs. “Healthy foods are more expensive to produce and become waste if their not purchased, where as cheese and a meat patty will keep for much longer,” Katz explains.

Kristen Beck says that unsurprisingly, profit margins are the major factor in determining which foods are included on the menu. “Without an increase in consumer demand, it is unlikely the restaurant industry will increase their offering of healthy food choices.”

As a Nutritionist, Kristen Beck says there’s often a large difference in terms of people’s dietary intent and true dietary intake – what they say they want to eat and what they actually do choose to eat.

“No doubt in market research sessions many participants would report they’d like to see more healthy options on the menu of fast food establishments, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that same respondent would choose the healthy option if it was made available,” she says.

WHY WEIGHT

By Ashley Puljic

 

The battle to be fit is not easily won, but there isn’t a better time than now to get your kids moving. By encouraging physical activity and good habits in children from an early age, you can help them develop skills to continue being active throughout their lives.

A program developed by The Children’s Hospital at Westmead is helping young people between the ages of 13 and 16 make healthier lifestyle choices with diet and exercise.

Research Dietician, Binh Nguyen says the eight-week program Loozit, has a “positive focus with emphasis on the whole family making realistic and achievable lifestyle changes that can fit in with everyday life in the long term.” Parents attend separate sessions to their children where they discuss how to support their child, using strategies such as saying no to junk food and limiting portion size.

Results of the National Health Survey conducted in 2007-08 indicate that 24.9% of children aged between five and 17 years are overweight or obese – according to the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

The most important long term consequence of childhood obesity is its persistence into adulthood. Once a child is overweight or obese it is unlikely they will return to a healthy weight and are more prone to medical conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnoea, heat intolerance, asthma, tiredness and flat feet.

Committed to encouraging children to lead healthy and active lifestyles, gyms have begun including kids exercise classes into their timetable.

Fitness Specialist Ross Fowler, from Beaton Park and Lakeside Leisure Centres in Wollongong, says their classes offer a broad variety of sporting activities from circuits to social games of tennis or soccer.

“At Lakeside we hold an Exerkids class for children aged between five and 12 years, and a Teen Circuit for 13-16 year olds held in our fully equipped circuit area. We also cater to nearby primary school, Hayes Park, with children coming over to the gym to participate in exercise and games,” he says.

“Beaton Park also caters to school children aged between 10 and 16 years in their Junior Circuit. I have had younger children aged under eight join in the class in the past but they are harder to manage and supervise.”

According to Australia’s Physical Activity Recommendations for 5-12 year olds, children greatly benefit from being physically active. They should participate in at least 60 minutes (and up to several hours) of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. To help your child achieve this, they need opportunities to be active at school, after school and on weekends.

On a typical day Beaton Park’s Junior Circuit begins with warm ups on the bike or rower, followed by exercises around the circuit. “I’ll then get the kids to grab a skipping rope and some boxing gloves and I’ll take them outside where they get to do some running, skipping, lunges, squats, and step ups,” Ross Fowler says. After a few more exercises on the circuit inside, the class concludes with some abdominal work and stretching.

“When I run the school group I usually get them to start off with a relay race, then we might play some games such as dodge ball, tennis or soccer, followed by stretching at the end,” Ross Fowler explains.

Physical activity doesn’t all have to be done at once. It can be built up throughout the day by walking or riding to and from school, participating in more activities at school, active play at home or organised sport after school and on weekends.

As well as being active, it is important to remember to limit the amount of time that children spend watching ‘small screens’ such as televisions, playing on the internet or computer games to no more than two hours a day.

According to Ross Fowler, running is great exercise for kids as “it gets them using different muscles and burns off energy they would have built up eating high sugar, salt and fat content snack foods.”

 

PHOTO: courtesy of www.sxc.hu

 

“Boxing and skipping are fun and enjoyable types of exercise, and boxing is also good for developing coordination. Stretching must be done at the end of every workout and is great for young children and their flexibility,” he says.

The exercise programs that are on offer at your local gym will get your kids active and burning excess energy. They also have the opportunity to learn new games and meet new people. “It’s great because they get to have fun and exercise at the same time. It encourages them to exercise from an early age, so it becomes something they enjoy and want to continue in the future,” Ross Fowler says.

“What it doesn’t do is stop them from putting fatty foods in their mouth. It’s a parent’s responsibility to teach their children healthy eating habits at home.”

At the Loozit program children are introduced to healthy meals and snacks, and are encouraged to experiment with new foods and fresh ingredients. “We also show them how they can become more active in a fun way, as well as look at self esteem and positive ways to manage stress,” Binh Nguyen explains.

“The young people support each other when they find it hard to stick to their goals around managing their weight and physical activity…we see the teenagers change from people who don’t want to make eye contact to young people who enter a room, look at you and smile.”