Parents Are Key to Reducing Children's Obesity

With January being the traditional month when millions of people rededicate themselves to exercise and healthier diets, it’s a good time to think about it for our children as well. Why? It turns out that parents influence their children’s weight more than one might think.

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC), the prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 more than doubled in the past 20 years, going from 6.5% in 1980 to 17.0% in 2006. The rate among adolescents aged 12 to 19 more than tripled, increasing from 5% to 17.6%.^{1, 2}

With the rising rates of childhood obesity has come the unnerving reality that children and teens are now becoming high risk for diseases that used to plague only adults.

The CDC estimates that 61% of obese young people have at least one additional risk factor for heart disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure.³ In addition, children who are obese are at greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem.^{4, 5} Obese young people are more likely than children of normal weight to become overweight or obese adults, and therefore more at risk for associated adult health problems including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.6

In Hawaii, almost one in six public high school students is obese. A survey released last year by the state Department of Health on "Youth Risk Behavior" showed that 15.6 percent of public high school students—about 7,300—were obese in 2007. That was up from 10.5 percent in 1999.⁷

In his “Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity,” the U.S. Surgeon General said that the cause of children and adolescents being overweight is generally a lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating patterns, or a combination of the two.

Here’s the rub: Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults. This increases to 80% if one or more parent is overweight or obese.⁸

If your child is considered overweight or obese, there is yet another reason to be concerned. Research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Session in 2008 showed that many obese teenagers have the arteries of a middle-aged person.⁹

The sad part about all this is that so many children are at risk simply because their parents pass along their poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles to their family. Many of them—however well meaning—just don’t realize that all that fast food and too much TV can truly have a devastating impact on their childrens' health. As a result, instead of being a good role model and insisting on a healthy lifestyle, too many parents unintentionally enable their children to develop poor health habits. This can lead to lifelong illnesses and sometimes premature death.

A study in the January/February 2009 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior found that poor eating habits and a lack of exercise start as early as when children move from preschool to elementary school.¹⁰ So, it’s never too early to insist on a healthy lifestyle, and it’s never too late.

Virtually all the major scientific and medical institutions in the world agree that the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and a host of other diseases is linked to a meat-based diet consisting of highly processed foods laden with fats and artificial ingredients. These institutions further agree that the risk is greatly reduced by adopting a healthy low-fat, high-fiber diet. At Down to Earth, we believe this result is best achieved by adopting a healthy vegetarian diet consisting of organic produce and natural foods.

In addition, since a plant-based diet is low in fat and cholesterol and high in fiber, vegetarians have been shown to have significantly lower rates of obesity and Body Mass Index (BMI) values than non-vegetarians.¹¹ BMI is used as a screening tool to identify possible weight problems for both children and adults.

The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend the use of BMI to screen for overweight and obesity in children beginning at 2 years old. BMI is a number calculated from a person’s weight and height. It is a reliable indicator of body fatness. To calculate BMI for yourself and your children, and learn what your number means for you, , use a handy calculator that the CDC has posted on its website: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/index.html .

While simply avoiding refined sugars and flours can help prevent and combat obesity, the most powerful weapon you can offer your child to achieve and maintain an appropriate body weight is a healthy vegetarian diet (based on whole foods and free from refined sugars and artificial ingredients). A plant-based diet is critical to the prevention of obesity and other diseases because it:

• Tends to be lower in fat (especially saturated fat)
• Has absolutely no cholesterol (except for dairy products, which are sometimes included in a plant-based diet)
• Is naturally high in fiber when centered around unprocessed, unrefined, whole foods (fiber helps facilitate weight loss and prevent weight gain)
• Is high in phytochemicals (nutrients that are only found in plants which have been shown to have cancer fighting properties)
• Offers a good source of vitamins and minerals
• Offers the right amount of protein for required daily intake, as opposed to a meat-based diet which provides excess protein (double the amount needed), which converts into fat in the body.

In short, parents can help lower the risk of their children becoming obese and developing related diseases simply by setting the right example and insisting on healthy lifestyle habits, including physical activity and a healthy vegetarian diet.¹²