Speaking with Families...

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Home > Articles > Speaking with Families...

Speaking With Families about their Children's Weight

The current generation of children are predicted to die before their parents according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

This is due to,for the most part,how we feed our children at home,at schools,at church,and at social functions. Our environment promotes obesity and disease. This is not a problem that will be solved by schools, doctors or the government. Those entities are too controlled by corporate profits and healthy children take away from corporate profits-especially food and drug corporations.

The discussion below in the link offers some great insights and strategies for creating an environment conducive to a healthy child. A great point is made about the overweight child being a symptom of poor choices by the entire family. Note that both moms in the vignettes are overweight.

The panel participants offer some excellent strategies,however,some are not consistent with more up to date findings. Skim milk,for instance,causes more weight gain than whole milk because it has a higher glycemic index, ie it makes you produce more of the fat storage hormone insulin. How much insulin you produce is the greatest predictor of how much fat will be stored. Pediatric researchers at Harvard medical school did this study after milk producers started pushing skim milk for weight loss. I advise against using pasteurized cow's milk at all because of the chemicals it contains in the form of antibiotics and pesticides. Coconut or almond milk are more healthful choices.

Corn and wheat products are also inconsistent with maintaining a healthful waist line(tummies should curve in,not out). Corn is what we use to fatten cattle here in Texas. Most common grains such as corn,rice and wheat(even whole grain) have a high glycemic index and promote insulin production and fat storage. These grains are also stored in big grain elevators where they have to be saturated with chemicals to retard fungal overgrowth. Choose dark grains such as: Steel cut oats,black rice, sorghum, buckwheat, amaranth, and black quinoa. Coconut flour is an excellent replacement for wheat flour. Recently a patient told me she was going to make flour from black rice.

They focus quite a bit on activity. I agree with that but with 36 years of clinical experience under my belt and extensive training at the Cooper Center for Aerobics Research in Dallas, I can promise you that changing what you eat will have much more impact on waist circumference than exercise.

Those of you with children of latin, Pacific Island, or African descent have a more challenging effort as your child's genetics makes them more prone to weight gain and chronic disease than a caucasian child eating the same diet. But,again,making family changes rather than focusing on the child is the tact to take.

Lastly,note in the vignette with the black child. She has an enlarged thyroid gland. These children (and adults) will appear to have a small inner tube around the neck. If thyroid levels are low,reducing waist circumference will be next to impossible. If you are low thyroid,you have to produce more insulin to maintain normal blood sugar levels. Insulin makes you store fat very efficiently.

There are many good suggestions here. Pick one and start creating an environment that will ensure a long and healthy life for you and your entire family.