Childhood Obesity:

At our Martial Art school, we educate our staff, instructors, parents and students about any threats and dangers that people may have to confront in their lives. Childhood obesity is most certainly a serious threat that we address in our martial arts programs. By now, you have surely heard a lot of warnings in the news about child obesity. Martial arts masters, doctors, health specialists, trainers, and educators are all in agreement that child obesity is now at its worst level ever in the United States. What makes it an epidemic is that, according to many reports, nearly 35% of children are now considered overweight or borderline overweight. According to the National Center for Heath Statistics (NCHS), more than 1 in 5 children and adolescents in America are obese. These statistics are even higher in some particular ethnic groups within the United States. It is essential that parents educate their children about proper diet and exercise because of the negative health consequences of childhood obesity: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high insulin levels, low energy levels, and damage to the joints. These health risks can also lead to life-threatening illnesses like heart disease and diabetes. Many parents might think that a child will "grow out" of his or her excess weight as he or she gets older, and that childhood obesity is merely a problem of physical appearance and social acceptability. Although that might be true in some instances, what is truly alarming is that obese children are more likely to face very serious health issues in their lives due to their weight problems at an early age. Simply put, today's overweight children may become tomorrow's overweight adults, particularly if they are obese during adolescence.

Here is some statistics all parents should think about:

• American children get about 40% of their calories from extra fat and added sugars
• Nearly 1 in 7 ten-year-olds get 70% of their calories from snacks
• Almost two-thirds of children fail to get the recommended dietary allowances(RDA) for vitamin E and zinc
• 50% of children do not meet the daily RDA standards for calcium intake
• 30% of children fall short of RDA for iron and vitamin B6
• Nearly 25% of vegetables consumed by children are in the form of (you guessed it) French Fries! In this form, potatoes are fried in large amounts of grease which are high in fat, so they may be eating their vegetables but they are also increasing their consumption of fat. If they add a few packets of ketchup to their fried then they are also significantly increasing their sugar intake!
• In 1980, only 2% of overweight children experienced type-2 diabetes. A report from the year 2000 shows that type-2 diabetes now makes up about 30-50% of new cases of diabetes among children.

Interesting information! Here is another interesting fact. Last year at the Chico Health fair, I learned that the average soda consumption for male teens is three or more cans a day. But 10% of teens drink more than SEVEN cans of carbonated soda each day! Now think about how all that sugar will affect your child's ability to pay attention in his or her daily life.

The true impact of these statistics did not really hit me until I saw the amount of sugar this actually adds up to in one week. If a 12-ounce serving of soda contains almost 40grams of sugar and children consume about 3 servings a day (and at fast food restaurants they often consumer larger servings, like 24- and 36-ounce sizes), then they are consuming a total of at least 120 grams of sugar each day, just from these beverages. At the end of the week, children will have consumed 7 times that, or 840 grams of sugar. That means they are ingesting over 3 and a half cups of sugar each week. Do your children even know how big a pile of sugar that is? To really see for yourself the amount of sugar that is contained in just one can of soda is a visual experience that you never forget. It somehow seems a lot less shocking to simple state that each can of soda contains at least 50% sugar. To actually see how many spoons of sugar this translates into is amazing, and many beverages that are marketed as “fruit juice" contain just as much sugar as soda.

Try an experiment at home with your children in order to help them become more conscious of their sugar intake in the form of sodas and juices. Read the label of your favorite beverage together and find the amount of sugar per serving in grams. Knowing that 1 teaspoon contains 4 grams, help your children figure out how many teaspoons of sugar are contained in one serving of their favorite beverage (for instance, if the total sugar is 40 grams per serving, and there are 4 grams per 1 teaspoon, then there are 10teaspoons of sugar per serving in that beverage). Have them measure that amount of sugar by the teaspoon into an empty bowl and look at how much it is. Ask your children if they would ever consider eating this amount of sugar by itself. Clearly their answer should be no. Large amounts of sugar like this don't taste good on their own and are not good for the body. Remind them that this is the amount of sugar they are consuming in each can of soda that they drink. Just because water is added to the sugar and dissolves it does not mean that it is not still there!

You might even pour the sugar from the bowl into a drinking glass and then fill up the glass with water and mix the sugar in to show your children how the sugar can be present in their cans of soda even though they can't see it anymore as a solid substance. You might even use this experiment as a way to enlist your children's help in changing their behavior. Excessive sugar consumption may be hurting your children's concentration and performance during school. So many kids act out and get into trouble simply because they have a hard time focusing their energy. If you lower their sugar intake, you may see their behavior change for the better. As you complete the above experiment, ask your children if they feel differently after they eat or drink something with a lot of sugar in it, like soda. Do they feel like they have more energy after wards? Do they feel tired again in just a short while? Explain to them that sugar gives their bodies an instant burst of energy in the short term but that it makes them tired again very soon afterwards. Help them identify snack foods that would give them more energy over the long term, like fresh or dried fruit, nuts, carrot and celery sticks with peanut butter, cheese slices and whole wheat crackers, yogurt (fresh or frozen), granola bars, whole-grain pretzels, etc.

Obesity is a complex, chronic disease which is still being studied at many levels. In many instances, obesity may be determined by a variety of factors from genetics, physiology, and metabolism, to even cultural and psychosocial factors. However, experts agree that the fight against childhood obesity begin at home.

 There are many things parents can do to make sure children are living a healthy life-style. Weight problems in children really come down to a simple formula: they take in more calories than they burn. Therefore, the various solutions to this problem involve limiting excessive amounts of calories and limiting excessive amount of time in front of the television or playing video games! Excesses of any kind can be hazardous to the body. Consequently, the first step is to balance proper eating habits with an exercise plan.

1. As a parent, start by changing your own eating habits and exercise routine. Be the role-model of your household in this respect. Children don't do what you say; they do what you do! Children are very quick to model their behavior after that of the adults in their lives.

2. Like in the above experiment, begin examining the nutritional values of the food you buy or bring to the house. You are going to have to familiarize yourself (if you are not aware of the most recent suggestions) with the recommended daily allowances of various substances in foods. This is going to require some research online or at the library, or possibly a phone call to a nutrition specialist or your family physician.

3. If you eat out, base your choice of restaurant on the nutritional quality and healthy preparation of their food. Often, the price is the most important factor that parents look at when deciding where to take their children out to eat. Parents should first look at the health quality of the food being served and only then look at the damage to the wallet! Children are expensive, it's true, but isn't it better to spend your money on putting good energy into their bodies instead of on that new game boy?

4. Think about the kind of disciplined exercise program you have your children in. A good exercise program addresses three areas: cardiovascular exercise to develop stamina and endurance; flexibility to get better range of motion; and strength to build healthier muscles, internal organs and tissues. They should exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes a day.

5. What type of activities do you have your children involved in so they learn to manage their stresses? Many children are overly stressed due to family situations, conflicts with other kids, school performances, etc. Too much stress can have a negative effect on their bodies and damage their health and their metabolism. Certain kinds of exercise programs or other activities can help children learn techniques that will help them successfully manage stress for the rest of their lives.

6. Provide healthy and fun snacks for kids. Get creative with “snack time" by lining up pretzel sticks into various shapes before you eat them, or making other fun shapes and figures with healthy foods. Here's one time where it's okay to play with your food! Make “ants on a log" by filling celery sticks with peanut butter(these are the logs) and topping them with raisins (the ants). You can also make a “Snoopy" salad by placing a pear half flat on a piece of lettuce on a plate and then decorating it to look like the profile of a puppy. Use a dried prune for the flop year, a maraschino cherry for nose (put this at the narrow end of the pear half), a mandarin orange for collar, and a raisin for the eye. Train your children to be conscious of their eating when they are watching TV or spending time at their computer. Too often during these times children eat without even being hungry or eat more than they should because they are not paying attention to what they are eating. Provide fruit, healthy mix of dried fruit and nuts, low fat popcorn, etc.

7. Encourage your child to drink water more often. Water contains zero calories and it also fills you up, which may give the tummy the feeling of being full and consequently lowers the urge to eat an entire bag of chips in one setting! Water also keeps your body hydrated which can help the process of losing fat.

8. Get rid of the sodas! Replace sodas with healthier drinks with lower sugar level. Be careful as many fruit juices are heavy in sugar too. If this causes a revolution at home, you should compromise by allowing children to drink soda only once or twice a week. Children can have a soda or a cupcake once in a while. The key to any healthy weight loss program is to consume foods in moderation.