Understanding Childhood Obesity

Having an overweight child is difficult for both parent and child. Often, it doesnt happen accidentally – see if you are putting your child at risk.

Ask any grandparent who parented in the sixties, and they will tell you; “there is nothing more angelic than a chubby cheeked child”, but how chubby is too chubby? Childhood obesity is becoming more prevalent, along with its’ accompanying ailments.
Only 4-5% of children were obese between the years 1963 and 1970. At least 15% of today’s children are overweight. Times have changed, healthy children of the fifties and sixties had chubby knees and elbows, as evidenced by the cherub faced ‘Campbell’s Soup’ kids. How is it that children of the past were plump but healthy, and children today are labeled fat, and unhealthy?

Perhaps there is an explanation for the contradiction. Children of yesterday ate more home-made meals around the kitchen table, and got more exercise. With the introduction of video and computer games, children of today are more sedentary. Fast food is ubiquitous, and busy families eat out more often. Millennium kids are no longer pleasantly plump. They are dangerously obese. To underscore the point, the ‘soup kids’ had a bit of a makeover a few years ago. They are still symbolic of healthy children, but have been trimmed down to better represent what is ideal; Healthy children are not too skinny, nor are they too fat.

One begins to wonder, who does not know the risks of childhood obesity? It has become so epidemic, that many articles are written to it, children and their parents are educated on it, and the mainstream media is all over it. It is an important subject which warrants such attention. Type II diabetes is a disease, that until recently, was primarily considered an adult disease, not any more. A little less than half, of the newly diagnosed cases of diabetes in children, is attributed to Type II. If this were not tragic enough, children who are obese are often plagued with cardio vascular disease, which includes high blood pressure and cholesterol. Bone and joint problems, sleeping disorders, and psychological difficulties are also common factors to childhood obesity.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, children who are obese “are more likely than youth of normal weight, to become overweight as adults, and therefore are more at risk for associated adult health problems, including heart disease, stroke, some cancers, osteoarthritis and the pre discussed, type II diabetes.”
Knowing these terrible statistics is not enough. Parents have to be proactive. If your child is obese or, nearing obesity, take action. Make an appointment with your child’s pediatrician. She will map out a plan to assist you in getting your child nutritionally on track. The plan will undoubtedly include a dietary and exercise regimen. With encouragement from you and input from the pediatrician, your child can beat of obesity, and ward off the ensuing effects in the process.