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Obesity endemic in the U.S.
Poor diet, sedentary lifestyle the main culprits

by Flavia Kreis

The number of youths that are overweight has more than doubled since the early 1970s. Today, approximately 13 percent of children and adolescents — nearly 5.3 million youths — are seriously overweight.

What is causing childhood obesity? Our society is overindulging on foods; it seems we can't go a city block without seeing a fast food restaurant. Every hour of the day or night we have foods available to us. Just a few decades ago Americans ate mostly home-made foods. Now most of us eat out an average of four to five times per week, and some eat out every day.

The picture at home is one of sedentary eating. Most people who eat at home have TV dinners or take-out. The average American child spends about six to seven hours per day watching television. Food commercials on TV typically promote nutritionally deficient foods and empty calories, like desserts, sodas and fast foods.

Just by watching TV we feel compelled to eat. It is a passive activity. And after a while, we become overweight and sick and the next commercial we see is about getting medications for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. This makes no sense.

Instead of going out and socializing or walking or exercising, we are sitting, eating and taking medications because we cannot stop eating, and so our health declines.

For kids, school is no better. Many school lunches are full of chemicals, fats and sugars, with no sign of fresh vegetables or fruit. School vending machines are loaded with low-nutrient foods like chips, snack bars, cookies and sodas. Children are commonly sent to school after having a breakfast full of sugars like frosted or artificially colored cereal with little or no protein. How can we expect our children to be healthy and perform well at school when their bodies are malnourished?

Another problem is portion intake; most Americans eat twice what they need. Restaurant portions are often excessive, and our constant snacking contributes to this problem. Portion size is quite different in many other countries in the world, and people there have fewer weight problems.

What is the solution to all of this? We must simply reverse the causes of these problems.

Eat smaller portions; eat more home-made meals so you can control the intake of fats, sodium, carbohydrates and sugars; make better food choices. Reduce the amount of TV, computer and/or video game exposure for you and your kids. Instead, play a game after dinner or take a walk. Sign up your child for a sport that he or she likes.

Make a nutritious lean-protein breakfast for your child and send him or her to school with healthy homemade lunches. You can do even better by working in your community to promote healthier school lunches and to remove the vending machines from schools.

Other schools in other states did it (for more information, see www.aasd.k12.wi.us/aca/profile.htm and select the "Nutrition" link), and the students' grades improved, while drops-out and acts of vandalism decreased. Why not us?

Flavia Kreis is a certified nutritional consultant and the owner of Integrative Nutrition and Wellness Center, located in downtown Mountain View. For more information, visit www.integrative-nutrition.com.