SOLVING CHILDHOOD OVERWEIGHT
It will take a village to resolve childhood overweight and prevent early deaths, but don't wait for "THEM" to find a solution. Action is in your hands.
By Marie Dufour, RD - The last hospital patient I saw as a clinical dietitian was a 20-year old African-American girl. She weighted over 400 pounds and was dying from lack of oxygen, her chest so heavy that she could no longer lift it to breathe. That broke my heart just as much as did the teenagers asking me about bariatric surgery to save their lives. With my little food guide and nutrition pamphlet, I felt quite alone and ineffective, having only one shot at nutrition education.
Reversing childhood overweight requires a complex, multi-faceted approach, not necessarily focusing on weight loss, but on behavioral change.
Let's set aside the topic of physical activity, and look strictly at nutrition. Children and their parents have lost touch with what constitutes appropriate nutrition for two major reasons: lack of education and a toxic environment. This can be reversed with structures already in place, repeated exposure to health-conscious messages, and an effort from food distributors to identify non-toxic products on their shelves.
- Child education: nutrition needs to be taught as a mandatory school subject.
- Parent education: through television nutrition and healthy cooking shows, newspapers and magazine articles, written or produced by Registered Dietitians.
- Grocery stores health-promoting stance:
- "Light" circuit shopping, away from "Heavy" aisles;
- Decentralized produce carts located in parking lots and at curbside;
- In-store light cooking shows;
- In-store free dietitian consultation;
- Hospitals and medical groups proactive policies:
- Nutrition education pamphlets to all members;
- Free nutrition screening and dietitian initial consultation;
- Healthy Living Health Fairs (Nutrition and physical activity);
- Business participation:
- Healthy cafeteria menus, including nutrition labels on menu items;
- Employee education via web-based "Nutrition Spots;"
- Insurance discount for participation in nutrition education workshops.
- City programs:
- Healthy Camps: nutrition, physical activity, healthy cooking;
- Healthy Cooking for Moms, Dads, & Families community classes;
- Health-promoting infrastructures: sidewalks, parks, and security;
- Pro-health policies: produce cart licenses, no-Fast-Food zones near schools.
Each of us has a role to play. Whether a business owner, a city worker, a teacher or a health worker, each of us can create a climate and an environment where we can rear healthy and lean children.
Don't wait for "THEM;" What will YOU do?