Heart & Soul

Research has shown obese children have roughly an 80 percent chance of becoming obese adults. Dr. Milteer explains that this increases the likelihood these children will develop potentially fatal conditions like cardiovascular disease or diabetes.

A member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Dr. Milteer often recommends the organization’s 5210 method to parents. The way the method works is simple.  To fight obesity, the AAP prescribes that children consume five fruits and veggies a day, two hours or less of screen time (meaning TV, computer, video games), at least one hour of physical activity and zero sodas or artificially sweetened drinks.

A cultural shift indeed. One Constance Brown-Riggs, spokes­person for the American Dietetic Association, says should be done in a subtle progression so as not to incite rebellion. “You don’t want your child looking at it as a diet,” Brown-Riggs says. “Make gradual changes, like making more fresh fruits available and switching chips for pretzels, to begin changing the family’s eating habits.”

Brown-Riggs says it’s also important for parents to read labels—paying close attention to the sodium, fat and calorie content—and to understand serving sizes. She suggests people use the plate method as a simple way to keep from overeating. This method allows you to divide a plate into quarters visually as you’re piling food on it. Two quarters should be veggies, one quarter should be starchy foods and the final quarter a meat. “Don’t make a science project out of it, but it’s a good guideline to help prevent overindulgence,” Brown-Riggs says. “And once you have a framework of what you should be eating, the occasional piece of cake isn’t going to affect you.”

As long as parents model good eating habits, she says, aberrations can be managed. So parents should pack lunches for their kids with raisins, fresh fruit, carrots and peanut butter sandwiches. Given the findings of a new study by the University of Michigan, brown bagging it is definitely worth it.

The study of nearly 1,300 middle school students found those who regularly ate school lunches were more likely to be overweight or obese, more likely to have high LDL (or bad) cholesterol levels, more likely to eat two or more fatty meats per day and less likely to eat at least two servings of fruits and vegetables.

And if the task of changing the culture of your family’s eating habits is more than you have time to focus on given everything else on your plate, calorie-controlled meal delivery services like Fresh Diet may be able to help get you started. Fresh Diet delivers three freshly cooked, gourmet, portion-appropriate meals and two snacks to your home daily. It is only one of many meal-delivery companies worth researching.

Keep in mind that diet and behavior modification alone will not work unless you include an exercise component in your child’s routine. “The conversation should be, ‘Let us go ride bikes. Let us go bowling. Let us play tennis,’” says Betty Starks, a former Chicago physical education teach­er. “When parents do this with their kids, physical activity is more likely to become part of the child’s life.”

Dr. Milteer and Starks also suggest other family-friendly activities: tag, volleyball, skating, hopscotch, catch, swimming, softball, dancing, basketball, jogging and walking the family pet. “This is not about being a zealot,” Dr. Milteer says. “It is about parents being more educated so they can make better decisions.”