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Top Ten Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Tips Parents Can Teach Their Kids to Prevent Childhood Obesity

August 23rd, 2010 Carol 2 Comments

1.  Do not skip meals, and especially do not skip breakfast. Breakfast is the energy start for the day. It is the meal that “breaks the fast,” hence the word breakfast. When you skip meals, you rob the body of the fuel it needs to function, like staying awake, and being able to handle stress. When you finally slow down, the hunger creeps up on you and then you tend to overeat or make unhealthy choices. If you can’t find the time to eat a “meal,” then eat something to hold you until you can eat a meal.

2.  Drink 8 – 10 glasses of water per day. Our body is over 60% water.  We need liquid to help transport nutrients, minerals, and energy, etc. to every part of our body.  Water and other non-calorie liquids help keep us healthy and functioning at our best. Drinking water also helps us to remove toxins and other waste products from our body and also help us “poop” without straining.

3.  Eat whole grains. Whole grains have more nutrients, like vitamins and minerals and fiber than processed grains.  When you eat things like whole grain cereals and bread, potatoes, brown rice, you are providing long term fuel for your body, so you feel full longer. You are also giving your body lots of nutrients to stay healthy.  Whole grain foods also help us to remove toxins and dead cells from our bodies and also to “poop” without straining. .

4.  Limit portions. Most of the food we get when we eat out is enough to feed 2 or 3 people. Therefore, it is better to eat ½ of everything that you ordered. This is a way to get the nutrients you need, without the excess calories — and you have food left over for another meal!  So you get to be healthy and save money!

5.  Go lean with protein. All the foods that we get from animals, such as cheese, milk, meat, eggs, fish, chicken, sausage, etc, are naturally high in fat.  However, it is possible to get these foods with less fat in them, for example, 1% or skim milk, non-fat yogurt, lean meat, fish and fowl. Also, it is best to eat these foods baked, broiled, or grilled, not fried.  Frying any food just adds lots of unnecessary fat.  You can also get protein from legumes, such as garbanzo beans, soybeans, white beans, and peas.  Nuts and seeds also provide some protein, but are also high in fat, so they should be eaten in small quantities, i.e. 2 oz. servings.

6.  Eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are filled with vitamins, minerals and water. Most are a good source of fiber and contain antioxidants, as well.  Sometimes fruits can even help you when you are craving sweets, as they supply your body with an immediate source of energy (sugar) for your body. Most fruits and vegetables contain Vitamin C, which helps the body to absorb the iron that is in grains.  And iron is needed to form hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to all the cells in our body.

7.  Limit fat intake. Read the labels of the foods that you buy.  The calories that you get from fat should be less than 30% of the total calories in that food.  For example, a food label lists the total amount of fat as 8 g and the total number of calories is listed as 160.  Since 1 g of fat provides 9 calories, 72 calories of the total calories come from fat, which is almost ½ of the calories. Therefore this is a high fat food. Fats that stay solid at room temperature, such as butter, margarine, peanut butter, and Crisco, are saturated fats and are not good for our hearts and our arteries. Although coconut oil and palm oil are two liquid fats, their chemical make-up is similar to a saturated fat and should be limited or avoided.  Candy bars, cookies, doughnuts, and pastries are also high in fat and they also contain lots of refined sugar.

8.  Limit sugar intake. Sugar in a food is listed as Total Carbohydrate (CHO) on a label. On the label it is then also listed as Dietary Fiber and Sugars.  If 50% or more of the total CHO comes from sugar, it is a high sugar food.  For example a label reads as follows: Total Carbohydrate:  22 g, Dietary Fiber:  2 g, and Sugars: 9 g.   This is a low sugar product because 9 g x 2=18 g and 18 g is less than 22 g. Candy, and sweets like cookies and pastries, as well as soft drinks lack the nutrients that our bodies need to be healthy.  These foods are not easy to avoid, so it is important to control the quantity. We usually grab these types of foods when we are on the run and hungry.  That is why it is important not to skip meals. Most juices and gummy candy like gummy bears and fruit rolls are 100% sugar and provide no nutritional value. Soft drinks are actually like a form of liquid candy, so all drinks that have been sweetened, such soda and flavored drinks should be limited to 5 oz per day. Juice, even if it is 100% fruit juice, should also be limited to 5 oz. per day.

9.  Eat Calcium rich food: We all know that calcium is necessary for strong bones and teeth. However, calcium is also necessary for a number of events that occur over and over in our bodies on a daily basis. The body uses calcium to help our muscles contract, for the expansion and contraction of our blood vessels, when hormones and enzymes are secreted and for helping the nervous system to function properly. This is why we need to eat 4 or more servings of a calcium rich food every day.  The richest sources of absorbable calcium come from dairy foods, such as milk, cheese, ice cream and yogurt. There are low fat versions of all of these foods.   If you eat the bones of fish, you are eating calcium. Some green leafy veggies such as spinach, broccoli, turnip greens, Chinese cabbage, kale, and mustard greens have calcium, but it is not easily absorbed. If you can’t eat milk products then you need to get a supplement. The key factor to consider when buying calcium supplements is the amount of elemental calcium the supplements contain and thus how much calcium your body will absorb.

10.  Move more. Get plenty of physical activity.  Find time to get your body moving. When you move you make your bones and muscles stronger. You also energize your body and help your body and mind to respond better to stress because you are able to think more clearly. It would be great if we all had 60-minutes a day to exercise, which would be really terrific for our physical and mental health, but 20-minutes to 30-minutes daily is also helpful. Exercise is cumulative, so every little bit counts.  So make every day a movement conscious day, i.e. walk, take the stairs, dance, bike, skateboard, roller blade, and find some days to make the movement 60 minutes long!  When you exercise you make your body a more efficient user of calories, so you can lose weight and become leaner and healthier because your heart is getting exercise – and fluid and nutrients are reaching every part of your body.

Carole Donahue, Partnerships Coordinator and Co-Founder of SOSMentor ShapeUp and Dr. Susan Shapiro, SOSMentor ShapeUp Board Member and Registered Dietitian
The Los Angeles-based SOSMentor ShapeUp organization was created to provide childhood obesity-fighting solutions for underserved kids through mentoring and nutrition education. SOSMentor ShapeUp’s mission is to teach children how to redefine their eating habits, improve their fitness activities, commit to long-term fitness goals, and ultimately, to facilitate a nurturing environment where they can continue onto higher educational realms and realize the full potential of their lives.
The organization’s multi-tiered mentoring approach starts with a 10-week program where adult mentors mentor high school students, so that they can then mentor middle school and elementary students.  Renowned Los Angeles fitness professionals and Registered Dietitians also facilitate workshop activities in the SOSMentor ShapeUp program. The organization’s co-founder, Carole Donahue has 27 years experience as a classroom teacher and program coordinator and has been recognized for her work in developing mentoring and other support programs for at-risk youth. In 1995, she founded the largest school-based mentoring program in California, which has served as a model for programs in other schools and states, earning her national recognition for her innovative approach.

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