The bad news is that increasingly, boys will be B-O-Y-S
According to two studies in the latest Journal of the American Medical Association, our national overweight and obesity rates have more or less leveled off, which might be cheerier news if that level were not potentially disastrous as it is.
Still, considering that adult obesity rates in the U.S. had soared from 10 to 15 percent in the 1960s to over 30 percent in 1999, data showing that as of 2008 they had risen only 2 or 3 percent more came as a relief to health professionals who expected much worse.
Nonetheless, there is an ominously dark cloud over this positive note, to wit: the one group that displayed the most weight gain was young males aged 6 to 19, 15 percent of whom now register in the 97th percentile weight category, which takes them beyond “obese” or even “morbidly obese” to a state that researchers are loath to even come up with a suitable term for, given that “insanely fat” or “lard with a pulse” would be, however apt, cruel and unseemly.
For the record, Latino and African American boys still have the highest rates of this ultra obesity, but the most marked increase was among their Caucasian peers.
What’s a parent to do? Glad you asked
Coincidentally, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which digests current research results and issues suggestions based thereupon, says that pediatricians and other health professionals should monitor children from the age 6 onward for obesity, and refer those who qualify to the nearest comprehensive weight-management program for kids.
The problem, as one pediatric obesity researcher told USA Today, is that there are millions of obese kids nationwide, but only a few hundred facilities that offer programs meeting the task force’s recommended standards. Which means it is left to the parents to take charge of things in most cases.
The paper asked Trim Kids co-author Melinda Sothern to provide some strategies for those parents to follow, and she offered the following.
- Initiate an “after 8 is too late” rule for after dinner snacking.
- Confine eating to the dining room, kitchen, and/or snack bar with the rest of the house a no-munch zone.
- Make healthy snacks easy to see and reach, and unhealthy ones just the opposite.
- Encourage kids to take an activity break from homework, TV or videogaming every half hour to shoot hoops, toss a football, jump rope or otherwise get the blood moving for a few minutes. Even better, engage in the activity with them.
- On weekends, try to spend half a day in some fairly vigorous family activity, such as cycling, skating (roller or ice), hiking or swimming. Note: kids don’t have adults’ self-discipline or sense of long-range goals, so make your exercise activities fun, the motivation they most relate to.
Of course, the Golden Rule for parents of obese children, when it comes to eating, exercising, and general lifestyle, remains both simple and difficult: set a good example.
(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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Obese American kids: the latest numbers, and advice to parents