Ending Childhood Obesity
February/10/2010 05:20 PM Filed in: Family | Nutrition | Children | Life of a Rock Star | Nicole Hanratty
The Skinny on Childhood Obesity
By Nicole Hanratty
Is it really any surprise that one in three kids today are considered obese? First Lady Michelle Obama is intent on helping all moms who face the daunting task of fighting this seemingly impossible battle and her crusade will not be an easy one. Frequent birthday celebrations and holiday parties at schools bring cupcakes and donuts to snack time weekly. Parties on the weekends customarily offer pizza and cake to kids. Hot lunch menus at school offer fast food from Popeye's Chicken, Domino's and Taco Bell. Long commutes to and from work for parents--in addition to kid's after school activities--make drive-thrus convenient for dinner. French fries have become the standard accompaniment with every kid’s meal at restaurants of all sorts. Sodium, sugar, hydrogenated oils and fat are the primary ingredients in pre-packaged snack foods that get consumed by our children daily. Sodas and juice boxes have replaced water and milk as a main source of hydration. Worse yet, virtual play has replaced bike riding, baseball and running around with friends at the park.
ACCESS: A recent visit to the downtown area of Hartford, Connecticut illustrated to me that there are entire neighborhoods--where people lack their own vehicles--without fresh produce or proper grocery stores to shop for healthy nutritious food. We drove blocks around a lower income neighborhood lined with apartments without coming across one proper grocery store.
Only a minimal amount of fruit and vegetables were offered in the local convenience/liquor stores that we saw within walking distance for those residents. What did line the shelves looked dirty, old and unappealing. Admittedly, I too walked past the overripe fruit to find a bag of Ruffles that looked safe and clean to eat. Sodas and juices were enticingly placed en masse throughout the store and sold for a fraction of the cost of bottled water. For residents in areas like these, access to healthy alternatives stands as a huge barrier.
BUDGET: The cost of healthy eating can be an especially burdensome financial challenge for the lower and middle class in this economy. With everyone needing to cut back and downsize, groceries need to last and perishable items that go wasted are undesirable.
In times like these, it can seem more sensible to spend your grocery money on a box of fruit roll ups that boast being a, "Good source of Vitamin C, Fat Free and Gluten Free," and won't spoil than on a basket of strawberries that will likely last no more than three days. And while you can't compare the two products nutritionally, most parents don't realize this or haven't been educated enough on the negative health effects of replacing fresh fruits with manufactured fruit flavoring.
The same economical but health challenging choices are being made in the frozen aisle as well. Pre-made frozen meals are alluring because they are more economical than purchasing fresh vegetables and whole grain ingredients. (Although this www.cookforgood.com website argues that you can cook organic sustainable meals cheaper than buying fast food--one ninety-nine cent burrito from Taco Bell costs less to purchase than it does to make.) While there are many frozen meals out there that are healthy--my family loves Amy's--they can cost more and are not always widely available in discount grocery stores.
FATIGUE: Where budgets or access to proper grocery stores is not an issue, lifestyle fatigue presents a barrier to healthy eating. Parents are tired, lack the energy for cooking, and find finicky eaters difficult to cook for on a nightly basis. Busy schedules today have altered eating habits to such an extent that it is often a rare evening that families sit down in unison to share a meal. Moms find themselves serving multiple times a night to accommodate hectic schedules.
Child-dictated meals have also become problematic. When I was child, if I asked my father what he was cooking for dinner his response was always, "Food." If I answered "Food," I would get a twenty-minute dissertation on why that is not an adequate answer. Maybe that is karma coming back at me, (and I'm sure somewhere in Heaven my father is getting a giggle over that), but I don't think I am the only mom today who answers that question with trepidation knowing the answer will be met with complaints.
After a long day of work, chores and errands, parents are ready to surrender, not wage war over dinner. Rather than arguing about the benefits of eating fresh fish and broccoli, we throw frozen chicken nuggets and fries in the oven and call it a day. Or worse, we pack up the car and go out to eat. (In all reality it would be better health wise for us to serve scrambled eggs and toast.)
ACTIVITY:
With public schools cutting physical education drastically, parents can no longer rely on school as the place where kids are burning calories or building muscle. The burden is on moms and dads to make sure kids play every day.
Thirty years ago, moms could send kids outside to play while they made dinner. Today many are frightened for their children's safety and kids don't go out unless someone is watching them. Even when supervision is available, parents have an uphill battle fighting against computers, laptops, cell phones, TV’s, Wii, Playstation, XBox, Facebook, itunes, texting, online games, Nintendo, and ipods. Kids have multiple ways to be entertained by sitting perfectly still.
SOLUTIONS:
With these major barriers to fitness in mind, what are some easy answers to reverse the trend?
Remember, small steps add up.
Where access is an issue, it would be interesting to see some planning commissions designate areas near low income housing for agricultural development or provide an appropriate amount of space per residence for a community garden. Hopefully the First Lady's efforts will help bring about some reforms that lead to more land availability for organic food production in low-income areas. (Maybe it would even create some jobs.)
Working the budget at the grocery store remains a challenge but here are a few tips:
• Stock your freezer with frozen vegetables and pull them out nightly to steam. Filling up on good fibers will slow down the appetite for sugars.
• Work home made soup into the menu a few times a week (try this Tortilla Corn Soup) for an economical satisfying meal that sneaks veggies in as well--plus it can sit on the stove simmering for hours so you can serve it in waves as the family arrives home.
• Bananas are a great fruit to purchase because uneaten overripe ones can be used to make delicious banana bread.
• Grapes are another great fruit to pick up at the market. Rinse and fill zip lock bags with individual size portions. Stick these in the freezer and pull them out to pack in kid's lunches.
• Put fresh cut carrots on the table as often as possible. Inexpensive and rather long lasting in the refrigerator, this veggie can replace sugary after school snacks a few times a week.
• Look for potato tots or fries in the freezer section without hydrogenated oils--available at Whole Foods--so when you do reach for an easy meal solution it is a little bit healthier.
Fatigue is a big issue that stands in the way of cooking up something healthy and reverting to dining out. A few nights a week give these tips a try and see what a huge difference cutting out fast food even a few nights per week makes:
• On nights when your aching feet win and you head out with the kids to eat, check out this book, Eat This Not That For Kids. It gives calorie counts and nutritional information formatted in a way that kids can read and understand. It encourages kids to choose better options.
• Keep your pantry stocked with Barilla PLUS Angel Hair Pasta (it offers extra fiber, protein and ALA Omega 3) and jars of marinara sauce for an easy meal. It is a quick dinner--angel hair cooks in three minutes--that is much healthier than fried foods while offering some basic nutrients without all of the sodium present in restaurant meals.
• Many love the Crock-pot option as you can make your meal earlier in the day while you still have energy and it is ready to eat when you get home. It is perfect for cooking chili. Check out this Turkey Chili recipe.
• My favorite time saving trick is to buy a pre-made rotisserie chicken and turn it into a home cooked meal by adding a potato or rice and a salad. (Shop Trader Joe's freezer section for pre-cooked brown and jasmine rice that only requires a few minutes in the microwave to cook.)
I have struggled along with the rest of America to come up with ways to make exercise seem fun and work it into our day. These are a few things we have come up with in our household to get over the activity hump:
• If you are headed out to dinner, walk if you can. This is easier in the summertime when it stays light out later but even if one parent walks with the kids to dinner and another brings the car to drive everyone home, it is still a great way to get the kids out and moving.
• Ice cream on the weekend is that much sweeter when you hop on your bicycle and ride over to the ice cream shop. It's time with mom and dad, exercise, fun and dessert all rolled into one.
• Don't be afraid to get your kids up off the couch and tell them for every twenty minutes they sit in front of the television they have to get up and do x number of jumping jacks or push-ups. Set a timer and make it a competition to see who can do the most.
• Go back to the park. We took our kids all the time when they were babies but tend to forget about it when they hit their tweens. Grab a baseball bat and some balls. Even if you have an only child, you will be surprised at the number of kids at the park who will want to join in your game.
• Let them have their ipods and take the dog out for a walk. Even if you don't go far at first, it is the idea that you are forming new healthy habits.
• Sign the kids up for after school activities that get them moving. Let them know they can take art class but they also must choose a sport whether it is dance, swimming, soccer or basketball.
If you have comments, tips or suggestions for fighting childhood obesity, fun exercise or quick meals, we would like to hear from you.
