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INFORMATION FOR FAMILIES ON CONTROLLING WEIGHT AND INCREASING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FOR A HEALTHIER LIFE
New Hampshire is getting a failing grade for health. Studies have shown that rates of obesity in New Hampshire’s children are significantly higher than the national average of 16%. Further, only 47% of New Hampshire children can meet minimum fitness levels, by their second year in school.
Overweight is not a benign condition.
20-30% of overweight 5-11 year olds have high blood pressure.
10-30% of overweight children have evidence of fattly liver.
“Adult onset” or type 2 diabetes has increased 10-fold in children over the last 20 years.
Some schools in New Hampshire are cutting back on their physical education requirements.
There are many reasons for this epidemic. Societal shifts have promoted major changes, which have had a profound impact, especially on youth.
Soft drink consumption has increased over 500% from the 1950’s. Impact – one additional soft drink daily increases a child’s risk for becoming overweight by 60%. Less than 20% of girls age 9-18 meet the recommended daily intake of calcium.
Children see an average of 10,000 food ads a year, 95% of which are promoting fast foods, soft drinks, candy and other unhealthy foods. Impact - increased consumption of high sugar, processed foods actually increases appetite; 30% of American children eat fast food any given day, and children consume more calories of poor nutritional quality on those days.
About $10 billion is spent on advertising for various foods to children in the U.S. each year, while only $1.1 million each year is allocated by the government for the “Five a Day” program, which promotes increased fruit and vegetable consumption. Impact - each hour of TV viewing increases the risk of children becoming overweight by 12%, while each hour of exercise decreases the risk by 10%. Portion sizes have increased more than 3-fold over the last 30 years.
TV, video games, and other screen time now occupies an average of 2-4 hours a day for today’s youth. Impact – increases in sedentary activity significantly increases the likelihood of overweight. Having a TV in the bedroom is a strong predictor of overweight – even for preschool age children.
How to find out if you or your family is at risk? See your healthcare provider and ask to have your BMI measured. BMI is a reliable and reproducible estimate of body fat. Children with a BMI over the 95 th percentile for gender and age are considered overweight, while children with a BMI between the 85 th and 95 th percentile for gender and age are considered at risk for becoming overweight.
What can you do to reverse or prevent this trend?
1. Eat regular meals – don’t skip breakfast. Pack a healthy lunch and snacks, as an alternative to less healthy choices. Work with schools to encourage a change to healthier choices and to limit availability of soft drinks and other high calorie, non-nutritive drinks.
2. Eat more fresh, natural and unprocessed foods. Aim for a dinner with 50% high fiber vegetables.
3. Avoid significant quantities of refined starchy foods, limiting servings to no more than the equivalent of 1 slice of bread for each meal.
4. Eating protein at each meal can help you feel full longer.
5. Cut out soft drinks and consume juice and ‘juice drinks’ sparingly.
6. Don’t eat while watching TV, which leads to overeating.
7. Limit screen time to less than 2 hours daily.
8. Be more physically active – recommendations are for children to have 60 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week.
9. Families who engage in physical activity together are less likely to have weight problems.
