Jul 24, 2020
In the United States, the number of children with obesity has continued to rise over the past two decades. Joining me tonight for part two of our interview on obesity is Dr. Bishop Carmichael, Family Medicine Resident at UHC Family Medicine and Program Manager at 5210 Way to Go program.
1) Last week in part one of the interview on obesity, we discussed that nearly 21% of West Virginia's children ages 10-17 are obese, which ranked West Virginia second highest in the nation - some really bad numbers there. How did we get here?
Well, many times healthy, affordable foods are often a lot more expensive and a lot of times more hard to find in certain areas. Especially in rural areas cheap, processed food is easy, quick and readily accessible. In addition, many kids do not have access to public parks, playgrounds, and wide open spaces to go out and play and run where they feel safe and where their parents feel safe with them doing those types of things.
2) What do parents need to know when it comes to meal planning and balancing calories?
Well, we need to remember that kids are always growing and many times when we are talking about overweight children, the goal is not to lose weight, but to just stop the rate of weight gain and let them grow into their bodies. Therefore, it is often just making simple changes in your diet: reducing the amount of sugary drinks and snacks and switching more towards whole grains and things like that. There is no magic bullet or healthy secret, I wish there were as it would make our jobs a lot easier, but it is just using common sense: eating more fruits, vegetables, and more whole grains and drinking more water and less sugary pops, and tea.
3) It is hard to think about children having to count calories. Does balancing calories always center on a food though?
We talk about things like calories-in versus calories-out and the calories-in is what we are eating, and we have to watch that, but we also have to look at calories-out, which is our physical activity. We recommend kids get at least two hours of physical activity every day, it is not only important for balancing and burning calories, but it is also good for strengthening bones and helps with kids' mental health; it reduces stress, anxiety, and a lot of things that we see kids struggling with nowadays.
4) For kids, snack time is important, although it presents a big dilemma for parents and guardians. What do you recommend to help parents when it comes to snacking for their children?
Many times it is just avoiding the cookies, cakes and sugary snacks. We can replace these things with some fresh frozen fruit or vegetables such as carrots or broccoli, but many times if you're going to eat breads or cookies or crackers, make sure they're whole grain that can make kids stay full longer. They are not as hungry as quickly. If there is a sugar free or reduced sugar option, always go for that one.
This content was originally posted on the WDTV News website here.
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