Overcoming obesity Experts offer tips to help kids trim down

PRINCETON — It’s no secret that Americans are getting bigger, but one of the most disturbing trends is that the obesity problem is increasingly affecting the smallest people — children.

With the number of overweight and obese children growing, parents are searching to find solutions to the problem, but health experts advised this week that they must be aware of the causes before finding solutions.

Nancy Caldwell and Stacey Grant, of the Princeton Health and Fitness Center, oversee the New You program that aims to help children get fit by getting to the root of the problem.

“The rate at which children are becoming obese is definitely growing,” Caldwell said.

The reasons for the increase in weight problems are attributed to many factors, Grant said, and that is where children and parents must begin to find explanations and resolutions.

“Possibly one of the biggest things right now is the lack of activity, and that is pretty much a standard in children’s lifestyles these days,” Grant said.

Televisions, computers and video games, Grant said, have caused a substantial decrease in activity in young boys and girls.

Caldwell said that she found that organized activities and sports can attribute to a child’s healthy lifestyle and can be very beneficial to them in the long run.

“If kids are active in organized sports, then we find that they’re much healthier. Their weight is kept under control, and their eating habits are better,” Caldwell said.

Although many schools emphasize physical education and healthy eating, Caldwell said it is really up to the parents and older siblings to provide activities outside of school to keep their kids in better shape.

“The parents are going to have to step up and try to organize things within the community,” Caldwell said. “You can walk with your kids. You can ride bikes with your kids, and there is all kinds of things you can do, especially during the summer.”

Caldwell called for parents to take their kids out to play at parks, playgrounds and particularly to the city pool.

“If you take your kids to the pool, they’re going to swim,” Caldwell said.

Grant said kids don’t necessarily need organized activities to stay in shape, but that everyday concerns often make them lose focus on a child’s healthy lifestyle.

“We’re worried about just making the rent payment each month or being able to pay the electricity bill,” Grant said. “I just think it’s a change in the way in what we saw 20 years ago. Things aren’t necessarily so much the same now.”

Grant also said where work life puts so many demands on parents, they often have little time to cook their own meals. As a result, they rely on fast food restaurants for dinner.

“Since mom and dad are so busy with job and career and trying to juggle what little bit of extracurricular activity that their kids might be involved in, [fast food restaurants] have now become our standard for a dinner place,” she said.

Parents can make better choices in what the kids eat, Caldwell said, but should also set a limit on how much the kids eat.

“We are really becoming a nation of just letting kids eat however much they want to eat,” Caldwell said. “A child and a child’s stomach probably doesn’t need the same amount of food that a grown-up eats. When I was growing up, you had a piece of chicken, and you had some mashed potatoes and some green beans. Pretty much, that was it. You didn’t get two or three pieces of chicken and a whole lot of helpings, because you had a limited amount. That’s all you ate.”

Since starting the New You program, Caldwell said that she has heard about children eating large amounts of food that contain too many calories. Also, Grant said, the drinks that kids consume may be just as important as the food they eat.

“The amounts of sugar that are in most of these fruit drinks and [sports drinks], and soda, it’s enormous,” Grant said.

Caldwell said that it is important to know that kids can get their calories from the proper food that they can eat, so they do not need to get extra calories from beverages. She also said that parents can help their children eat healthy foods and make better choices when they go out to eat.

“We can do a lot better as parents and just encourage the kids to eat good foods. Don’t totally stop eating fast food, but make good choices when you eat fast food,” Caldwell said. “Don’t have a lot of junk food in the home so that when kids are laying around and they are watching TV, there are healthier things for them to choose.”

But, the effort can’t stop with the kids.

Caldwell and Grant said parents should set the example.

“It all goes back into your individual lifestyle and making a decision that is important for you and being committed to that,” Grant said. “As an adult, if you are not committed to your healthy lifestyles — exercising and eating healthy, balanced meals that are appropriate for you — how do you expect your child to learn those things?”

Grant also said that if a parent is overweight, it would be hard for that parent to tell their child how to eat healthier and participate in more physical activity.

“Children don’t understand that concept very well, and they don’t really care that you are the adult,” Grant said. “Parents have to be willing to step up to the plate and put forth the effort and...teach them by doing instead of saying, ‘I told you so.’”

Weight problems and unhealthy lifestyles go through much discussion, Caldwell said, but the problem may be too much talking and not enough action.

“If you need to do something with your diet, you will teach your child by just doing it,” Caldwell said. “You really don’t have to talk about it if you say ‘This is for dinner,’ and you have fixed a good dinner, a healthy dinner. Then, the kids will eat it, and they won’t really think too much about it. They will be learning by watching you without a whole lot of explanation and a whole lot of talking.”

The New You program is one of the activities that children can participate outside of the school, but there are also measures being taken within the schools.

Physical education instructor Aleta Jo Crotty, of Mercer Elementary School, said the schools in Mercer County are on top of the issue of physical activity.

“One thing that the schools are doing is providing more time for physical activity,” Crotty said. “More time is being set aside for that.”

Some of the classrooms in Mercer Elementary, Crotty said, have physical education only one day a week and the teachers are filling in the time gaps for exercise.

“They’re providing structured activity,” Crotty said. “They’re not just running around to free play. We’re addressing the standards.”

While it is not called free play, Crotty said that the children are free to play whatever they want and are given materials for sports and other activities for high physical activity.

“That is a way the schools are addressing the childhood obesity problem,” Crotty said.

Another direction the schools are taking is to improve the nutritional values in students’ diets.

“For a lot of children, their diet is poor. It consists of a lot of sugars and sweets and those kinds of things,” Crotty said.

She said that parties that once had soda, sweets and chips now provide healthier snacks and drinks such as juice, fruits and pretzels. She also said that the fall festivals and sporting events also provide more healthier choices to the students and parents.

“They’re not just doing this for elementary, they’re doing this on the secondary level too,” Crotty said.

Crotty is also a member of the Mercer County School Health Council which meets once a month to discuss the physical well-being of Mercer County students.