People who maintain a healthy weight throughout life stay healthier and live longer than those who are overweight. The lifestyle habits that help keep us slim—exercise and a healthy diet—also cut our risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and some cancers.
The prevalence of obesity among our nation's youth has more than doubled in the past 20 years, with close to five million youths aged 6 to 17 seriously overweight or obese. The prevalence of obesity in nine-year-old children in a recent study was about 12 percent for boys and 7 percent for girls.1 Even the number of young overweight four- to five-year-old girls nearly doubled between the early 1970s and the early 1990s.2
The problems caused by overweight go way beyond appearances. Childhood obesity leads to all manner of health problems, such as adult-onset diabetes and heart disease.3 A number of risk factors for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and insulin resistance, are sometimes grouped together and called the metabolic syndrome. In one study, obese seven-year-olds had nearly four and a half times the risk of having metabolic syndrome in adulthood than their non-obese peers.4 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently found that 60 percent of overweight five- to ten-year-olds already have at least one risk factor for heart disease, such as raised blood pressure or insulin levels.5
Many overweight children become overweight adults. This is in part because the number of fat cells a child has is determined by the time he or she reaches adolescence. Generally, heavier children have more fat cells, which makes it more difficult for them to lose weight as adults. And, sadly, children who are overweight maintain some added health risk even if they eventually lose the weight.6
Family plays a major role in determining a child's body size. Genetics give us our eye and hair color, but when it comes to body size and shape, genes are no match for how we live life. Doctors agree that environmental influences are very important to a child's chances of staying slim and fit. For example, a child with a family history of adult-onset diabetes has double the risk of having diabetes as an adult. However, if the same child remains inactive, eats fatty foods, and becomes obese, he or she has a significantly greater chance of developing diabetes. We are all born with a set of genes, but we have the ability to influence how those genes are expressed simply by choosing healthy actions.
For all these reasons, it is important not to wait for children to grow out of their chubbiness, but instead to help them choose a healthy eating style and incorporate fun physical activity into their lives right away.
Food Choices for a Healthy Body
- * Experiment and broaden food options. Try new foods, recipes, and places to eat to keep it interesting and e
Choosing a plant-based eating style is a simple way to achieve or maintain a healthy weight because such dietary patterns require no calorie counting and contain the nutrients a fit body needs. Vegetarians have been shown to be leaner than their meat-eating peers in a number of scientific studies.7,8
Dr. Benjamin Spock, pediatrician, medical researcher, and teacher, advised in his book, Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care, that weight-loss programs for children should be based upon changing the type of food children eat, rather than the amount of food they eat. He encouraged shifting the entire family away from oily fried foods, meats, and dairy products and toward low-fat, plant-based foods°©grains, pasta, vegetables, legumes, and fruit. When this is done, he stated, "weight loss typically occurs without anyone going hungry."9 This is the key to life-long weight maintenance. The scientific evidence is clear: the closer a family gets to a pure vegetarian diet, the healthier they'll be.