By Susan Bloom. USA Today- 1-26-11
"Children who have one obese parent stand a 50% chance of being obese themselves. This risk rises to 80% if both parents are obese."
Simple changes can make a big difference when it comes to childhood obesity. And nutrition advocates say the way to combat it is one child at a time.
"Sadly, in many areas, access to nutritional foods is not as accessible as it is to fat foods," Dr. Paul Schwartzberg, program director for pediatric residency at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, said in regard to the contributing factors behind this trend. "It's difficult for people to make reasonable choices on food and portions in today's 'supersize' age, and people are often not educated on the concept of calories and how many calories certain foods contain."
Adria Magenheim, a Colts Neck, N.J.-based nutritionist, agrees that the food children consume is a key culprit.
"The amount of processed food, sugar and corn syrup that kids eat today amounts to nothing but empty calories, from a nutritional perspective," she said.
"Combine this with the popularity of sedentary activities such as television and video games," Schwartzberg said, "and we have a concern of epidemic proportion."
Schwartzberg also noted that a genetic component often comes into play, with estimates revealing that children who have one obese parent stand a 50% chance of being obese themselves. This risk rises to 80% if both parents are obese.
Time for a change
Schwartzberg is one of many who are striving to make a difference locally. As the medical director for the Neptune-based Let's Improve Fitness Together (LIFT) program, he regularly works with overweight and obese children and teens to help them establish more sound eating habits and activity levels.
The program teaches kids how to read food labels and calorie counts and promotes fun and easy ways to exercise both outside and indoors. The program also targets parents, who often need to be motivated and positively engaged themselves in order to lead their kids by example.
"The LIFT Program was developed to help instill positive lifestyle habits and to offer guidelines on what people could do on their own," Schwartzberg said.
Schwartzberg is not alone in his concern over childhood obesity trends or in his desire to help combat the issue. In Marlboro, N.J., Virginia McDonald, executive director of Turtle Creek Learning Academy, sees it as her school's obligation to help children and their parents make healthier choices.
"The statistics on childhood obesity require all of us to get our heads out of the sand. As a nation, we owe our kids better," she said.
A significant chunk of Turtle Creek's curriculum is devoted to lessons on physical activity, nutrition and healthy alternatives to the more fried, sugary and processed foods that tempt today's kids at every turn. McDonald regularly involves her 100-plus students, ages 2 through 6, in cooking demonstrations so they can participate in making and eating healthy snacks such as vegetables with hummus or fruit smoothies.
Schwartzberg offered a simple "5-3-2-1-0 Rule" to children and their parents struggling with weight issues: "Five servings of fruits and vegetables, three balanced meals with no snacking in between, a maximum of two hours of (TV or video games), one hour of exercise and zero sugary beverages or sweets per day. Even one little change that you can commit to can have a big impact."
http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/fitness/2011-01-26-tips-childhood-obesity_N.htm?csp=34news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+%28News+-+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Study: Physical activity can boost student performance
By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY
Going to PE class and recess can be a win-win situation for students.
Physical activity improves kids' fitness and lowers their risk of obesity. And now a government review of research shows that kids who take breaks from their class work to be physically active during the school day are often better able to concentrate on their school work and may do better on standardized tests.
EXPERTS: Recess improves student behavior
In many schools, physical education classes and recess have been squeezed out because of increasing educational demands and tough financial times.
"Some short-sighted people thought that cutting back on time spent on physical education to spend more time drilling for tests would improve test scores," says Howell Wechsler, director of the Division of Adolescent and School Health for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"But in fact there are a lot of studies that show that more time for PE and other physical activity help improve academic performance."
He and colleagues reviewed 50 studies that examined the effect of school-based physical activity on academic performance. Half of the findings showed positive associations; half showed no effect, but virtually none of the research showed any negative impact, Wechsler says.
Among the specific findings, released Wednesday:
•Recess can improve students' attention and concentration and ability to stay on task.
•Increased time in PE classes can help children's attention and concentration and achievement test scores.
•Short physical activity breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes in the classroom can improve attention span, classroom behavior and achievement tests scores.
•Participation in sports teams and physical activity clubs, often organized by the school and run outside of the regular day, can improve grade point average, school attachment, educational aspirations and the likelihood of graduation.
The government's physical activity guidelines recommend that children and teens do an hour or more of moderate-intensity to vigorous activity a day. The Institute of Medicine advises that at least 30 minutes, or about half the daily physical activity, be done during the school day.
"Only 17% of high school students are meeting the goal of 60 minutes a day," Wechsler says. "We still have a long way to go."
How can schools get kids to be more active without breaking their budgets?
"Recess and in-class physical activity breaks are not costly, and a number of schools have found ways to adjust their schedules so they can offer more time for physical education," he says. "They also can make arrangements with community-based programs to offer after-school physical activity programs."
Charlene Burgeson, executive director of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, a group of physical education and sports professionals, says, "Sometimes it doesn't take more money as much as more creativity and imagination."
In some communities across the country, parents and volunteers walk and bike with kids to school, she says.
"Recess supervisors can be trained to inspire active play. The physical education teacher can help classroom teachers design active breaks so kids get up and moving and are ready to learn."
Going to PE class and recess can be a win-win situation for students.
Physical activity improves kids' fitness and lowers their risk of obesity. And now a government review of research shows that kids who take breaks from their class work to be physically active during the school day are often better able to concentrate on their school work and may do better on standardized tests.
EXPERTS: Recess improves student behavior
In many schools, physical education classes and recess have been squeezed out because of increasing educational demands and tough financial times.
"Some short-sighted people thought that cutting back on time spent on physical education to spend more time drilling for tests would improve test scores," says Howell Wechsler, director of the Division of Adolescent and School Health for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"But in fact there are a lot of studies that show that more time for PE and other physical activity help improve academic performance."
He and colleagues reviewed 50 studies that examined the effect of school-based physical activity on academic performance. Half of the findings showed positive associations; half showed no effect, but virtually none of the research showed any negative impact, Wechsler says.
Among the specific findings, released Wednesday:
•Recess can improve students' attention and concentration and ability to stay on task.
•Increased time in PE classes can help children's attention and concentration and achievement test scores.
•Short physical activity breaks of about 5 to 20 minutes in the classroom can improve attention span, classroom behavior and achievement tests scores.
•Participation in sports teams and physical activity clubs, often organized by the school and run outside of the regular day, can improve grade point average, school attachment, educational aspirations and the likelihood of graduation.
The government's physical activity guidelines recommend that children and teens do an hour or more of moderate-intensity to vigorous activity a day. The Institute of Medicine advises that at least 30 minutes, or about half the daily physical activity, be done during the school day.
"Only 17% of high school students are meeting the goal of 60 minutes a day," Wechsler says. "We still have a long way to go."
How can schools get kids to be more active without breaking their budgets?
"Recess and in-class physical activity breaks are not costly, and a number of schools have found ways to adjust their schedules so they can offer more time for physical education," he says. "They also can make arrangements with community-based programs to offer after-school physical activity programs."
Charlene Burgeson, executive director of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, a group of physical education and sports professionals, says, "Sometimes it doesn't take more money as much as more creativity and imagination."
In some communities across the country, parents and volunteers walk and bike with kids to school, she says.
"Recess supervisors can be trained to inspire active play. The physical education teacher can help classroom teachers design active breaks so kids get up and moving and are ready to learn."
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