Helping an Overweight Child

As adults we often tend to focus on ourselves or other adults when it comes to dieting and maintaining a healthy weight. But, what about overweight children?

Here below are great suggestions from Dr. Ludwig with WebMD

1. How do I know if my child's weight is unhealthy?

Well, you can look for signs of being overweight. Is your kid having trouble keeping up with other kids in sports? Is he outgrowing standard clothing sizes? But the best way is to look at the growth charts, which your pediatrician should be doing regularly. You can find out how your child's BMI (body mass index) compares with those of other kids. If your child is overweight or obese, you need to take action. Some parents of obese kids want to write off the issue. They say, "Oh, he'll grow out of it." But all we have to do is look around us. It's very obvious that many, many children are not growing out of it.

2. What are the potential health effects of being overweight or obese as a child?


We know that obesity in childhood increases the risk of becoming an obese adult and developing all the complications that can go with adult obesity -- diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic conditions.
But the risks of childhood obesity aren't all in the future. It causes immediate problems, too. Excessive weight affects virtually all of the organ systems in a child's body. It can exacerbate asthma and trigger sleep apnea. It causes a range of heart disease risk factors and problems with the GI tract, liver, bones, muscles, and joints. We've seen high blood pressure in kids as young as 5 years old.
Having excess weight in childhood is serious, because it's a pivotal moment in development. The organs are still forming. Excess weight can affect how a child grows and develops, and that can have long-term repercussions. Unless you do something now, these changes will be very hard to deal with later.

What are some things I can do to help my kid lose weight?


At our clinic, we try to address this on multiple levels. It's important to realize that obesity isn't caused by one thing. It's the result of a combination of factors: the foods we eat, our physical activity level, emotional issues, stress levels, family dynamics, finances, and societal influences.
Of course, physical activity and diet are crucial. Contrary to what a lot of popular diets suggest, we don't recommend cutting out specific macronutrients -- like fat or carbs. Those approaches are counterproductive, because they're too hard to follow in the long term. Instead, we concentrate on the quality of the foods. We also use what's called the low-glycemic eating plan, which helps stabilize the surge in blood sugar that occurs after a meal. It helps people feel fuller and makes them less likely to overeat.


You may need to change some of your own behaviors. You need to model healthy eating and physical activity. You may also have to adjust how you deal with your kids. Nagging, criticism, and excessive restrictions on food don't work. We see many families that put so much energy into fighting over body weight and nutrition that there's actually very little energy left over to make any healthy changes.



To continue reading please click on the following link: http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/expert-q-and-a-helping-your-child-with-weight-loss

Red Meat Causes Pancreatic Cancer

The short article below is a research study done on those who consumed fatty meats and dairy products. This does not mean that you should avoid red meat and dairy all together, just remember to eat all things in moderation.

Red Meat Causes Pancreatic Cancer

By: Elizabeth Somer, M.A. , R.D.

"The saturated fat in red meat and fatty dairy products might increase a person's fisk for developing pancreatic cancer, according to researchers at the National Cancer Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. Dietary intakes of more than half a million people were compared to pancreatic incidence during the subsequent six year follow-up. Results showed that men who consumed the most fat from meat and dairy hda a 53% increased risk, while women had a 23% increased risk compared to people wo consumed little of no fatty meat or dairy."

In Perspective: A diet high in meat and fatty diary foods also is linked to other canceres, such as breast and colon cancers. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Other risk factors for this deadly disease include being overweight, smoking, and diabetes.

MSG in a Bottle ( From JJ Virgin)

MSG in a Bottle - The Hidden Danger of this Ubiquitous Food Flavoring

"Before you dive face first into your Peking duck, listen up. A recent study out of the University of North Carolina cites what animal studies have hinted at for years: MSG (aka monosodium glutamate) could be a factor in weight gain. The study focused on 750 Chinese men and women, ages 40-59, living in 3 rural villages in north and south China. Those participants who used the highest amounts of MSG had nearly 3 times the incidence of overweight as those who did not use MSG, even when physical activity, total caloric intake, and other possible explanations for body mass differences were taken into account.

We all know of someone who has had a bad reaction to MSG; in fact it's suggested that 25- 30% of all Americans suffer some sort of effect from MSG (e.g., palpitations and migraine headaches), and as many as 30 percent are extra sensitive to it if they consume more than 5 grams at one sitting! Unfortunately, these facts haven't seemed to slow down the food industry one bit. Americans consumed about 1 million pounds of MSG in 1950, and today that number has increased by a factor of 300!

So what exactly is monosodium glutamate? MSG is a flavor enhancer in foods--some believe it may even provide a fifth basic taste sensation (in addition to sweet, sour, salt, and bitter), what the Japanese call "umami" (roughly translated as "tastiness"). It is considered an "excitotoxin," since its action in the body is to excite neurotransmitters (important brain chemicals), causing nerve cells to discharge and also exciting nerves related to taste. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes MSG as "naturally occurring," and has it on the GRAS (generally regarded as safe) list. However, studies have shown that when MSG was ingested by lab rats, the hypothalamic regulation of the appetite was damaged by MSG, causing them to double their intake of food and triple their intake of fluids! Given these studies, as well as the prevalence of side effects reported, no amount of MSG appears to be a safe amount.

Eliminating MSG from the diet is much easier said than done, since there's no list of MSG-safe foods in existence. Start by reading the ingredient list; but understand that there will still be many foods that have MSG hidden inside other ingredients in the list (even products labeled "no MSG added" can still contain these hidden sources). Likely culprits include seasonings, flavor packets that you add to tacos, stews, soups, gravies, roasts, dips, etc., and canned soups and noodle packets. Anything that is expected to have a long shelf life is likely to include MSG in it.

Your best bet is to go organic and make things from scratch. Stick with whole foods that look pretty much the way they do when you pluck them from the ground. Avoid canned, boxed, bottled and frozen ANYTHING. Unless you are packaging your own foods, you have no clue what's in there!"

© 2009 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. JJ Virgin, PHD, CNS is a celebrity health and nutrition expert, author, public speaker and media personality. She is internationally recognized as the creator of the Weight Loss Resistance Revolution™ and trains other health care professionals in her program. She is the president of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals, http://www.nanp.org/.If you are frustrated with your body and feel like nothing you are doing is working, take her free quiz "Are You Weight Loss Resistant?" at http://www.jjvirgin.com/ and receive her monthly LEANzine loaded with insider information on fighting fat and getting lean for life!

Please be aware that processed organic food-can in fact contain MSG.

http://www.truthinlabeling.org./

Inflammation Common Factor in Obesity and Disease

Click for the chart to appear larger



Nutrition Alert
By: Elizabeth Somer

To investigate the link between obesity, chronic inflammation, and disease, researchers at the University of California, Irvine measured inflammatory markers(such as C-reactive protein) in the blood and compared those values to weight and disease risk. Results showed that signs of inflammation doubled for each increase in body weight (as measured by BMI. People with high blood pressure and/or diabetes also had the highest markers for inflammation. The researchers conclude that there is a direct correlation between increasing overweight, the presence of obesity related diseased, and inflammation.

BMI (Body Mass Index) chart:

Underweight: BMI <18.5
Normal: BMI 18.5 to 24.9
Overweight: BMI of 25 to 29.9
Obese:
Class I 30 to 34.9 Moderate
Class II 35 to 39.9 Severe
Class III >= 40.0 Very Severe

By Waist Circumference
Optimal: 35 inches or less (men)
32.5 inches or less (women)
Health Risk: 40 inches or more (men)
35 inches or more (women)