Move to Lose by Chris Freytag

Author:Chris Freytag
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2004-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

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When well-meaning parents try to put their overweight children on special diets and exercise regimens that fall outside of the family routine, they usually only achieve minimal, short-term results. But when parents make healthy eating and being more physically active a family priority, and they don’t single out their overweight children with special treatment, they give them the best possible chance to create healthy habits that will last them a lifetime.

And, frankly, these habits are good for you too. For instance, children should eat breakfast every day and take a daily multivitamin. So should you. And despite your crazy and busy schedules, you can try to have family dinners occasionally. You don’t have to put on an apron and serve up a roast every night like June Cleaver, but you can have balanced nutrition and real food.

After all, it is very hard for a child to eat healthy and be active if other family members are eating potato chips and ice cream and watching a lot of TV! Everyone in the family can benefit from being more active and eating more fruits and vegetables and more low-fat dairy products.

The first step in developing a healthy family lifestyle is for parents to take a look in the mirror! Kids imitate and emulate their parents! Examine your own behavior and recognize how it influences your children. It does no good if your actions tell your child, “You can’t sit around the house and eat potato chips, but I can.”

You also need to take a close look at your home environment. Stocking the house with junk food and eating family meals in front of the television creates conditions conducive to weight problems. Taking daily walks with your kids, playing ball, and going to the park are great ways to add physical activity to a sedentary family schedule. And these activities help to reduce a child’s time in front of the television and the computer, where, according to studies, the average child eats six hundred calories a day. If you can manage to cut that in half, it’s worth five pounds a year!

Because no one wants to suffer from disease, I often explain to my kids what happens to their bodies when they have too much sugar, not enough nutrients, and too little exercise. Kids naturally don’t want to be unhealthy or overweight. However, they don’t do the grocery shopping, they usually don’t decide the family meal, and they often don’t even decide their portion sizes. But you do! By setting good examples, you all can benefit, you all can eat the same meal, and you all can be less stressed and feel better.

I use the Best-Better-Bad diet with my kids to teach them proper nutrition by linking foods to the choices. Low-calorie foods and “real foods” are “best” and can be eaten freely. Moderate-calorie foods, like pretzels, are “better” and can be eaten in moderation. High-calorie foods, like fast food, chips, crackers, sugar, and candy, are “bad” choices and should be eaten rarely and in small portions.

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