LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

childhood obesity

Should You Tell Your Child He or She is Overweight?

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Despite research that you’re likely to delude yourself about your child’s weight, you admit there is a problem.  So what do you do now?

Coming right out and telling your child he or she is too heavy inherently just sounds like a bad idea.  Having the person that a child trusts the most in his or her world telling them that he or she has a weight problem is going to create deep seated problems.

This particular study lends credence to this fear.  Researchers looked at a large group of child / parent sets and how the communication about weight issues was discussed.  Here’s what they found:

  • Mothers and fathers who engaged in weight-related conversations had adolescents who were more likely to diet, use unhealthy weight-control behaviors, and engage in binge eating.
  • Overweight or obese adolescents whose mothers engaged in conversations that were focused only on healthful eating behaviors were less likely to diet and use unhealthy weight-control behaviors.
  • When both parents engaged in healthful eating conversations, the behaviors were further improved.

I have written in the past about healthier methods of engaging your children in healthy behaviors (in particular, you can read about overt versus covert parenting styles in a previous blog article by clicking here).  In addition, it is very clear that parental behaviors guide children’s behaviors and health habits.

Much of this depends on the age.  With Keegan, I had always made eating healthy a game, but this was made easier because his choices have always been within the subset of foods that I eat.  The discussion on healthy versus unhealthy eating and weight did not enter into the picture because most of his options were healthy.

When I have had discussions with patients of overweight children, the discussion centers on healthy behaviors and not weight.  Usually weight is not an issue; gaining MORE weight is the issue.  If an overweight 8 year old’s lifestyle improves, he or she will get taller for some time, but not likely put on additional weight.  They will grow into their weight.

With a teenager, this is less likely to happen as they are closer to their full grown height.  For this age, the discussion HAS to center around making the right choices for good health, NOT for weight reasons.

If your child begins to make the right decisions for health reasons, his or her long term healthy weight behaviors are going to be better.

The obesity epidemic in young children – (02-19-01)

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The obesity epidemic in young children

This finding is no big surprise. There are a few important things to consider here. First, despite all these findings, I don’t see any major changes in society; nor do I expect it. When we look at childhood obesity, we need to look to the causes. Don’t peer too deeply into genetics–we’re doing it to ourselves via the environment. I know I’ll catch an earful from this, but I blame the parents. The old “monkey see, monkey do” adage. How can a child be expected to lead a healthier lifestyle if their role models do not? We need to start with ourselves, begin teaching our kids healthier lifestyle by example, not by preaching.

bmj.com Dietz 322 (7282): 313

Read entire article here

Chronic Migraine Headaches in Kids – Could This Be Why?

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Headaches in children are one of the hardest things for parents to deal with.  You want to help, but instead you end up feeling helpless.  But what if “helping” is not what you’re doing?

Sounds crazy.  What could a parent do to deliberately cause his or her child to have headaches?

According, to this particular study, everything.

Researchers looked at the relationship between childhood obesity and the likelihood that an obese child would suffer from chronic migraine headaches.  The results are not good:

  • If a child was obese or overweight, they were 237% and 229% more likely to be diagnosed with migraine headaches, respectively.
  • For girls alone, the risk was a massive 493% higher.
  • Overall, a higher BMI was associated with increased risk of any type of headache frequency and disability.

As a parent of an obese child, you are not going to want to hear this, but the blame lies squarely on your shoulders, with only a very few exceptions.  It is your behaviors and your choices that determine the weight of your child.  I have written about this in previous blog articles that can be read by clicking here.

Going back to this study, if your child is experiencing migraine headaches, especially your daughter, his or her weight may be a major contributing factor.  Here is the even greater concern: migraine headaches are caused by vascular problems and this means that your child, at this young age, is already having problems with blood vessels that ARE going to lead to heart disease, stroke and dementia.

This is not to say that optimal weight children do not develop migraines.  I have one in mind right now that is of optimal weight, but still has significant headaches.  For him, stress is THE trigger and requires a different tool set to manage and overcome.

But if your child does experience chronic migraine headaches and he or she is overweight, than the medications given by the pediatrician or neurologist are not the answer.  Taking a good hard look at the lifestyle your family is living and making appropriate changes is the only correct path.

If this seems too difficult, remember that the next time you sit by helplessly as your overweight child cries from a chronic migraine headache.

Breastfeeding and lowering the risk of childhood obesity – (06-24-02)

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Breastfeeding and lowering the risk of childhood obesity

With the rates of diabetes and obesity skyrocketing, it is always good to see studies outlining protective behaviors. Unfortunately, whether or not an infant was formula fed cannot be changed in the child’s later years. The US government is considering spending millions on educating children on exercise and healthy eating but are missing the obvious (as surprising as that may be for government…). How about a multi-million dollar advertising campaign towards the benefits of breastfeeding?

The Journal : Back Issues

Read entire article here

Childhood Obesity Statistics: It’s the Diet, Stupid…

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This is not the first time I’ve pointed out the problems in society when it comes to health.  Even First Lady Obama is promoting physical activity like it’s “the” answer to childhood obesity.

Well, guess what?  The problem isn’t the exercise.  I’m not saying it’s ok for your child to sit in front of an Xbox 360 for 4 hours a day.  They should, in general, be active.  When we were kids (maybe 10 years ago, if my math is correct…) we didn’t do “exercise.”  We rode our bikes everywhere, we ran around the neighborhood and we played sports.  But we didn’t exercise just to exercise.  It was just a part of what we did.

This should be the end discussion on the contribution of exercise to our rising childhood obesity statistics.  But it isn’t.  It becomes the pivotal discussion point on combatting childhood obesity.

Previous blog articles that have focused on how little exercise promotion changes behaviors in children can be read by clicking here.

This particular study looks at the effects of physical activity recommendations from a primary care provider in 182 overweight/obese 5- to 10-year-olds after a 3 year period.  They used accelerometry to study activity (think of a pedometer).  Here’s what they found:

  • Beginning and 3-year BMI scores did not change.
  • Beginning activity scores were 334 cpm (counts / minute) and 3-year were 284.
  • For those who had higher activity levels at 3 years, BMI scores dropped by a relatively small amount only.
  • Looking at the bright side, those with higher activity levels were more likely to not gain weight (versus moving to a higher BMI category).

Overall, the results were pretty disappointing.

Rather than being discouraged, however, this should wake us all up to the fact that diet is absolutely critical in making sure our children stay at his or her optimal weight.  No one gets hurt financially when we tell everyone to move more.  Actually, companies like Nike, Reebok and Spaulding probably come out way ahead.

But telling kids to avoid soda (diet and regular) and refined carbohydrates??  THAT is going to cost the majore confectionary companies like Nabisco and Kraft millions of dollars.

As the parent, it is up to you to set the stage for your child’s health.  No excuses like little Johnny is a poor eater.  If he is, it’s because you have let him become a poor eater.

You can view my general recommendations by clicking here.

Childhood Obesity Statistics: Is Your Child 7-11 Years Old?

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Childhood obesity statistics remain a concern even at the Presidential level. We know the answers, but we have to be willing to make the needed changes to our lives.

I have made it very clear where I stand on the childhood obesity epidemic.  The vast majority of the fault lies not with the schools, not with the TV advertisers and not even with McDonald’s.  Rather, it lies squarely in the laps of the parents.  Let me relay a very sad story to illustrate the point.

My son, Keegan, is a 7 year old first grader.  A few weeks ago, before I packed his lunch for the next day, we had an updated discussion about what I was putting into his lunch.  We do this from time to time to make sure he’s eating enough and that he likes what I’m giving him.  I asked him if he would eat some purple cauliflower if I put a few small pieces in his lunch.  He noted concern that the other kids would make fun of him because he would be the only kid at the table eating cauliflower.  With some negotiations he agreed to eat the cauliflower I put in his lunch (I pointed out that none of the other kids would have a square of dark chocolate in his or her lunch either, so he conceded my win).

A few days later I asked him if he ate the cauliflower.  He said that he did, but he held it under the table so the other kids wouldn’t see him eating it.  My heart broke.  The idea that he should be ashamed to eat cauliflower in front of his friends both hurt me and angered me.  What does this say about our collective child health rearing skills that a solitary child eating cauliflower should feel the need to eat this food out of sight?  Shouldn’t the kids eating Doritos for lunch be the ones hiding in the corner in shame because, at some level, that child’s parents are completely oblivious about how much these foods destroy the future health of that child?

Do you think I’m being overly dramatic?  If so, it’s because you haven’t yet read this particular article.

There has always been concern with rapid weight gain in a child leading to the rise in childhood obesity statistics.  This concern extends to the weight gain in the womb due to gestational diabetes, as an infant when the child is on formula instead of breastmilk, as a toddler as they explore new foods or beyond.  In this study, researchers looked broke weight gain into age categories to determine at what ages the rapid growth was the most associated with future health challenges (in this case, high blood pressure).

The age groups were broken down as follows: 3 to 9 months, 9 to 36 months, 3 to 7 years, and 7 to 11 years.  The children’s blood pressure at age 11 was then determined.  Here’s what they found:

  1. Faster childhood linear growth between 7 and 11 years of age (getting taller) in girls led to a 27% higher risk of higher blood pressures.
  2. In boys, this risk was over double the risk – 211%.
  3. At age 11, both boys and girls with the highest BMI had 272% higher risk of having higher blood pressure (Tweet this).

Based on this study, the time bomb of health is ticking at my son’s school.  The fact that Keegan’s friends would make fun of him for eating cauliflower (I have heard him say the same of hummus) speaks volumes as to the foods these kids are exposed to at home.

In your child’s lunchroom, would your child be in Keegan’s shoes, or would your child sneer at the idea of eating foods like cauliflower or hummus?

Childhood Obesity Statistics: Damage to This in Overweight Kids

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I’ve covered many dangers associated with the rising childhood obesity statistics in this country, but damage to this vital organ caught me a little by surprise.

Ok.  You know that your child is overweight.  Or, maybe you don’t because statistically, parents have a tendency to downplay their child’s body weight issues.

Either way, you know it’s not a good thing, but they’ll outgrow it.  And then everything will be fine once he or she gets older.  Maybe not.  Maybe not in a BIG way.

This particular article took an interesting long term look at what happened to 17 year old children who were overweight (85th to 95th percentiles of BMI) or obese (≥95th percentile of BMI) getting his or her physical for the Israeli military.  This was an interesting chance to observe these kids because the physical examination to determine fitness level for entry into the military in mandatory.  Among other things, urinalysis and body weight was determined.

With the urinalysis being done, it was easy to determine if these children had any pre-existing kidney problems and were ruled out for this study.  In other words, the kidney function of these kids was in good shape with no indication of problems.

Fast forward 25 years and that is not at all the case.

Before we get into the results, let’s review what end stage renal disease (ESRD) really means.  This has typically been the realm of diabetics and chronic high blood pressure because these two cause so much damage to the kidneys (although not as much damage as it causes to the heart).  Long term use of NSAIDs and Tylenol can also destroy the kidneys.  End stage renal disease is dialysis and kidney transplant stuff.  It is not good and something we want to avoid at ALL costs.

Back to the study…

Researchers looked at two things: how much being overweight or obese at 17 years old led to the development of kidney failure up to 25 years later.  Remember–these kids had no evidence of kidney problems at 17.  Here’s what they found:

  1. Overweight adolescents  had a 300% increased risk for ESRD from all causes.
  2. Obese adolescents  increased risk was 689% for all-cause treated ESRD.
  3. Overweight kids had a 596% increased risk of being treated for kidney failure associated with diabetes.
  4. Obese kids had a whopping 1,937% increased risk for diabetic associated kidney failure.

These are shocking statistics and suggest that these kids, at age 17, are on a trajectory to a very, very poor health outcome with devastating consequences.

I do have to point out that the absolute number of these kids who are developing end stage renal disease was small, but the risk is so high that I felt the need to point this out.

If your child is overweight or headed that way, you need to recognize this threat to their long term health and begin to address it TODAY.  Later may be too late.

Childhood Obesity Statistics: Do Exercises for Kids Help?

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Society has promoted exercise to solve the issue of rising childhood obesity statistics. But will exercises for kids actually solve the problem?

I have made it clear in my blog posts that I place dietary choices above exercise in importance for avoiding chronic disease.  This is, of course, based on the research, which is supportive of my position (or rather-I’ve developed my opinion based on the research).  I have a good friend who began to use MyFitnesPal.com on his phone to monitor his caloric intake.  Now, some 6 months later, he’s down a whopping 45 lbs.  And he is only now beginning to add in exercise.

It’s great to see this happening to him, but also good for me because it means I haven’t been giving out the wrong information….

Now for my pure speculation NOT based on medical literature.

We promote exercise as a society because no one has money to lose.  Reebok, Nike, La Fitness….the list of businesses that can profit from more exercise is quite long.  No one is hurt when we promote exercise.

Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move program, even by it’s title, supports increased activity with not enough focus on the hard recommendations for dietary changes.

Let’s look at who dietary changes like avoiding refined carbs and other processed foods would affect.  Kelloggs, Quaker, Nabisco and Kraft just to name a few.  These companies would be devastated by national inititives to eat better because few of their products would actually be considered healthy.

So, to summarize my speculation, we make national recommendations to exercise more and get our kids to be less sedentary because there is only money to be made.  We avoid solid lifestyle recommendations because the companies that would take a beating financially are the ones in the trenches helping to decide on guidelines.

So why am I bringing all of this up?  You guessed it–it relates to this particular article looking at how much effective attempts at increasing kids activity levels were.

Researchers looked at 30 studies over 14,326 participants and evaluated how well they worked.  The overall end result?

Four minutes more.

Yup.  4 more lousy minutes of walking or running per day.  Hardly enough to overcome the large Starbucks.

I’m not saying that promotion of exercise to our kids is not important.  What I’m saying is that we spend millions of dollars on research and promotion and advertisement to get kids to move more and