Prevent Childhood Obesity by Making Changes Now

Prevent Childhood Obesity

Avoid Childhood Obesity by Helping Your Child Stay Active and Healthy

Can you really teach your child to become active and healthy?  Yes, you can. And no, it doesn’t have to be a struggle.  The secret is to get your child moving and eating right.

We all know that Americans are becoming heavier. Unfortunately, this growing trend isn’t bypassing our children. Obesity in children has tripled over the last couple of decades leading to previously unheard of childhood diseases such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. And overweight kids have a tendency to become overweight teens leading to overweight adults. It’s a vicious cycle.

So, what can you do?

Infographic: Effective Forms of Weight Loss

 

Infographic Effective Weightloss

Most Effective Forms of Weight Loss

As parents are booking family vacations, planning beach days or BBQs and (mentally) prepping for the start of their child’s summer vacation from school, it can be difficult to get the kids involved in a healthy summer regimen. Although you may want to forego all snacking or keep the kids outside and moving, getting healthy as a family means changing up lifestyles together, as a family. Our experts at nationally recognized Pritikin Longevity Center ( www.pritikin.com)have found that the most effective way to lose weight is to undergo a complete and gradual lifestyle change, cleaning up sleep habits, food choices and getting outside to move.

Serving Sizes: Mom, You Are Over Feeding Me!

Proper Serving Sizes for Kids

Proper Serving Sizes for Children

by Sonja Kabell, Founder of Creating Healthy Lifestyles

“Mom,  you are over feeding me,” said my eight year old son, Thomas, “You are making me fat.”

What? Making you fat. What does this kid know? I am the weight management consultant.  He doesn’t know what he is talking about.

After looking more closely at what I had served him…Well, he was right.

September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

September is National Childhood Obesity Month

by Gordon Echtenkamp

Over the past few decades, childhood obesity rates in the United States have skyrocketed, increasing more than fourfold among those ages 6 to 11. More than 23 million children and teenagers in the United States ages 2 to 19 are obese or overweight putting them at early risk for Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and even stroke. If America’s trend continues at its current pace, all 50 states could have obesity rates above 44 percent by 2030, according to a new report from Trust for America’s Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and according to the same report, at the current rate of weight gain, by 2030, 57.2 percent of Texans will be obese. The good news is we can do something about it.

Make it a family effort. Setting a good example is the best way to reinforce the importance of exercise to your child. For instance, you could take the whole family on a weekend day trip to a state or national park and go hiking. If you don’t feel like going that far, get creative – transform your backyard or a nearby park into an obstacle course and compete in Family Olympics. When your child sees you participating in and enjoying regular exercise, they’ll be more likely to pick up the habit.

15 Minute Gluten Free Chicken Noodle Bowl

Quick and Easy Gluten Free Recipe

I found this recipe for Ginger Chicken Noodle Bowls in a copy of Coastal Living magazine recently and adapted it to be gluten free. I love how simple and fast it is. They suggest using pre-cut or pre-sliced vegetables to make keep your prep time short but I love to chop veggies! So I used my own and it only added a few minutes to the total prep time plus you can use whatever you have on hand.