Reducing the Risk of Obesity

Jill L. Castle, MS RD LDN

By Jill L. Castle, MS RD LDN

The rate of obesity in young children continues climb. While there are many reasons to the "epidemic" problem, there are three areas that contribute to weight gain:

1. Food and Nutrition: The foods (what) parents bring into the home determine which foods children will ultimately learn to eat and prefer. Frequent exposure to sugary, fatty or salty convenience foods set the taste preferences for these foods in motion. Likewise, frequent exposure to whole grains, lean meats, dairy products, fruits and vegetables prime taste preferences for healthier foods. Parents may have little or conflicting information about nutrition and lack tools needed to make informed decisions about food purchases.

2. Food Attitudes and Daily Feeding Actions: How parents interact with their children around food can also influence how much and how well children eat. Parents who are permissive ("okay you can have one more dessert") or controlling ("you can't leave the table until all the vegetables are gone") may lead children to learn to overeat or under eat. Parents who are authoritative with feeding (have routines and structure, but allow reasonable choice) have healthier eaters.

3. Child Development: Children's developmental milestones and individual personalities influence their approach to food and eating. If parents and teachers are aware of a child's normal development, they can tailor their influence on eating and behavior appropriately.

While schools can play a significant role in educating children about healthy food, parents still have the strongest influence over their children. Early Head Start or daycare settings can be a resource to parents, providing nutrition information and a model for healthy eating.

Some parents may not be familiar with healthy food choices or portion sizes for young children (portion awareness) and this can lead to overfeeding or overeating instead of eating until satisfied.

Preschools and kindergarten classrooms can provide parents with topics and tools that support the health and nutrition programs they are teaching in the classroom, such as:

• Demonstrating and teaching portion awareness in the classroom to both children and parents.

• Showing a "healthy plate" and using this as a guide for meals. (www.choosemyplate.gov)

• Handing out easy-to-understand nutrition education materials for children to take home.

• Reviewing positive and negative feeding practices to build parent awareness.

• Inviting a pediatric nutritionist/dietitian to speak at a parent/teacher meeting.

• Encourage healthy snacks at school.

While a growing number of young children today are overweight or obese, schools can partner with parents to can change this epidemic one classroom at a time.

Jill L. Castle, LDN MS RD, is a registered dietitian specializing in pediatric nutrition. A member of the Pediatric Nutrition Practice Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Castle has more than 20 years' experience in the field and has a flourishing practice in Nashville, Tennessee. She is also a blogger (justtherightbyte.com), writer and frequent speaker.

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