Let's Discuss Childhood Obesity

Gingermom15 · August 2015

What are your takes on childhood obesity and the steps we can take to avoid the issue from day 1? Advice, knowledge experience from STM's? How have genetics played into this for you?

ChiccoBeanz · August 2015

This should be an interesting convo. I'm going to be a FTM this Dec (God willing) and both my SO and I are on the heavier side. In fact, for my height, pre-pregnancy, I was considered morbidly obese. The women on my mother's side tend to be a little heavier, but not as bad as I get. But again, my height plays a big role. Also, I am well endowed up top and I have muscular legs. So growing up the doctor didn't make a it a big deal. In High School I was just considered to be on the larger side of the spectrum. My SO has always been the chubby kid and then the huge football player sized teen, and now man. Keeping all of this in mind, I have recognized that my household's eating habits have to change. We are working on using less salt, less sugar, adding more fruits and greens to our every day eating. When LO comes, my focus for when he is not longer breastfeeding or formula feeding (we shall see what happens), he will be eating better than we did as kids. Mostly fruits and veggies, and then we will slowly introduce lean meats. We'll also do more of our cultural dishes for special occasions or just modify their recipes to make them more healthy. It will be a learning process, but I am up to the challenge. I also intend on having my LO play a lot on a regular basis. Too many children now-a-days don't go out and play. They just stay on their phones, computers, tablets and so on. I'd like to instill in my son early that physical activity is important.

That's all what I intend to do. I plan on being flexible and working with my pediatrician as he gets older to make sure he's on the right track of being a happy and healthy boy.

ACarter0914 · August 2015

Interesting topic! Both my husband and I are shorter and on the thinner side but both my parents are heavier so im not sure where we stand genetically?

We tend to be a meat and potatoes kind of family. I fit veggies in whenever I can but my husband isn't a fan. We are milk and water drinkers (no soda). Thankfully we all love salads and fruit and prefer that over certain snacks.

We are definitely an outdoorsy family though. My husband is a big hunter (I know some of you won't agree with that but he's been doing it since he was young and its something he loves) so we all spend a lot of time in the woods/fishing. There won't be video games in our house unless my kids are old enough to buy them themselves and will be spending most of our time outside. We had a rule in my house that I always had to be doing one activity (anything of my choice) but sitting at home after school was never an option and that's how it's going to be in my house.

Mizuiro007 · August 2015

For me, my older brother had weight problems from depression at a young age and my mom was constantly struggling with her weight, so I was born around the time she was working very hard to instill healthy eating habits for all of us. Plus I had a lot of stomach issues and all the sweets and junk foods just make me feel ill, so I've always eaten mostly fruits and veggies. I eat some meat when I'm pregnant but when I'm not I follow a vegetarian diet.

My son is already following the same as we've been introducing foods. He happily eats most fruits and especially loves his veggies (except greens beans which make him sick). We've been slow to add in any protein since he's had issues with protein sensitivity and is still mostly getting his nutrients from formula. I'm curious how he does with his weight.

I was underweight until I got older and was put on so many medications which cause weight gain, then PCOS and different health issues. Hubby was pretty slim until joining the Army, then he bulked up and gained the weight from stress. We're both sensitive enough from struggling as adults that we're trying to keep to eating as healthy as possible and trying to keep the LO to healthy options.

yl1m32015 · August 2015

I think for me, I'm going to make my own baby food and introduce my kids to healthy fruits and veggies early on and hope that they learn healthy eating habits by watching mom and dad. I also want to involve my kids in cooking/food prep early on to get them excited and interested in healthy food.

fmraglio · August 2015

My job focuses heavily on nutrition and active lifestyles and I hope to teach my children about eating healthy, making good choices, and just show them how beneficial it can be. Growing up my family all had terrible relationships with food and I developed a clinically diagnosed eating disorder at a very young age. I want my kids to want to be healthy, so they don't see it as a burden.

I'll be making my own baby food, and bought the infantino pouch system based on @Marchmellow2's recommendation and I am so excited to teach her about nutrition and get her started at a young age.

We watched the documentary Fed Up at a work training a few months back before my department started a new study and it was really eye opening and quite honestly heart breaking. I believe it's on Netflix, but if it's not you can watch it online on their website you just have to google it. It's a great movie.

Marchmellow2 · August 2015

I was feeding my son so healthy for a long time. Only veggies, lean meats and things that didn't have tons of fat. Until my pediatrician told me how important fat is for his diet. Since he wasn't the biggest fan of milk after he turned a year they were concerned he wouldn't get enough fat for his brain. I had no idea how important fat is for a toddler's developing brain. So they reccommend to not skim on butter, oil and other fatty things at this age. (He's 21 months).

But yes I was very good about making sure he tried all types of foods. Now, within the past 4 months or so he's become the pickiest eater ever! I can't get him to eat ANYTHING!! He gags at the sight of just about any food. He likes pb&j sandwiches and anything that has marinara on it! Nothing else lol. So no matter how hard I tried to be healthy and introduce him to foods he's now against all foods, including veggies. He even hates fries, chicken nuggets & mac n cheese! I'm hoping he grows out of this stage soon and goes back to enjoying the veggies and other foods I make him.

Marchmellow2 · August 2015

Here's an article about the importance of fat in your toddler's diet:
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/nutrition/Pages/Dietary-Fat-and-Toddlers.aspx

fmraglio · August 2015

@Marchmellow2 One way to make sure he's getting enough healthy fats is to mix a tablespoon of olive oil once a day into something you know he'll eat- pudding, yogurt, blend it in a smoothie or milkshake, anything. It just can't be cooked because the heat changes the structure of the fats. My dietician used to have me do that when I was little because I was lactose intolerant and couldn't have milk.

ETA: It doesn't have to be all at once, it could be half a tbsp at breakfast half at dinner, a quarter 4x a day etc. You can barely taste it in orange juice too in smaller amounts, but you can see it so he might not like that...Just should add up to a tablespoon a day!

Marchmellow2 · August 2015

I just do coconut oil but olive oil sounds good too.

ammnam14 · August 2015

I'm a ftm so I don't have any experience yet. My husband is a health and exercise freak so I'm sure we'll be pushing that on our kids. Healthy foods and exercise will be important in our household.

I'm not sure we'll start this from day one though. I doubled my birth weight in the first month and ended up being very small and petite throughout my life.

Mizuiro007 · August 2015

Avacados are also a great source of healthy fat. My brother will mix a little ranch in with mashed avacado and eat it like quacamole. It might be an option for picky eaters. For my son we've started introducing infant yogurt and he seems to like it well enough.

BostonBaby1 · August 2015

OK, this is not a valid contribution to the conversation but I just wanted to say that reading the title of this thread makes me want to have a Coca-Cola Slurpee.

fmraglio · August 2015

Marchmellow2 said:
I just do coconut oil but olive oil sounds good too.

I'm sure coconut tastes a lot better anyways!

Gingermom15 · August 2015

Lots of good information here

I never thought about fat for a developing child.
We plan on getting a baby bullet and making our own food. We want to introduce fruits and veggies in their most natural, fresh flavors. As he gets older, we want to bullet what make ourselves for dinner to start introducing textures and wider flavors. We eat fairly healthy, we won't have to make much change.
It will be interesting to see where he falls genetically, I am small and petite and BF is short and stalky. I come from a small family and his tend to be on the chubby side, but they aren't the healthiest of eaters so I suspect that plays a role.

kimb311 · August 2015

Avocados are great! Mix some with banana and put on toast for baby when they start eating solids. It's actually very good!

Marchmellow2 · August 2015

My DS hates avocado! He used to love it. But I'm telling you something clicked in him recently and he gags when he sees the food I give him. He not only gags, he'll throw up all over it sometimes. It's pretty frustrating really.. We have a pedi appointment this week to see if there is something wrong.

ETA: he suddenly hates ranch too.

I've tried everything!!

CMDD · August 2015

This is not something I will worry about. We eat a local organic plant based diet and are very active in our lifestyle. Since we eat a well balanced diet of natural foods and exercise, I think that our kids will most likely be fine. If our children were heavy I'd take them to a doctor to make sure everything was okay, and then continue on.

Also, love the mention of healthy fats above!

fmraglio · August 2015

A trick with avocado is that chocolate masks the flavor very well! I love doing peanut butter, avocado, banana, dark cherries, ice, almond milk, and chocolate protein powder in smoothies. My niece and nephew will even drink it when they come over. I love avocado but DH used to hate it, but I make this homemade chocolate pudding with avocado and he'd eat the whole batch. Also used to bake black bean and avocado brownies- so freaking yummy!! You can't even taste them.

Gingermom15 · August 2015

kimb311 said:
Avocados are great! Mix some with banana and put on toast for baby when they start eating solids. It's actually very good!

Great suggestion. I must admit, I have never had advocados :-S and I'm not a picky eater in the least. I'll have to try them.

VixDecember2015 · August 2015

It is important to try to expose your children to healthy food for both health and habit benefits, but beware of being too concerned with weight and size in the beginning. Most doctors won't even discuss the issue of your child being overweight until they are at least 2. As a society, we are so absorbed with weight that we forget that these kids are growing and developing and need extra fat. Besides, once they start running around, most of the chub that they had as babies will melt away.

And don't be too concerned if your kids refuse to eat the healthy food that you offer them as they grow up. Once they are toddlers, sometimes there are days when all they will eat are goldfish crackers for 3 meals... As long as it isn't every day, everything will be fine.

I am someone who has always struggled with my weight. My mom started forcing me to diet and food journal in 3rd grade. As a result, I have a very poor body image of myself that I am fighting every day not to pass on to my daughter. Please, do not let the fear of future obesity cause you to forget that we need to teach our kids about eating/exercising for health and strength and focus on loving ourselves no matter what. (getting down off soapbox now)

LeggoxMyxPreggo · August 2015

I'm someone who has never fully believed in the whole "obesity is a disease" trend that's been flying around for a few years. I am definitely overweight. My father has always been a little heavier but he was a cop so most of it was just brutish muscle -- but the mofo loved to eat. And I grew up loving to eat. My weight has fluctuated my entire life -- I've been super thin, to chubby, to overweight (heaviest was 210) and back again, depending on where I stand with what I want to eat. I've had weeks where I just wanted to eat a freakin tomato and I'd lost 15 pounds in two weeks and that would be that. My brother gained a lot of weight in elementary school, and then went out of his way to join up three different sports clubs and lost it all and is a normal, healthy weight for a 19 year old boy. My husband EATS A LOT. but he's also a fighter, so his body is used to gaining and losing weight at the drop of a hat. He can eat KFC every day for a month and still lose 20 pounds.

It's really how much effort you put in for what you want to eat. Now I have ZERO nutritional knowledge outside of what I learned for schooling purposes. I am not a dietician, my feelings and my experience are all on a completely personal level, but I really think if you just stay away from the overly processed foods, and all sorts of weird take out options, and keep the activities high the kids will be alright. I'd imagine it'd easier for boys since finding a sport they like comes in spades.

Gingermom15 · August 2015

VixDecember2015 said:
It is important to try to expose your children to healthy food for both health and habit benefits, but beware of being too concerned with weight and size in the beginning. Most doctors won't even discuss the issue of your child being overweight until they are at least 2. As a society, we are so absorbed with weight that we forget that these kids are growing and developing and need extra fat. Besides, once they start running around, most of the chub that they had as babies will melt away.
And don't be too concerned if your kids refuse to eat the healthy food that you offer them as they grow up. Once they are toddlers, sometimes there are days when all they will eat are goldfish crackers for 3 meals... As long as it isn't every day, everything will be fine.
I am someone who has always struggled with my weight. My mom started forcing me to diet and food journal in 3rd grade. As a result, I have a very poor body image of myself that I am fighting every day not to pass on to my daughter. Please, do not let the fear of future obesity cause you to forget that we need to teach our kids about eating/exercising for health and strength and focus on loving ourselves no matter what. (getting down off soapbox now)

You have a great point. I was super chunky as a baby, think 3 chins and Michelin tire man, and I grew up to be a petite adult. I'm hoping to incorporate healthy decisions into my children's lives so it's more lifestyle than necessity.

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