Nutrition: Foundations for Life

How can we help a child who is overweight?
Strategies to prevent overweight and interventions to treat overweight are not simple. The following strategies are important:

• Studies indicate that parents are more likely to recognize their child’s problem when health professionals interpret growth patterns and verbalize their own concerns.

• It is important to help families assess their own readiness for change and to identify saboteurs, such as indulgent grandparents. 

• Although parents often ask for a “diet plan,”  what is more important is to help the family establish a healthy, balanced diet and exercise pattern.

• Stress the importance of involving the whole family.  Changes for healthy eating may need to involve changes for all members of the family, including the non-overweight members. 

• It is important that health professionals working with families give positive feedback even for small successes, such as a slight drop in BMI even if weight has increased, or the family cutting television from four hours to two per day. 

 Additional reasonable recommendations include

• No television with food and no food with television—including at meal times
• Limit total screen time for children to 2 hours per day
• Maintain a minimum of 30 minutes of activity per day
• Limit sweet drinks (sodas, sweetened tea or juice) to 4-8 oz total per day
• Serve more reasonable portions

How do we decide which children truly need our attention? 

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