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Kids and Obesity
October 15, 2007
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Between 16 and 33 percent of American kids and adolescents are considered obese.
That’s one reason many experts are calling childhood obesity an epidemic. Many physicians
say parents should be at the forefront of fighting the problem.
Janet Davis is a track coach and physical education teacher at Ida Baker High School.
She has been teaching phys-ed for almost thirty years. In that time she says she’s
seen big changes in student health.
“I’ve seen an increase in not just obesity or children overweight but the fitness
level has decreased. Overweight has become normal and we should not be satisfied
with being overweight, “says Davis.
If parents are not satisfied with their family’s fitness level, physicians say to
lead by example. They say overweight parents usually produce overweight children.
“When you see younger kids with weight problems you can almost guess if their parents
are going to have problems with their weight and they generally do,” said Dr. Salvatore
Lacagnina who is the Medical Director of Lee Physicians Group.
But the good news is parents don’t have to pass along unhealthy habits to their
children.
Dr. Lacagnina says, “If parents would really concentrate on making sure that their
kids eat properly, stay away from the junk food and exercise every day that really
would avoid a lot of problems with weight”.
Physicians say when it comes to daily exercise, make it a family affair.
“You know exercising with someone is always a lot more fun than exercising by yourself
so if you can find a partner and certainly if parents can do this with their children
it just helps to improve relationships when you’re doing things together,” says
Dr. Lacagnina.
Physicians recommend that children decrease their television or computer time by
one hour a day and devote that time to some sort of physical activity. Research
shows that if a child becomes obese between ages 10 and 13 they are 80 percent more
likely to become obese adults.
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