Battling Obesity In Children

Obesity has become an American epidemic, and African-American kids are not immune to the disease. Results of a 1999 national survey called the “Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System” conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention using a nationally representative sample of students in grades 9 to 12, showed that 16 percent of high school students were overweight, and nearly 10 percent were black. And more black students (22 percent) were overweight than white students (14 percent).

According to Dr. George Edmond Smith, author of Taking Care of Our Own: The Black American's Guide to Family Medicine (Hilton Publishing, November 30, 2004), black parents should educate themselves about obesity in children and take action early on. "There is a serious problem in black Americans period; therefore there would obviously be a problem in our children since they usually emulate our behaviors and eat what we eat,” says Dr. Smith. “Several studies have shown that African Americans are more overweight than Whites. Sixty percent of our ethnic group is overweight or obese. In other studies, fifty percent of black children are overweight or obese. Many of these kids don't even take physical education in school anymore. Parents need to stress diet and exercise not only in their own lives, but in the lives of their children if we as a people are to achieve a healthier level of our future existence."

While the statistics point to a definite problem, Dr. Smith has found many don’t want to take necessary actions to stop obesity. “Many of the women who come to my Federal Health clinic in Louisiana have BMI's (Body Mass Index) that place them in a category of obesity, but bulk when I tell them diet and exercise are needed for their various illnesses, i.e. arthritic pain to go away,” says Dr. Smith, who finds that if parents are obese it is likely the children will be too, and not just for genetic reasons but lifestyle choices. "Genetics we find have some role, but we can't blame it on grandmom being fat with diabetes and hypertension, on how we look and eat today,” says Dr. Smith. “There is little doubt, some cultural idiosyncratic factors may come into play in how we look, but if we eat and exercise, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure can decrease in the black population.”

You can get your child off to a good start even before birth. "One of the most important counseling issues in pregnancy is nutrition,” says Dr. Smith. “Some black mothers are obese to begin with, which places the baby at risk for diseases like diabetes (these babies are usually big babies). Future black mothers are under stress that many non-pregnant black women face, and therefore don't eat properly or consume too much of the high glycemic index foods. Women should be counseled to eat a well-balanced, varied diet. Caloric requirements increase by 340 to 450 kcal per day in the second and third trimesters. In short, pregnant mothers should learn to eat correctly so that they will have healthier babies."

After delivery, pass on your new health way of life to your baby. "New reports are coming out indicating that young kids, as young as HeadStart, need to be on diets and have time for exercise during their daily scheduling of events,” explains Dr. Smith. Start your child early in healthy eating habits by not only feeding them the right foods but by also setting an example. "First of all, we as parents must address the problem in our own lives,” says Dr. Smith. “We must alleviate from our minds that being BIG is healthy.”

After you change your mindset, start with the diet. "Low glycemic index foods are best for losing those pounds," says Dr. Smith. "These foods include: fruits, peas, brown rice, spaghetti without all the soul food accessories. High glycemic foods include most of the fast foods that we have a delight for: white bread, popcorn, waffles, doughnuts, potatoes (mashed with loads of butter), bagels, and cornflakes and so on." Next, exercise is a must, and do it as a family. "I try to get families to set time aside for exercising together," notes Dr. Smith. "Walks around the school track and doing abdominal crunches together can work wonders on the body and improve family dynamics."

If your child has a weight problem now, it is more likely he/she will have problems as an adult. “Fat kids usually become fat adults,” says Dr. Smith. “This occurs in both blacks and whites. Parents and schools need to intervene to halt the problem of obesity in the American culture. Doctors need to empower their patients with better health literacy about the benefits of healthier lifestyles. And quite frankly, I must say in my 22 years being a physician and meeting doctors across the country, there is also a need for us to lose weight so that we can be examples for what we preach to our patients."

Eat right, exercise and your child will benefit.

Ann Brown is a New York-based freelance writer whose beauty, entertainment, travel, & lifestyle articles have appeared in such publications as Black Enterprise, Big Apple Parent, Queens Parent, Upscale, ESSENCE, Honey, The Source, HealthQuest, Playboy, and Heart & Soul.