How to Deal With Childhood Obesity

Male: So the first step if you have a child that is overweight, you got to admit there is a problem. Female: That is right. Male: The second step, you got to assess that family. Do you really want the kid to lose weight or the family which seems to contribute to the problem? Because they could not be overweight if they have the wrong kind of foods around and listen, if you have tasty food hanging around in the middle of the kitchen table all the time that is full of sugar and stuff, how do you expect the kid? Female: That is exactly right. Male: You cannot have the Twinkies in the house. Female: That is right. Male: You got to have fruits. Female: Fruits, vegetable. There are some health—there are some snacks that look like we were just talking previously. Cherios is fine. Male: So, the family has to create and to make the sacrifice. Or I would rather say the improvement in lifestyle—having a better type of food around. The family is going to be the reason why the kid stays on the road with sabotage outside the house. Female: That is exactly right. And if you teach your child while you are home but first of all we have to set the example. You cannot be “Do as I say, not do as I do.” I mean you cannot have cheesecake in the house and sit there and eat it with a cup of coffee and say to your children you cannot have this, this is not for you. Male: You cannot tell a kid not to smoke if you are puffing cigarette. Female: That is exactly right. And I know because I used to smoke when I was a kid. I used to sneak it out the window. Male: Well, you give a lot of— Female: No, but the point is it has to be a family event. Most parents who have an overweight child, they are in denial. They do not want to deal with it because they know here or whatever it is this whole service, whatever that feeling is that you get in the stomach you know you have a problem, you know you have to deal with it, but you do not want to. You do not want to begin because you know it is going to be painful, you know you have to make a decisions—getting that day one is difficult. And most parents do not want to go there. They think that as their kid grows I have had people tell me at 10 or 11 years old that it is just bad fat. And I look at them like I really cannot believe I just heard that from somebody. If your child is 40 or 50 pounds overweight when they are 12 you think that when they are 15 with the same eating habits I mean, and as they get old that the fat is just going to explode? No, they are going to keep the same eating habits and they are going to get more and more weight as they get older.