Male 1: So if you have concern about a kid going to school system getting overweight because the mother went through maybe a program and lost weight. She is big thing. She just want to know if we can obviously keep the kid away from TV, get away from the games, let the kid exercise more, that is healthy for a kid, but you brought a very interesting point, there is a little bit of sabotage in school system. The school system sometimes has a meal. It is a hamburger with three inches of potatoes on it.
Female 1: Fat, fat, fat, salt, salt, salt.
Male 1: And it is a problem.
Female 1: I do not understand because you know what–
Male 1: Well some of the school systems are trying to correct that.
Female 1: Yes. They must work out with the sodas and the—
Male 1: So you would suggest that parents who are concerned about their child should go to the school, maybe get together and encourage the school system to teach healthy diet in school which is a good starting point for a healthy adult that learns to eat correctly even in the school, is that correct?
Female 1: Yes.
Female 2: How about baked fries instead of French fries. It is just a simple thing to do.
Female 1: Let me tell you what I have done. Many time in these industry, I have written a letter to the school nutritionist, to the kitchen whatever you want to call it saying that doctor so and so recommended this young child to me and that as a nutrition councilor, I am asking if they can have some special request for their meals. Because apparently, some schools–
Male 1: That is a great idea. The only problem, sometimes kids get uncomfortable and might be a little different to the rest. So that the overall best way is to get the whole system to realize our concerns today. Some schools got a physical activity putting it back, some other schools are trying their own little way because money is kind of tight today to make better quality meals.
And, I think they are also trying to educate the kids the right kind of eating and some of the high schools. Some of the better high schools are doing that. They have classes to learn to cook for those girls and some boys–
Female 1: I remember that. I had when I was younger and it disappeared.
Male 1: No, I did not go to that one.
Female 1: You said some other times, the kids do not like to feel it that they are eating differently. I have had that happen in the consultation where a child or his mother or father will bring that subject up. And, I tell the kids that come in here, “You have no friend. It is me and your councilor or your mom. You have no friends. Any friend that would tell you or tease you about being on a diet is not your friend.”
And, I tell them, “You might be teased,” we prepare them for that, “but that you control your own destiny. You want to go away this summer, you want to go on vacation, you want to go down to three sizes by the end of the session in January or by Christmas or anything like that, you have no friend. If they are eating a hamburger, the gravy it all over it, you are going to eat the hamburger dry. You will to listen to me and I am going to get you with that.” And I paint a picture of a new kid.
Male 1: So in other words, you work the best you can in the situation in getting in some light tips to minimize some of the bad points. I am not going to get rid of that, whatever they serve. But maybe teaching some things you can do to make what you eat less of a problem.
Female 1: Absolutely.
Male 1: It is a little stop in the right direction.
Female 1: When I was dealing with kids, even teenagers actually, I never use the word diet. Two words I never use. And I have a 10-year old daughter.
Male 1: What would be the term that you would use?
Female 1: I would tell a child, “There is nothing wrong will telling your friends, you are just learning how to eat better.” There is nothing wrong in saying, “Hey, I know how to eat better. It is going to make me faster in gym. I want to be a better swimmer for my swim team.” There is nothing wrong with saying that. You know something I will pay a chip on Saturday but right now, Jerry is in school, I made a promise, “How about your little bed of dream a week?”
Male 1: Well, Dr. Timma Levshit who is in San Francisco now. He has had a lot of kids. He teaches portion control and exercise is part of the best measure. You are not going to get a kid to go in to very strict diet but if he ate two donuts and got him a one, that is even progress.
Female 1: That is his thought?
Male 1: That is his thought. And he got all the donut stuff replace it with a piece of fruit that is even a better stuff. But at least it went from plus to a little minus that is a good start.
Female 1: See, the thing is the parents have to play a big role in this because the parent can do things that the kid does not even know about. For example, if a kid does not like vegetables? Listen, get some celery, get some chop meat, take a carrot, mix it up so fine, and stick it in the chop meat. Before you know it, your kid had a hamburger that is got two celeries that is chopped out and they do not even know about that.
Male 1: Very good idea.
Female 1: Take a tuna fish, low fat mayonnaise, chop up red tomatoes like diced tomatoes, it is very colorful, stick it in a cone, stick it on one of the short ice cream cones, your kids got a tuna cone. They will eat it and they do. There are always little ways. It is okay to say a little lie, you tell your kid there is no vegetable in the meat but there is. And there it is.
Male 1: We are just trying not to tell a lie.
Female 1: It is alright.
Male 1: We are basically trying to get the kid whatever we can.
Female 1: If she will not try a brand new vegetable without me putting some cheese on it, so I take a low fat and alpine lace cheese, and I melt some on half of half her Brussels sprout and that is the way I can my daughter just to try something new, so I do it.
I make a deal with my daughter. We have a deal. Of course, I do not cook three different meals in my house. Sabrina has to eat what is there or she starves. That is the rule. That helps her get a great eating habit now. That does no mean that she does not have funnel cakes with great adventure or popcorn at the movies, she got plenty of junk food but there has to be a balance that is all I am saying.
Male 1: We agree.
Female 1: There has to be a balance.
Male 1: But the most important thing here is just stick with it and somewhere along the way, reward will be fine. And the reward is in the weight loss as much as you put yourself to be successful in anything you do in life.
Female 1: That is right.
Female 2: That is right. That is your prize in having accomplished.
Female1: Do you know anything in life, any goal that anybody could ever reach without having a plan of action and going for it? Nothing happens by luck, I do not care what it is. And that is what I am trying to teach people. First, have your goal, have a plan of action of how you are going to get that and then just go at it, period.
If you want to be successful, you have to have a plan. That is how I try to preach. I try to tell their parents the same thing. I mean, let them see the results of what you are doing. There is the other side story of a parent who just beat their overweight kids over the head with it. It makes the problem worst, because now they are taking food and they are taking it upstairs.
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