How to Treat Childhood Obesity

Because of the tremendous rise in obesity among children, diseases that once affected only adults are being detected in children. According to the American Medical Association, 13.9 percent of children 2 to 5 years old, 18.8 percent of children 6 to 11 years old and 17.4 percent of teenagers are obese. While there has been some recent interest in giving statins to obese children with high cholesterol, the use of these drugs on children has not yet been extensively tested. There are a variety of established methods to help children lose weight.

Instructions

• 1

  Remind your child how much you love her. Your child knows she is obese and needs support, encouragement, good role modeling and realistic goals. It is the parent's responsibility to provide good, healthy, nutritious meals and to have healthy snacks available.

• 2

  Obese children need a complete medical evaluation that reviews family history, exercise and diet. The child's doctor will check for genetic or biomedical disorders that may be a causative factor in the child's being so overweight. The doctor should measure the child's height and weight and calculate the child's BMI (body mass index) and BMI percentile. The information should be reviewed at each check-up.

• 3

  Encourage your child to participate in an hour of physical activity every day. The activity should be vigorous and can be achieved in an organized activity or through free play. At the same time, encourage more walking and biking instead of riding in a car. Park your car a distance from your destination and enjoy the time it takes to get where you are going by engaging the child in non-distracted conversation.

• 4

  Limit fast food consumption to once a week. Fast food should be a special treat, not a frequent occurence. At the same time, limit the intake of sweetened drinks such as juice, fruit drinks, soda, sports drinks, energy drinks or flavored milk. Sweet, highly caloric drinks should be limited to one serving a day.

• 5

  Limit television watching, video game playing and Internet or computer use. The limit of two hours per day in front of a screen will encourage your child to get up and move toward more physical activities.

• 6

  As often as possible, eat meals as a family. Serve healthy foods and limit between meal snacks.

• 7

  If things do not improve, more intensive intervention by experts in childhood obesity management may be required. There are centers that specialize in counseling programs that promote behavior modification for obese children.