JUST FOR PARENTS
Holiday Tips
Was Thanksgiving really last week????? I don’t know about all of you, but the last I knew school was just starting!!???!!! But yes, the holidays are really here. Is it really is possible to keep from gaining weight over the holidays? Absolutely!! The trick is to just have a little bit of everything, but not to overindulge. But how to do this?? Easier said then done. For many of us, the holidays and holiday foods remind us of our favorite childhood memories. Also, many people see the holidays as almost a license to eat, AND to eat a lot. One can almost feel like a social outcast during the holidays because of pressure from family and friends to eat. It is helpful to realize that food has emotional ties for almost all of us, and that wanting to re-enact childhood memories as adults while visiting families is common. Becoming aware of this and planning ahead can help you become more conscious of your eating through the holiday season.
A few simple guidelines will help you maintain (even with a little cheating):
- Limit yourself to one plate. Select an appropriate serving size of each dish and load up your plate, but that’s it. You’ll do better if you take one heaping plate of food and eat it all than if you show restraint and then go back for seconds (or thirds!!). If you limit yourself to just one plate, you can see everything you will be eating.
- Watch those desserts!! If you can do without or substitute some fruit, even better. If not, try to limit yourself to one serving of dessert A DAY!!! To justify an extra dessert saying you’ll “work it off” is unreasonable. Many desserts are 350-500 calories a serving. That’s 4-5 miles of walking in addition to what you are hopefully already doing for your daily activity.
- Move away as far as possible from the serving table once the food is on your plate and make a point to socialize with other guests.
- If bringing a dish to a party, choose a healthy alternative. That way, you know there will be at least one healthy food at the party for you to eat.
The Role of the Parent ( Last Newsletter)
I know I seem like a one-track broken record on this topic, but I continue to validate my sense of this vital piece. My current reading has brought me to the book Generation Extra Large: Rescuing Our Children from the Epidemic of Obesity by Lisa Tartamella, Elaine Herscher, and Chris Woolston. Mentioned in this book is a landmark study in 1990 in the Journal of the American Medical Association that looked at three different educational programs for overweight children, but only one involved both parents and children. Ten years later, in the group that took a family approach to the problem, the proportion of children who were overweight had dropped eight percent. In contrast, the rates of obesity had climbed significantly in the other two groups.
Link to the rest of this newsletter
Links to PDFs
Reprinted with permission from Sothern, et al (Trim Kids, 2001, Harper Collins Publishers).
The above documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Web Links
Weight Loss for Children
www.weightlossforchildren.com
Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
www.cnpp.usda.gov
More links on the Resources page
Recommended Reading
A Parent’s Guide to Childhood Obesity
Editor: Sandra G. Hassink, M.D.
American Academy of Pediatrics
Girls on Track
Molly Barker
Underage and Overweight
Francis M. Berg, M.S.
Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World
Greg Crister
Preventing Childhood Eating Problems
Jane R. Hirschmann, C.S.W.
Fit Kids
Mary L. Gavin, M.D.
Real Kids Come in Normal Sizes
Kathy Kater
We’re Killing Our Kids: How to End the Epidemic of Overweight and Sedentary Children
Todd Hollander
Helping your Child Lose Weight the Healthy Way
Judith Levine, R.D., M.S.
The Don’t Diet, Live-it! Workbook
Andrea LoBue, LMFCC
Marsea Marcus, LMFCC
Slim and Fit Kids
Jody Mazel
John E. Monaco, M.D.
Food Politics
Marion Nestle, PhD.
How we Eat
Marion Nestle, PhD.
Outwit your Weight
Cathy Nonas, M.D.
Fed Up: Winning the War on Childhood Obesity
Susan Okie, M.D.
Child of Mine
Ellyn Satter
How to get your Kid to Eat…but not too much
Ellyn Satter
Fast Food Nation
Eric Scholosser
Chew on This: Written for kids 9-12
Eric Scholosser
Dr. Sears’ Lean Kids
William Sears, M.D.
The Family Nutrition Book
William Sears, M.D.
Generation Extra Large: Rescuing Our Children from the Epidemic of Obesity
Lisa Tartamella, R.D., Elaine Herscher, and Chris Woolston
Eat, Play, and Be Healthy
W. Allan Walker, M.D.
Generation Extra Large: Rescuing Our Children from the Epidemic of Obesity
Lisa Tartamella, R.D., Elaine Herscher, and Chris Woolston |
