Fit and Healthy Children for Life

by Barb Gau, MSW, LCSW

Raising fit and healthy children is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But to do so in this day and age is a special challenge and takes commitment, knowledge, and determination. How do we as parents, teachers, and therapists ensure that our children receive adequate nutrition and exercise to ensure their optimal health and fitness?

Scott, a pharmacist, and Diane, a special education teacher, are the parents of two active daughters who are 7 and 13 years old. Scott and Diane confess that they only eat at home two nights a week.the other nights it's fast food at Taco Bell, MacDonalds, and Pizza Hut. And even when they do eat at home, they often sit down to a quick dinner of spaghetti or hot dogs. As a father and health care provider, Scott acknowledges his concern about not eating well and at the same time he is grateful that at least his two daughters are physically active and involved in team sports. In fact, it's partially due to their hectic extracurricular activities that they don't have the time or energy to eat as well as he would like.

There are 4 keys to optimal health and fitness: proper nutrition, adequate hydration, safe exercise, and sufficient sleep. If any of these is in short supply, children's health will suffer and will be typically reflected in poor academic performance and/or a more stressful family life.

The foods that children eat both affect their health today and set the foundation for good or poor health in the future. Many childhood ailments, including asthma, allergies, ear infections, constipation, skin conditions, and juvenile-onset diabetes have been directly linked to diet. In addition, signs of heart disease and osteoporosis have been detected in children as young as six years old.

Children between 6 and 12 consume less than half of the recommended fruits and vegetables. And given that the recommendations have just increased from 5-9 servings per day to 10-14 servings per day, it is unlikely that this is going to change anytime soon. Although there is some disagreement in the medical community, if eating habits don't change then dietary supplements become essential to ensure adequate nutrition.

In addition to fast foods, many children consume three or more cans of soda each day, often as many as 450-700 empty calories a day. Substituting good quality water for sugar-loaded drinks is an important lifestyle change. Deborah, a single mother with 12-year-old twins, flavors purified bottled water with vanilla, banana, and cherry extracts when her daughters get tired of pure water.

Childhood obesity is on the rise, with 25% of our children being overweight and 13% of these being obese. Lack of activity also contributes significantly to the problem. Children watch television and/or play computer video games between 20 and 40 hours per week. Gone are the days of pick-up dodge ball or street tag. Many neighborhoods aren't designed or always safe for outdoor activity. And sometimes it's too easy to allow the TV to entertain our children.

Children's Medical Center of Dallas recommends that children ages 6 and older be involved in light to moderate activities for at least 30 minutes 6 or 7 days a week. In addition, they should also increase their heart rates and breathing with more strenuous exercise for at least 20 minutes 3 days a week. It's important to find an activity they like.and helpful to find an activity they can do at home to help cut down on the hectic schedules most families juggle after school.

Most kids love to jump and bounce.on beds, couches, trampolines, and pogo sticks, and with jump ropes. And the good news is that bouncing and rebounding is an excellent way of improving the health of every cell in the body. It cleanses the lymph system and flexes each of the 75 trillion cells in the body. It also helps regulate blood sugar, decreases body fat, increases lean muscle mass, and improves bone density. Rebounding shoes are a new product that is safe, fun and effective for overweight children. And coaches use them to provide a great low-impact warm up for soccer, football, basketball, tennis, gymnastics, track and field, baseball, and other sports. They're a great way to improve coordination, balance, spatial awareness, rhythm and timing, self-esteem, and body image.

How can we encourage our children to eat well and be more physically active? Kids mirror their parents: if Mom and Dad live off snack food and don't exercise, kids see that as normal. Conversely, if parents eat their fruits and vegetables and exercise regularly, kids are more likely to imitate their parents' behaviors. Following a low glycemic diet and avoiding most white foods will go a long way to eating a good healthy diet. Participating in a fun, safe, and effective activity or exercise and drinking plenty of good quality water will help ensure that we give our children a great foundation for a vibrant, healthy life that will serve them well in the many years to come.

Barb Gau is a former Duke faculty member and retired marital and family therapist. She is the health editor for Better Living News and the founder of Health Matters Now, offering strategies, tools, and resources for vibrant health and wellness. Contact Barb at 919-967-2632 or www.HealthMattersNow.com.