Newsletter Archive

• BALLPARK FARE – An afternoon or evening at a Major League ball game used to mean a day filled with trans fats and other not-so-healthy alternatives, but those days may soon be over. Check out www.soyhappy.org/venue.htm to see what healthful options are being served at your local stadium. And if your team is lagging behind in this area, find out what you can do to effect positive change. Go team!

• EARTH-FRIENDLY PAPER – Earthwise printer paper is made by combining tree free agricultural bioproducts with 100% post consumer recycled content. Agricultural by-products and post consumer paper constitute a worldwide solid waste problem, but Earthwise is putting this waste to good use. A percentage of each sale supports young leaders from Latin America studying sustainable agriculture. www.thegreenoffice.com

• SUSTAINABLE TABLE AND THE EAT WELL GUIDE – Sustainable Table www.sustainabletable.org and the Eat Well Guide www.eatwellguide.org celebrate the joy of healthy eating and offer enhanced educational tools, films, and recipes. The Eat Well Guide is great for finding wholesome, fresh, sustainable food in your area. The Guide is updated regularly and contains more than 9,000 listings searchable by zip and post codes throughout the US and Canada.

• FUEL EFFICIENT VEHICLES – The EPA's widely advertised mileage estimates are obtained through laboratory tests in which car wheels on stationary cars are moved at different speeds. While these tests are easy to perform, the results do not accurately reflect the fuel economy each car will get in real life. Consumer Reports has derived its own ratings from a series of actual road tests, including city, highway, and country-road driving. Each car is driven by at least two engineers to account for variability in driving styles. Want to choose your next car with fuel economy in mind? Visit http://greenerchoices.org/ratings.cfm?product=auto.

The Early Years

The first two years of life is a time of rapid growth for all babies, and first time parents find it especially exciting to guess their baby's weight at well baby visits. A baby's weight should approximately triple his or her birth weight in the first year of life. During the second year of life, a toddler's eating patterns drastically change and many children become "picky eaters." At this stage, the parent's job is to provide healthy foods choices, and the toddler's responsibility is to control the amount of food that goes into his or her mouth. A good portion for a toddler is a tablespoon of each food for every year in age. For example, one tablespoon of chicken would equal one protein serving for a day.

Toddlers possess an innate ability to control their weight, and they know how to listen to their hunger signals. It's important to take the time to cut up fresh fruit and vegetables, even if your toddler doesn't always eat them. The toddler years are a time of slow growth. If your child doesn't eat healthy foods or barely eats for a day or two, don't substitute junk food at this age! If you're concerned about your child's weight, schedule an appointment with your child's doctor.

I always tell parents that toddlers were built to be thin, but medically speaking, they typically hit their lowest BMI during this time. As a pediatrician, this is when I begin to see children having issues with overeating or gaining too much weight. You should not see your child's weight increase by percentiles during these years. (Ask to see your child's growth chart.)

Ages 5 - 9

I often see rapid weight gain among children in the 5- to 9-year-old group. This is called "Adiposity Rebound." A person is born with fat cells that remain dormant during the first several years of life. If your child is overeating or is not very active, the number of active fat cells will increase, and your child will start to gain weight at a much-accelerated rate. Your child should gain 3-7 pounds per year before puberty, a time when overweight children gain 10-20 pounds per year. Unfortunately, genetic predisposition starts to play a factor at this age as well, which is why it's very important to be aware of your child's growth. Studies now show that 33% of overweight preschoolers will become overweight adults, and 50% of overweight 6-11 year olds will become overweight adults. It is never too early or too late to make healthy eating changes in your house!

What Parents Can Do

If you see your child starting to gain weight, the first step is to make your house a "safe place" for eating. In other words, GET RID OF THE JUNK AT HOME! Make it as easy as you can for your child to eat well. Pack healthy fruits and vegetables in your Laptop Lunches every day. Laptop Lunches are great for portion control so measuring becomes unnecessary. Stock your kitchen with healthy snacks like cut-up fruits, vegetables, fat free popcorn, and sugar-free popsicles. Eliminate calorie-containing drinks, except for 1-2 glasses of skim milk every day. Get your children hooked on water at a young age. Most importantly, get them moving and keep them active! The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 30-60 minutes of activity on most days of the week. If you're a parent with an overweight child, now is the time to make changes.

That-a-Weigh Kids® is a weight management program for children and teens. Dr Sapolsky developed the program to help children and their families make healthy food choices, eat appropriate portions and make lifestyle changes that will last a lifetime. To learn more about her program or to find help in your area, visit her Web site at www.thataweighkids.com.

On this site you'll find...