• Dec21

    Treating Overweight Kids…With What?

    Posted in: Child Obesity, High Cholesterol, Obesity and Weight Loss

    Dr Molly Ferguson is a naturopath in Michigan who is courageous enough to discuss treating childhood obesity.
    Video: Treating Childhood Obesity

    Putting kids on a diet has long been terrifying to physicians because we are frightened about creating eating disorders (the other way!)

    But there is good data to show that the suggestions she makes: “eating the rainbow”, “eating fewer processed foods”, and “avoiding chemical additives” can have beneficial effects on kids’ health: improving immunity, increasing energy level at school, reducing hyperactivity symptoms.

    Is there a good diet for overweight kids? If there were just one, all kids would be on it.

    Childhood obesity has leveled off in kids ages 2-5, because Moms are super concerned, and have more control over what there is to eat.   The next frontier: kids ages 6-11 or 12.

    I think teaching kids about food and the basics of how to cook would transform family lives: treat Mom’s diabetes, and Dad’s cholesterol and heart disease, and Sis’ asthma.

    Eating and cooking healthfully to lose weight has worked for adults enrolled in Chef Clinic, and in adults who make big lifestyle changes.

    Should overweight kids be on a diet? And if so, what would one look like?

     
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  • Nov5

    4 Kids Recipes in 25 Minutes

    Posted in: Child Obesity, Food FAQ's, Recipes

    Last month I had the privilege of demo’ing 4 kids’ recipes in 25 minutes for the Foodbank of Santa Barbara in a fantastic local kitchen and home.

    But it turned out that the adults liked the recipes and the simple kitchen tips, and thought the recipes were for them!

    Which they were.

    I loved Chef Brenda Simon‘s preparation of my Juicy Jicama Sticks with Cilantro and Lime; my Warm Stuffed Dates (or online at ChefMD.com); my Roasted Winter Vegetables with Feta, adapted from my ChefMD YouTube video; and finally Baked Kale Chips with Reggiano Parmigiano (stunning and easy: the secret is to watch them carefully at 325, and avoid burned edges).

    The theme was “Getting Kids to Eat Vegetables“. No plagiarism disputes, or sneakiness, or deceptively delicious ideas here. Everything was simple, minimally processed, and devoured.

    Cooking demonstrations are fun: not just because everyone is in the kitchen, or no one things kids’ food can be fun and flavorful, or because easy recipes too often mean unhealthful.

    But instead because people laugh–everyone has been in a kitchen, it’s a warm and friendly setting, and you learn while you eat, drink and laugh.  What could be better?

     
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  • Oct25

    Getting Kids to Eat Vegetables

    Posted in: Aging and Costs of Aging, Child Obesity, Obesity and Weight Loss, Recipes, Uncategorized, Wellness and Health

    Avoiding and treating child obesity is not the only reason to get kids to eat vegetables.

    It’s helping them start on a lifetime of flavorful eating.  Flavor is the missing ingredients in many good-for-you foods because too many adults lack the simple cooking, shopping and choosing skills to make vegetables taste good.

    That problem goes away if you buy local, by the way. The freshest vegetables usually need the least cooking.

    The usual place kids find flavor is junk and fast foods. And that warps their palates, and quite possibly, sets up an addiction cycle…if their brains work like adults’.

    Thursday I’m doing 4 easy kids recipes for the Foodbank: Sweet Crunchy Jicama Sticks, Parmesan Kale Chips, Warm Stuffed Dates and BBQ Tofu.  Total kitchen time: 30 minutes!

    The secret here is not disguising the veggies, or adding extra sugar/coatings/junk, but making them appealing on their own. Surprisingly, this isn’t popular as two other approaches:

    • Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious is about hiding the carrots in the meatloaf, and the zucchini in the bread.  That  makes the parent feel better, and does get vegetable into the kid. But a vegetable is not a pill, or a medicine.
    • Weelicious is about fun: great photos and spunk. Sugar and coatings are on zucchini and carrots. It’s easy peasy for the stressed parent of a baby or toddler who wants more health. Vegetable is usually a seasoning, instead of the main event.

    Is there a better way? We’ll find out, at the Foodbank of Santa Barbara and its reception and benefit this Thursday 10.28.10

     
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  • Aug24

    Short Trip to Sacto: Obesity Testimony

    Posted in: Child Obesity, Obesity and Weight Loss, Wellness and Health

    Jamie Oliver illustrating policy change in West Virginia...next stop SacramentoTomorrow I’m testifying at a Legislative Informational Hearing on Diabetes and Obesity at the California State Capitol in Sacramento on what works in practice.

    It’s not unfamiliar, but still a challenge. I did testify before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Aging about the care near the end of life in the 1990s.

    Now the time seems right to be part of change about obesity and public policy.

    You can read the press release about my appearance, and sneak a quick look at my prepared statement.

    I think this will be fun, and hope you’ll find ways to advocate for change not just in school lunches (which California is leading in, within the U.S.), but also in “seat-belt-equivalents” (my term).

    Seat belts save more lives than any doctor ever will. We need something like them in obesity and diabetes prevention. What would it be?

    Here’s a 90 second viewer success story in diabetes: a viewer of my Chef MD segment on Lifetime TV followed my plan, wrote to me, I encouraged her, and she transformed her life. Gotta love how powerful Susan is.

     
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  • Jul21

    Vending Machines in Kids’ Hospitals

    Posted in: Aging and Costs of Aging, Child Obesity, Obesity and Weight Loss, Wellness and Health

    The most visible food in the hospital is in vending machines. And it isn’t pretty: see the unedited photo at right.hospital vending machine

    In the U.S., we have 25% more vending machines in each children’s hospital than does Canada. In fact, U.S. kids’ hospitals average 9.3 vending machines each.

    What’s in hospital vending machines? 99 out of 101 kids hospitals have soft drink vending machines.  30% of all beverages inside are soda; fewer than 20% are water.  One quarter of offerings are candy: more than any other food.

    In schools with vending machines, kids buy more sugar-sweetened soda than anything else. And soda, more than any other food, causes childhood obesity. Candy and chips, the next best-selling vended items nationally, are second and third.

    But the people who make their way down to the glassy doors of treats 365/24/7 are not just kids.

    They’re adults: parents, visitors, staff.  Chef Clinic research has shown that in-hospital eating is one of two major predictors of physician obesity.

    Many people overeat when they are stressed, and turn to junk food as comfort.  The vending machine provides that.  And makes you fat, at the same time.

    Good vending choices do exist from usual vendors and healthy vending others. Some health care institutions in California have developed policies that set nutrition standards for foods and beverages in vending machines. That’s the right direction.

    But you shouldn’t have to wait, the next time a child is sick, for food that helps you stay healthy and strong. After all, it’s a hospital.

     
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