There, I said it.
Plans to help kids lose weight–not just grow into their overweight–have been far and few between, with the exception of play more, eat less.

But several excellent plans and diets exist, and here are 5 ideas.

First from Dr. Bill Sears. (Dr. Barry Sears started the Zone franchises; Dr. Bill Sears has been a pediatrician for decades and has deals with Stonyfield Yogurt and Kashi cereals, and sensible advice.)

1. Soda and fruit juice are liquid candy. I tell parents in my medical office in Santa Barbara to avoid buying three bad ingredients (yes, some are bad):
* High fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
* Hydrogenated
* Numbers (e.g. yellow #7)
Regardless of whether the metabolic responses to sugar and HFCS are different, the calorie load and no satiety mean weight gain. Avoiding these mean weight loss.

2. Reframe good-for-you food: call them “grow foods.” Kids know this to mean running fast, playing hard and growing strong.

Those are cool…and the foods are every vegetable, fruit, nut and whole grain, plus low and nonfat kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese, just to name a few.

3. Play the game of “chew-chew”. Chew each bite ten times. Then take a breath, and chew the next one ten times too. Sentences between bites get bonus points.

(Yes, it’s a little sneaky. But it’s fun, and since it takes 20 minutes for your brain to register that your stomach is full, it works to eat more slowly).

4. Finally, for every hour your kid is moving/playing/biking (deliberate, active playing), your kid can sit an hour. In reverse, an hour of TV/Xbox means an hour of moving/playing/biking…no playing, no TV. Each day starts the clock again.

5. One in 3 kids born in the year 2000 will later become diabetic, according to the CDC. We can prevent this. Get some weight control help.