BITS-O-WISDOM: "The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness that the discovery of a new star." -- Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Helping Your Child Become an Overweight Adult

Everyone knows an infant needs regular feedings in order to grow and develop. The trouble begins when people start giving month-old babies tastes of ice cream, pieces of candy, cookies, or even meat, sometimes before they've even grown teeth. Baby foods also contain sugar, an absolutely unnecessary ingredient, but cheap filler for the manufacturer.

The early introduction to overly sweet and nutrient devoid foodstuffs sets you and your baby up for a lifetime struggle of refusing healthful foods in favor of treats. First the struggle is to get them to eat, "Come on honey, just one more bite for mommy," then later you struggle to get them to stop, "No, honey, you can't have another cookie."

Children that are not given sugar during infancy have a greater resistance to disease and are less likely to become sugar addicts in later life. For your sake and theirs, wait to introduce your babies to processed foods, and especially "fast foods."

Overweight Kids - Don't be too quick to restrict their eating

Kids learn to overeat at an early age. Cookies and candy are offered instead of hugs when the child falls, or gets his feelings hurt. Food, especially gooey, sweet treats are offered as a reward for good behavior, instead of a small toy, trip to the zoo or park or special favors.

Once a fondness for sweets sets in, it's difficult to change. Many kids are much less active than in previous generations. TV watching, the Internet, Nintendo and PlayStation have all contributed to the "coach potato" lifestyle. The lack of exercise and excess food consumption equals overweight and even obesity.

So what do most parents do when they realize their kids are getting too fat? They put them on the same dangerous fad diets they've tried themselves. Popular diets ("fad diets") are proven ineffective -- they simply don't work. Restrictive dieting for children can be outright dangerous and should be avoided in nearly all circumstances.

Children Need Good Nutrition

Children need good nutrition, meaning a clean diet. The occasional treat is fine but a diet that is primarily based on fast foods, chips, sodas, and hot-dogs is not going to provide adequate nutrition for their growing bodies and minds.

Additionally giving a youngster a lot of junk foods during infancy and the toddler years, then suddenly attempting to restrict a child's foods and choice, is laying the groundwork for eating disorders.

The worst thing that a parent can do (my opinion, obviously) is give unrestricted junk foods during infancy and the toddler years, then suddenly restrict a child's foods and choice, or refuse a child enough to eat in the name of "dieting." That is a sure fire way to set up a youngster for an eating disorder, or at best a mistrust of their receiving the basic necessities of life such as love and nurturing.

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Restrictive Diets are Dangerous for Very Young

Placing a very young child on a diet is dangerous. It places the child's most basic biological needs at risk, i.e. not feeding a hungry child is an emotional trauma. A recent report by the CDC (Center for Disease Control) indicated that very young children (0 - 7 years of age) should not be placed on "diets" but rather should be on a program to maintain their weight, thereby decreasing their overall fat percentage as they grow.

If your child is obese, meaning more than 30% over their ideal weight (and ideal weight is difficult to measure in a child as they are of such varied sizes and shapes), then rather than providing less to eat, instead encourage more movement. Exercise will make the difference. Get the kids up off the couch and moving.

Get Out and Play

Play outdoor sports with them, organize play groups, build or visit a playground. Encourage your kids to race, jump, ride bikes. You get the idea? I remember when I was young. We would ride our bikes up and down the street for hours, nearly every day. We climbed trees and played on the swings. Obviously all children don't have nice backyards in which to play, but most neighborhoods have some type of facility. Check your yellow pages or even call your local Chamber of Commerce.

Get yourself and your kids out to play.

Food Trivia

Don't Touch that Cashew! The skin of a cashew is highly caustic and can blister the skin, so the nut meats must be carefully removed from the skin before being touch or eaten. This explains why cashews can be so expensive.

Supplement Report

St. John's Wort for Weight Loss

St. John's Wort is an excellent herb if you suffer from anxiety or mild depression. Studies have proven it to be sometimes as effective as prescription medications, with none of the side effects commonly associated with pharmaceuticals.

A recent study in Germany enlisted 324 patients with mild to moderate depression. The six week study had half of the participants taking 75 milligram doses of imipramine twice daily, while the other half were given 250 mg of dried St. John's Wort extract twice daily.

Measurements were taken at the start, and again at the end of the six weeks, using rating scales and patient self-assessment. The two treatments were "therapeutically equivalent," said Dr. Helmut Woelk, medical director of the Academic Training Hospital at the University of Geissen in Germany. "But the patients tolerated better the St. John's Wort. The side effects were fewer. They had less dry mouth, less headache, sleeplessness, sweating, nausea, and dizziness." Results of their study appear in the Sept. 2 issue of the British Medical Journal.

"We've done a lot of studies on St. John's Wort extracts, looking at how St. John's Wort acts in the brain and in the nerve cells," says Woelk. "What we are reporting now is our last study, which shows that St. John's Wort is as therapeutically effective as imipramine and patients tolerated the drug better."

This doesn't mean you should rush out and self medicate, but you may want to consider taking St. John's Wort as an effective aid to reducing mild anxiety that often drives overeating.

Yours in good eating,
Kathryn Martyn, M.NLP
OneMoreBite-WeightLoss.com