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Kentucky’s Childhood Obesity Issue · Talking FACS

• 0:01
  Welcome to talking facts.
• 0:03
  What you need to know about family food,
• 0:05
  finance and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized award winning podcast is hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and consumer sciences extension program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals,
• 0:19
  families and communities to improve quality of life.
• 0:24
  Hello and welcome to talking facts.
• 0:26
  This is your host,
• 0:27
  Dr jennifer Hunter,
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  assistant director for family consumer sciences extension at the University of Kentucky.
• 0:34
  Today,
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  I'm pleased to be joined by Dr Natalie jones,
• 0:37
  our extension specialist for family health.
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  Welcome Natalie,
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  thanks for having me.
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  So Natalie Today's topic is really focused on childhood obesity and we're going to talk about five things that you can do at home to help prevent childhood obesity.
• 0:54
  And I think that this is such an important topic because we do know within the state of Kentucky that childhood obesity is very prevalent.
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  Yes.
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  Yes,
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  exactly.
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  So the number of chilled with obesity unfortunately has continued to rise and currently in the U.
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  S.
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  One in six kids has obesity.
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  And then new data actually from the state of childhood obesity report came out saying that Kentucky ranks number one out of 50 states for childhood obesity.
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  So almost one in four,
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  that's almost two 23.8% of kids have obesity in Kentucky.
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  So Natalie that's a startling statistic when you think about one in four Children in Kentucky are technically fall into that category of being obese.
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  What is it do you think that could be driving that factor or what's kind of the cause of that.
• 1:47
  Yeah.
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  So there are a lot of risk factors for childhood obesity and one of the main things that we just want to keep in mind is that obesity and childhood really poses some immediate and future health risks for our kids.
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  So obesity can affect child's heart,
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  lungs,
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  muscles,
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  bones,
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  kidneys,
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  um as well as hormones and their ability to control blood sugar,
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  youth who are overweight or obese are actually more likely to experience bullying or social isolation,
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  depression and lower self esteem.
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  And then one of the main things that we want to keep in mind,
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  again,
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  that that future health risk for obesity is that youth who are overweight or obese have a substantially higher chance,
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  higher odds of remaining overweight or obese into adulthood,
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  which then increases their risk of disease,
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  like heart disease,
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  high blood pressure,
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  diabetes,
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  as well as disability later on in life.
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  So we really want to try to prevent obesity not only for those immediate but also for those future health risks.
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  So how as parents,
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  guardians,
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  loved ones,
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  can we help our Children achieve a healthy weight.
• 2:56
  Yeah,
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  so we're gonna kind of talk about five things.
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  But the first thing that I wanna just say before we get into those healthy habits that we can can do is obesity is a complex disease right with many contributing factors.
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  And so the main thing that we want to do is that if you have any specific concerns about your child's health,
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  about your child's weight,
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  be sure to talk to your pediatrician first.
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  So again,
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  just throwing that out there,
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  make sure that your income conversations if you have concerns with your health care team.
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  And then the best way that we can improve our child's health is to be positive role models for our kids.
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  So parents,
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  as you know,
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  right,
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  kids are watching everything,
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  We do everything,
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  we do positives and negatives,
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  right?
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  We really want to make sure that we're those positive role models when it comes to healthy habits.
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  So the first habit that we want to talk about is nurturing healthy eaters,
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  right?
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  So to help Children develop healthy eating habits,
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  we want to make sure that we're providing plenty of fruits and vegetables,
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  whole grain products,
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  lean proteins and just making sure that they have these options.
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  So having a healthy diet can help Children get those nutrients that they need for healthy growth and development and then also being able to maintain a healthy weight.
• 4:09
  Yeah.
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  And Natalie,
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  I think that's key.
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  One thing that we've learned in our house is just access to those fruits and vegetables and you know,
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  my kids are just like any other kid that they might see the carrot sticks or they might see the broccoli or they might see the grapes in the refrigerator when they're looking for a snack.
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  But if they're not easily accessible to them,
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  they're gonna pick something else that may not be as healthy as a choice.
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  but I have found that if I,
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  you know,
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  wash the grapes and put them in a bowl and set them in the refrigerator,
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  they disappear and you know if I take the broccoli out and I chop the stems off and I wash it and I put it back in the refrigerator with a bowl,
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  it disappears,
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  they do pick it up and they do eat it but they won't go the extra step that it takes and you know,
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  maybe I should force them to do that,
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  but I'm just happy that they're eating it.
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  So,
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  but I have found that I have to make it really accessible to them.
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  You know,
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  we have a fruit bowl that's got apples and oranges in it all the time that they have to walk past.
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  Now,
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  that's not to say that we don't have a pantry with chips and junk food in it because we do,
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  but they've got to open it,
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  open it,
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  yeah,
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  they've got to walk past the other stuff first.
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  But again,
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  if especially things that have some level,
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  even if it's mild preparation to them to get them ready to eat,
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  they will always choose,
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  you know,
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  the bag of chips or or whatever,
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  you know,
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  whatever it is that they can just easily that they don't have to get their hands wet washing it or they don't have to cut the stems off,
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  but they don't have to clean it or they don't have to peel it.
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  So accessibility has just I found that just to be key in our household and I think that that hits on some major point,
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  right?
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  As we want to think about,
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  kids will go for that easy grab,
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  right?
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  So we want to make sure that things are easy for them in their reach when we also think about kids depending on where they are in the age range,
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  right?
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  6 to 17 year olds,
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  some of them might have braces or different doctors so we want to make sure that we're cutting things up so that they can eat it and then just reminding that we want those five servings of fruits and vegetables and like you mentioned right,
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  the good news is with snacking making those easily available is that fruits and vegetables are not only full of vitamins and minerals,
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  but they're also packed with fiber,
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  which means that they help fill kids up.
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  So when our kids are eating fruits and vegetables for snacks,
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  they're less likely to overeat where you might not have that same body response when you're eating a full bag of chips,
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  right?
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  They might just eat,
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  eat and eat instead of just eating what they need.
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  So along with with snacking.
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  One of the other tips are second tip is to provide healthy beverages.
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  So drinking is really important and staying hydrated,
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  but we want to encourage our kids and our families right to drink lots of water.
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  So we wanna limit sugary drinks like soda or juice drinks and flavored milk and we want to help our kids reduce those added sugars by offering Water or plain low fat milk or 100% juice instead.
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  So Natalie,
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  do you see a trend in the school system?
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  Because I've noticed this over the last several years of encouraging them to bring their own water bottle that it seems as if water is being kind of pushed more during the day in all environments to help help kiddos get get hydrated.
• 7:28
  Yes,
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  I definitely.
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  I think that that is a big push right now.
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  I'm sure that a lot of people have seen even in schools or in different organizations,
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  the water bottle fill stations right,
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  so they don't even have to,
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  you know,
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  try to awkwardly fit it um it just stick it right there and it automatically fills it up.
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  And so those are really good ways of making drinking water easy and accessible for kids as well.
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  As you see,
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  I feel like people carrying different brands of water bottles and different things that look cool.
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  So a big push in trying to keep water available and kids having it easily at hand instead of those sugary beverages that they might have gone for previously.
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  So how do you feel about fizzy waters?
• 8:13
  I think that that's fine.
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  I think that it's fine with different type types of Lacroix or different types of bubbly or different things like that.
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  That can help kids stay hydrated.
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  Also,
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  I think that goes into with the fruits and vegetables,
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  right,
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  adding fruit or different leaves or things to flavor your water can also help kids drink water as well.
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  And what about a preference for sports drinks versus water?
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  Yeah,
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  so she sugary drinks include soda juice,
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  like sweet tea as well as sports drinks.
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  So unfortunately they do add those extra calories with little or no nutritional value.
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  I will say as the athlete myself that sport drinks are helpful depending on when they're being utilized and so we just want to keep that in mind that we're giving them after a game or at a halftime,
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  whatever it is,
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  but we're not having that as a regular drink in the house.
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  So along with that,
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  right?
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  With with activities and sports drinks and stuff.
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  The third tip that we have is to get kids moving right,
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  physical activity,
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  get them active.
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  So Children and adolescents 6-17,
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  it's recommended that they get at least 60 minutes or an hour a day of physical activity.
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  This includes aerobic activity.
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  So we can think of that as anything that gets their heart beats faster.
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  We also want to focus on bone strengthening activities.
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  And so this can include that aerobic activity,
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  like running and jumping and then we also want to include muscle strengthening activities and this could be climbing,
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  it could be pushups,
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  any body weight movement as well as when we think about our younger kids,
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  kids age two,
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  2-5,
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  they should just be playing as much as possible.
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  So regular physical activity as we know,
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  burns calories builds muscles which are things that we want to help our kids participate in so that they can feel good and maintain a healthy way.
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  Yeah,
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  and I'll tell you that's one that I think we struggle with at home on,
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  especially with our,
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  with our daughter,
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  you know,
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  on days that she has extra curricular Sundays that she has dance or she has soccer,
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  you know,
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  that's really easy to get that 60 minutes in,
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  but they don't necessarily get a lot of physical activity during the school day and on days that she does not have the extracurriculars,
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  sometimes we really struggle with motivating her to get up and get moving,
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  especially when it's a little chilly outside.
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  Yes,
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  I think that the weather for parents,
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  for adults,
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  for everyone,
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  the weather definitely dictates how likely we are to be active as we're seeing now.
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  We're recording this in december.
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  So as we're seeing now,
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  right,
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  the sun isn't out,
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  it's dark outside,
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  it's dark,
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  it's cold.
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  And so being physically active outside after school can be a challenge,
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  but again,
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  just wanting to make sure that we're modeling that healthy behavior and that we are doing things together.
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  So I think that that's one thing That we can make it fun and remember that we don't have to have our kids or adults when it comes to physical activity.
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  Right?
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  We don't have to do all 60 minutes at one time.
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  So we can break it up and do little things,
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  get off the couch just for 10,
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  15 minutes,
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  go walk the dog,
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  right?
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  Maybe figure out ways to increase physical activity when we're running errands and we're bringing our kids with us and just trying to do those little things that can make a difference in our movement and our exercise.
• 11:42
  Okay,
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  great.
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  What other tips do you have to share with us today?
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  So coming off that it falls perfectly into reducing screen time.
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  So that's our fourth tip is to reduce screen time.
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  And so as we know because of Covid and how we've adapted screens have been really important.
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  Um Right.
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  For education for connectedness with friends and family.
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  So we do see the positives in screen time.
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  There are a lot of good that has come from that.
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  But we also want to just discourage some of that behavior when it's not being used for positive things.
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  Right.
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  So being on screens is fine for home work or for school or for connected with friends,
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  but we just want to limit the time that Children are watching tv or playing video games or just surfing the webs.
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  And so the additional information like from that,
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  there's not a lot of I guess recommendations,
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  but the american Academy of pediatrics does say to try to limit viewing for Children aged two years and younger and younger to only two hours per day.
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  So when we think about that,
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  it adds up quick especially with how savvy our kids are tablets.
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  Um,
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  and with any type of device,
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  but we just want to try to limit that and just be mindful again of how often they're on devices and tablets and things and just try to turn off all screens,
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  you know,
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  at least an hour before bedtime.
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  So that way we can move into into sleeping in into our routine.
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  All right,
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  sounds good.
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  And that leads us right into our fifth tip which is sleeping so we can reduce childhood obesity by sleeping.
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  So it sounds crazy,
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  but it is true how much a kids sleep again varies by age.
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  But for school age Children pediatricians recommend anywhere from 9 to 12 hours of sleep each night and sticking to a regular bedtime routine can really help encourage those good sleep habits.
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  So similar to what we just talked about turning off screens at least an hour before bedtime,
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  making sure that we are taking care of our teeth,
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  right our oral health by brushing our teeth and then closing it out with reading a book,
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  listening to quiet music or journaling or anything that is that quiet time that can help its transition from daytime to nighttime.
• 13:59
  You know,
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  Natalie,
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  I'm just constantly amazed that I don't think kids sleep,
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  especially as they get older and that Tween teen that they just,
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  they stay up.
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  We we have pretty strict rules at least according to my kids,
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  we have strict rules on bedtime at home because they just need to sleep.
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  You know,
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  your body just needs to rest.
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  But I think as we have seen the streams become more prevalent,
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  especially for social purposes,
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  gaming,
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  whatever it may be that we also have strict rules that you all devices are charged outside of your bedroom because I'm amazed at how often,
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  you know,
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  in the morning I'll see that they had a call or they had a text at you know,
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  123 o'clock in the morning and just I don't want their sleep disturbed with their screen going off in the middle of the night,
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  kids need to sleep.
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  We all need to sleep.
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  Sleep is so good for us.
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  It's a great way for us to recover and to just mend from the day and be ready for the next day and kids especially need that as they're trying to soak up so much information in school and then when it results back for childhood obesity in the sense that if you're tired you're going to try to be snacking more to get that energy when if you would have had a quality night's sleep,
• 15:16
  it could have helped and limit those urges Natalie,
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  thank you so much for joining us today and having a conversation just about tips that we can do at home to help our kiddos achieve a healthy weight.
• 15:28
  Thank you for having me.
• 15:31
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