it's in the news every day childhood obesity is on the rise and physical activity levels for children are on the decline so what can parents do well stay tuned because today's episode of being well we'll discuss ways to keep kids active with guest sarabeth's who is the healthy kids education specialist at Sarah Bush Lincoln health center also joining us is Scott Ron's fees professor in the Department of kinesiology and sports studies at Eastern Illinois University both of our guests have a lot of great information to share with you today so stay tuned welcome to the show and today we're going to talk about childhood obesity and keeping our kids active let's start first by talking about how big is the problem here in the United States sure well I'm at this point I think we have one third of our children who are overweight or obese so it has gotten to be a really you know large problem within the past 30 years that's increased you know it's tripled the amount of children that are overweight or obese so it is quite a large problem mm-hmm and to go off of what Sarah said the statistic now is roughly seventeen percent and and as we talk that doesn't sound like a large number but as Sarah reiterated that that number is tripled since the 1980s so you can see that it's it's going to increase and it's going to continue to go up largely and it's definitely one of the more problematic epidemics that we're facing right now so what are we attributing this increase to I know there are several factors right I think it's hard to nail it down to one or two or three or four factors but definitely a more sedentary lifestyle you know I think I'm children now the national average is 53 hours a week of screen time so that and of itself shows how much sedentary time that kids have now where kids used to walk to school we're seeing most kids you know are driven to school or ride the bus and then also you know our portion sizes have increased and fruits and vegetables have decreased our physical activity we're seeing most children are not getting on the recommended amount of physical activity every day so several contributing factors to that in physical education in schools has gone down as well you're starting to see that number go down as well and that's really the place where we can build the foundation for you know why it's important to be physically active give them the opportunity to be physically active and unfortunately that's what we're seeing is a decrease in physical education in the schools right so as children are have become less active are becoming more overweight what in the short term what kinds of health issues are arising short-term sure um well we see children that are in the overweight or obese category most definitely have low self-esteem a lot of times there may be teased at school or bully but themselves they just don't have the self-confidence that they would if they're physically fit we see health issues you know even young children are having type 2 diabetes and heart you know whether it's high blood pressure or high cholesterol even in young children now so those are some short-term effects and then you know we see kids that go down that same path are going to most likely be obese or overweight adults to which contributes to a lot more of those health factors that we see over time we're also hearing that diabetes is on the increase in children as well so all these factors coming together how does a parent know if their child is overweight or if it's either just getting rid of some of that baby weight how do you know i would say if you are concerned about your child maybe if you're seeing them make some unhealthy choices that you would like to see them go in a different direction or if you are a little bit concerned that they are overweight i would go see your pediatrician and let them chart them on a growth chart and see how they're looking comparatively and give you some suggestions on you know maybe it is just a growth spurt that they you know going through or something like that but they would be able to give you some advice that you could could look for to help your child be healthier in that way so let's talk Scott about physical activity we hopefully know as adults we have some idea of how much exercise we need what it what is recommended for children well for kids according to the CDC it's recommended that they get 60 minutes of activity every day and that should be activity that requires your heart rate to go up you try to sweat a little bit so it's a little bit more moderate vigorous physical activity one of the nice pieces that they've just added is they also recommend that kids get at least three days a week some kind of muscle and bone building activity so you'd want to encourage your children to get outside and do some climbing do some being do some do some biking do some weight bearing activity I think the big misconception is is that physical activity has to always come from playing sports and I think that for a lot of kids sports is just not an attractive arena to participate in so we need to encourage kids that aren't maybe necessarily interested in the sport arena okay there's a lot of other things that you can do to stay physically active into and to kind of build and kind of make sure that health is one of the biggest aspects that you're focusing on because it's it's very easy to stay inside and watch TV and play video games and those are great things too but they have to be done in moderation and there has to be some time where we have to think about our body and and give it some attention too absolutely we were talking earlier about activity for different age levels of kids and that when they're smaller some of that you know quick start and stop activity is better and then as they get older more longer duration if you talk a little bit more about that and I think that's where the school comes in it's it's important that teachers understand the developmental levels of kids and like we talked before younger kids they like the short burst activity that's why they like playing tag games out at recess you'll see them dart around the recess area then they'll stop then they'll start and stop and that's the activity that they enjoy and as physical education teachers that's the kind of activities that we should be giving them the opportunity to engage in in class now as they get a little bit older into adolescence and so forth they can have more long-term structured programs like like weight training programs and fitness programs because they're able to do more longer bouts of physical activity so how can you get some parents may be out there wandering and how can I get my kids more active what sort of tips do you have step would be the lead by example maybe the person out there playing with your child make make that a priority and your family schedule it on your calendar I know we've got lots of things on our calendar but make sure that family you know fine family fitness time is a priority in your family because we know that children they see that modeled by people that they you know are influenced by then that's going to help set some standards for them to live up to as they grow so I would make list too of some rainy day activity snowy day activities so that we're not you know being having to be bored and sitting inside and watching TV but there's also you know just just jumping rope going outside for you know to walk the dog plenty of activities that don't have to be like Scott said don't have to be sporting those sports are great activity for kids if they like to do that competitive or there's non-competitive just fun gymnastics or martial arts swimming classes things like that that they could sign up for are there any kinds of activities or physical activities for certain age children that really aren't appropriate that could be detrimental I mean I think sometimes maybe of weightlifting you know for are there certain activities that at certain age groups they should not I think the biggest thing from like a school perspective is we want to give kids the opportunity to be successful in physical activity oftentimes you'll see maybe where they're playing adult version games so in physical education we can modify the rules in the boundaries to meet the needs of those learners at that level basketball doesn't always need to be five versus five football doesn't always need to be 11 vs 11 if we make those activities more small-sided we give them more opportunity to be successful then they're more apt to maybe take those activities outside of the of the gymnasium and then actually participate in them so what about actual active weightlifting is there an age recommendation when as to when that can start well I think I think probably in the beginning phases when kids are probably just getting started maybe around six gray they're getting introduced to it maybe in the junior high I think the most important piece there is to really emphasize technique and doing things correctly in terms of doing lots of weight or lifting large amounts of volume or large amounts way that shouldn't be necessarily the focus at the young ages it used to be argued that if you lifted weights too early it would stunt your growth it would hurt bones those things are actually untrue now we've actually shown through the through the evidence that those things are good things to get started and I think at the biggest piece like i said is learn how to do things correctly first build that foundation then as they get older then they can start to tailor it more towards their needs whether it's sport whether it's competition whatever they're gauging if we're just fitness itself but I think definitely that learning the proper way to lift weights correctly as with any activity doing it correctly is the most important thing in terms of safety and injuries well as important the other component to a healthy lifestyle whether you're an adult or child is the food aspect you've got the activity now the food and that is a problem for a lot of people what we eat how much we eat what can you got some ideas for parents you know as they're on the go running taking kids here they're the first thing a lot of people do is they go through a drive through because it's fast and convenient right i would say spending a little bit more time in the preparation part maybe on your day off a lot of times on sundays we take the day and we make several meals for the week because we do have a really busy schedule with three children so we are running and going so we need things we can do in 30 minutes or less so we just make some things ahead of time so that we can pop them in the oven or we grab some snacks knowing that when we get home we have that ready to prepare to stick in the oven so it does take a little bit more time preparation wise but and you're going to save yourself some money because you're not going to be running to those fast-food places and then you're also going to help put some actual nutrition in your body rather than you know just just filling up your stomach or where you're not hungry so taking that extra time and maybe chopping up some fresh fruits and veggies to keep in the fridge or putting the appropriate portion sizes and baggies to have in the cabinet so that we're not opening the whole bag of chips you know and eating from the back but we actually have those proportioned out is another great thing that you can do for your family let's talk about proportion size because they have gotten bigger over the years what are appropriate portion sizes for chill for for young for young people well when I go into the classroom I have a really fun I'm suitcase of serving sizes that I take that no kids on things that they're used to seeing so that they can use their start using their eyes to measure what it's the right size so we might use a yo-yo for a cookie a CD for a pancake and my deck of cards for me so to help them to start gauging the appropriate sizes you can also use you know online you can find portion sizes where you use your hands for for butter or for you know how many chips from you know if you can have chips and salsa that you can have so it is really important because they when I teach that lesson they are very surprised at how much actual portion is because they you know the first thing that that's not going to fill me up but so teaching them the appropriate portion sizes is very important and then modeling that as an adult as a parent that's what we were talking about earlier the role model that parents play and what could see on television and you know you had you talked about the Homer Simpson effect sure and that was just a piece that i had read a couple weeks ago and you know just made a lot of sense when the when the author of the article said you know why is Homer Simpson such a popular cartoon character well it's because he has no shame he sits on the couch he drinks beer eats chips he sleeps he just hangs out and that message is sent to a lot of kids because you know the simpsons TV show it just as an example it's on TV and it's aired quite frequently so that message is just being sent over and over and over to kids that that's an okay behavior to display one of the things i just read to about cartoons was during a typical cartoon episode over eighty percent of the commercials advertised during that cut cartoon are for food and let's be honest they're not showing broccoli and apples and carrots and so forth so just the message is that the kids are bombarded with are not always so positive sometimes in terms of healthy eating so we can't always control what's on TV but you can control as a parent what's going on in home and parents are the first role model silver children because we learn by you know what our parents eat right you know how to develop those healthy healthy Stiles Scott you had talked about the percentage of eating out has the amount of time we eat out has increased sure quite a bit yes because number one we have more availability and opportunity you can go down any Street and and there's a list of opportunities that you can select from and the reports are showing now that you know since the early 80s that food consumption outside of the home has increased about 12% so it's just more like you said before it's it's very convenient it's you don't have to go home and cook you can grab for hamburgers in the drive-thru and head home but like Sarah said you have to look at it in terms of an investment what's that doing in the long term sure it's in the short term that's a quick hamburger but in the long term what is that really doing to the body and we know that some of the consequences aren't aren't always so positive right so what can parents do certainly healthy food costs a lot more than packaged processed food what what ideas do you have solutely i would i would get out those coupons and clip them if you have to but it is an investment so you want to make sure that you do budget extra money if you have to for those especially with fresh fruits and veggies and things that are going to give our bodies what they're asking for what we need to and we've got kids involved in so many sports and things but if you're just feeding them fast food they're not going to have the nutrition that they need to be to sustain and to do their best at those boards so it's important to teach them this is something that you're doing for your body you know to teach kids I know you might want to go through the drive-through but this is really going to help you on the field to do your best so if you start showing them that way that you're really treating your body right if you're taking care of it and putting some fruits and veggies in at versus you know lots of fat as far as poor amount of calories and what what kids need per day it's different than an adult how do you know as a parent how much did your child be eating in terms of calories per day you know amount of fruits vegetables what sort of guide can you go by well the mypyramid gov has the the food pyramid for kids and the right amounts and portion sizes so I would look at that and make sure that kind of compare what your kids are getting we recommend you know five servings of fruits and veggies a day it's an easy way to get your to kind of keep that on the on that we even send the kids home with a chart where they can keep track of eating their fruits and veggies and check those off and show them what a real serving is you know as a bite of an orange can you consider that a serving or no you have to eat the whole thing you know so so we're we've talked about everything increasing in not a good way and things decreasing not in a bad way do you see at some point that things are going to start to level out and or are we still not doing what we need to do to get kids where they need to be yeah well I think like we talked to obesity is such a multi-faceted disease you can't you can't attack it and try to combat every single variable that affects that you have to you know through your interventions and programs you have to target specific things and you have to take it one step at a time if we continue on the path that we're going things probably will become somewhat not so positive they said that this generation of youth will be the first generation to not outlive their parents so you're looking at some pretty significant things and I think another thing to like we were talking before is you go into any famous or popular book store you go into the health section what do you see you see books on nutrition and exercise well it's not working and I think one of the variables that we really need to strongly consider is the amount of sleep that we're getting because the evidence is showing that those those youth that are not getting enough sleep or the recommended amount of sleep are typically the ones that are more overweight and obese and that also has some significant impact on academic achievement in the schools as well so I definitely think that's a variable that we need to start considering is the amount of sleep that we're getting our we modeling good sleep behaviors and our be emphasizing that in the home and what is recommended for children nine to ten hours is recommended unfortunately the statistics are showing that most youth are getting probably around seven or eight now that one or two hours it may not seem like a big deal but over the long term we know that when you tend to stay up late at night you tend to also be consuming high carbohydrate snacks and when you're not burning those calories off during the day hence the weight gain can also take effect too so I am a big big proponent of sleep duration and quality sleep for kids because I think that's got a huge linked to obesity as well so go ahead sir I was just going to say the am we do have some folks in the community I don't you know Sarah Bush has some programs that we are helping kids and then we've been contacted by other agencies to that are seeing the essence and saying what can we do to help and so I think that as we partner and as we look at what we can do in our communities that we can make a difference I mean that's the goal is to educate the kids educate the parents and help them to see that being healthy as a priority and that we're starting to see parents really take an interest and you know when I see them out and their kids say that's you know that's Masseria she teaches in my class they say well they've told us we can't have this in our house anymore nor we need to start exercising so I'm seeing some progress in kids so I think that we can make a difference if we all work together and it's not just a one a short-term fix it is a lifestyle change from you know for the rest of your life and it's not it's not always easy oh definitely not and this is not an easy topic and probably not the the last time we will we'll talk about it because there's always new information new things to come out but i want to thank both of you for coming on and sharing such good information and i hope that it's helpful to parents and people watching we'll be right back with more being well right after this don't forget you can watch full episodes and demonstration segments from the being well series visit us at youtube.com slash WEEI UTV in this week's demonstration segment we'll talk about proper portion sizes for kids plus Sarah will discuss ways to portion up different types of foods like snacks and cereals hi today we're going to look at some portion sizes so that we can help our kids eat the proper portion sizes and help them to start using their eyes to see how much a proper size is rather than using their stomach so today let's talk about snacks so let's say that we're home from the grocery and we have some different kinds of snack foods to look at maybe we have some whole-grain pretzels and instead of when your children are asking for a snack to say here here's your bag of pretzels instead of giving the whole bag and then letting them see how much they're hungry for instead we can do something different we can look at the label and see how much the proper size is so Brady if you look and see how many serving how many are in one serving of this of these pretzels 17 17 pieces for one serving which is quite a bit and then how many Allie are in the whole bag about 16 sir about 16 so this is another way to kind of stretch your budget instead of allowing your child to eat however much they want and thinking that you know we don't have as much money to eat the healthier foods instead if we properly portion size out the pretzels we're going to last a long time because we're going to have about 16 different servings so Ali if you'll pass me that plate and then bring you open that pretzel bag and then and open that up and then Abby grace we're going to count out how many did we say was in one serving 17 17th already poorest out a pile here and we'll work together and if you keep some snacks like this easy access go ahead pour out some more in your cabinet then when your kids are hungry you can go in and grab instead of the whole bag grab the proper portion sizes let's all grab a baggie and we'll count out 17 pretzels and make this easy work so let's talk about cereal once I know a lot of times in the morning that's an easy way to get some whole grain into your child and a healthy way to keep them active I've got energy that they need in the morning so first of all we'll check the label in it it does say what on the top there whole grain so we know it's a good healthy choice and let's grab the two bowls out and let's look at the difference in these so we can see which pulls a lot bigger happy grace pack this bowl so how much is in one serving ally of this whole grain cereal about 34 2 cups at three fourths cup let's grab that white measuring cup and we're going to move it over to the three fourths cup line so ready if you'll move that over to the three fourths cup line and we'll open these up and let's look at what the difference is in pouring three horses up into the big bowl vs to proper sized bowl because having the right sized bowls is also going to help your child stay healthy so we've got it measured out to three fourths cup ready once you pour those in we can get a few more in there may be okay so here's what three-fourths of a cup is going to look like in the big bowl it kind of swallows it doesn't look like you're getting very much brady if i gave you that in the morning in that big bowl that looked like it was going to fill you up probably not ok let's measure out happy grace how much is going to go in the smaller bowl and see if that's going to help ok so let's pour that in now let's get rattle favorite spoons and look look at that too so as you can see just having it in a smaller Bowl makes it look like it's a lot more cereal so this is the proper portion size also spoons are going to also help make a difference in how your child eats if we have a large spoon that this cereal is going to be gone and two or three gulps if we have a smaller spoon it's going to help them take their time eat a little bit slower and get the right proper portion size so if they're still hungry also other great choices to do is put a little bit of fruit on top it's going to help add some taste and some color and also of course a lot of nutrients to their cereal too so that's another great way to add some flavor and add some color into their diet ok now let's take a look at let's get the two different size plates and let's look at the proper sizes and ways to help your kids eyeball the right amounts by household things that they're used to seeing let's take for instance of the proper size of meat let's look at the proper size of mate so Brady if we were going to have the right size of me what should it be the size of a deck of cards so if you could see if we have this large plate and you're putting this for your child it's not looking like it's going to be enough for them immediately they're going to think this is not enough food but if we're going to put it on a little bit smaller plate that's also going to make a big difference so meat should be the size of what guys a cognitive car so that's going to be first helpful thing to look at let's look at spaghetti because that's another thing when we have pasta a lot of times we're used to that taking up the whole plate and having our noodles fall off over the plate but really our pasta should kind of be a side item so that we have plenty of room for salad and a whole grain bread maybe to go along with that so spaghetti really should be a side choice well if we have it on this big plate are you going to think that's enough to fill you up no it's not but if we're going to put it on a smaller plate and maybe as a side item with some salad and some bread that's going to look a lot better right that's going to be more so how much should your spaghetti look like which the proper portion size a computer monitor mouse which may seem small but it's just getting used to the proper portion size is going to help us out a lot let's look at pancakes we all love to have pancakes in the morning right so pancakes should really be the same as a CD a CD disk so if we're putting it on their proper port port proper portion a plate it's going to look a lot healthier and it's going to appear like it's filling us up a lot more than if we put it on this larger plate which is going to kind of get lost on there let's look at fruits and veggies because that's something maybe we're not getting enough of the proper portion size so a lot of times in the classroom when I hold up this broccoli kids they're thinking that's a whole lot of broccoli to eat but really this is one serving so a light bulb size should be what you're looking at whenever you're going to eat broccoli let's look at cookies alley so cookies what should it be the same size as this guy's effing yo yo yo let's look at that pancake again a lot of times are we used to seeing cookies that look more like this we are aren't we but really this CD is going to be about three or four of the proper amount of cookies so really a yo-yo size is a great way to think about the proper amount of cookie so these are just some easy ways to help your kids think about eating the proper portion sizes getting their eyeballs used to seeing the rights right amounts it's going to be a little different for them at first usually when I'm in the classroom and I show kids the proper amounts they're very surprised at how small those amounts are but whenever they get used to seeing that and you use items and that they're used to seeing it's going to help them to make healthy choices and keep your family healthy for life I want to thank my guests today for sharing such good information and tips that hopefully you can apply today thanks for tuning in and we hope you'll join us for another edition of being well you