WELLNESS WEDNEDAYS: The Stigma of Childhood Obesity

"An educated patient is empowered, thus more likely to become healthy." 

                                                          --Dean Ornish, MD 

Working in elementary and high schools, I see kids every day who are overweight and obese.  There is a sadness that follows them.  There is a stigma, like wearing an unwanted 100 pound backpack, that they live with everyday. 

There is a psychological consequence to childhood obesity.  Kids hide their emotions dressed in drab colored, oversized clothes.  There is a reluctance to make eye contact.  They walk slower than other kids.  Psychological consequences of obesity often linger for a lifetime when kids are at an unhealthy weight.  

The physical consequences of childhood obesity include joint problems, high blood sugars, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, fatty liver disease, gallstones, and breathing problems such as asthma and sleep apnea.  Not getting enough sleep is a known contributing factor to obesity.  Kids who are overweight or obese are more likely to be overweight or obese as adults. 

When I teach a Growing Healthy Kids workshop, I ask the kids who wants to grow up and get diabetes.  They are chomping at the bit to raise their hands and then at the last minute, when they hear the entire question, their hands quickly go down by their sides and they become very quiet and serious.  

No child wants to be at an unhealthy weight or develop an obesity-related disease like diabetes.  

Not. One. Child. 

With love,

Nancy Heinrich, MPH

Founder and Wellness Architect

Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS: Kindness Every Day

“This is my simple religion.  There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophy.  Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”  

                                                                --Dalai Lama

Every Growing Healthy Kids workshop includes a lesson on kindness.  

Growing Healthy Kids is a faith-based organization that values respect, compassion, and joy.  We take great pride in having integrity and honoring our commitments to children.  Teaching kids about the joys of being physically, spiritually, and mentally healthy, learning what real food is, meeting the farmers who grow our food, and learning to prepare delicious dishes using locally grown ingredients that are free of chemicals are practices of great value in our organization. 

Children are taught the importance of saying “please” and “thank you” in every Growing Healthy Kids workshop.  Parents are asked to put down their cell phones when they accompany their kids to our workshops so they can lean into our conversations and learn alongside their children.   Why volunteer to attend a program with your child and then tune out on your cell phone?  

Be kind, smile, and make eye contact when in a conversation with others.  Is it really so simple?  These things seem so small, yet when practiced daily, they are game changers for a good life.  We can all benefit from giving and receiving kindness. 

With love,

Nancy Heinrich, MPH

Founder and Wellness Architect

Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS: Selling Sodas to Kids

"Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina states that of the six hundred thousand food items for sale in the United States, 80% are laced with added sugar.  Ninety percent of the food produced in the United States is sold to you by a total of ten conglomerates-Coca-Cola, ConAgra, Dole, General Mills, Hormel, Kraft, Nestle, Pepisco, Procter and Gamble, and Unilever."

 --Robert H. Lustig, author of Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease

Teaching about natural sugar (found in fruits) with Louis Schacht of Schacht Groves, at a Growing Healthy Kids' event. 

Next time you visit a grocery store, look at the checkout area.  You will probably notice a refrigerator with glass doors attractively stocked with sodas.  

I am always fascinated to watch who opens the door and who doesn’t.  Do they have kids with them or not?  What else do they have in their grocery cart?  Let’s just say that it will be my cart that contains the kale, not theirs. 

Marketing sugar to kids is a huge business.  And why shouldn’t it be?  There are huge profits to be made from selling sugar, a highly addictive substance with no nutritional value.  A 12-oz soda with 39 grams of sugar contains 10 teaspoons of sugar.  At a recent Growing Healthy Kids workshop, the discussion was on identifying added (read “unhealthy”) sugars, such as the high fructose corn syrup found in sodas and ketchup.  When I put 10 teaspoons of sugar in a cup and passed it around, the kids recoiled, refusing to consume it.  But put a soda in a bright red can in front of them and they will all grab for it.

For-profit companies develop and market highly profitable food products such as sodas, fruit drinks, and breakfast cereals that are addictive to kids.  It is our job as parents to understand that our children’s health is not for sale.

   

With love,

Nancy Heinrich, MPH

Founder and Wellness Architect

Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.